| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Is our profession dead? Thread poster: Levan Namoradze
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 10:46
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Levan Namoradze wrote:
Well, following to my appr. 20-year experience, the vast majority of both clients and agencies are focused only on profit and do not care about the quality.
If that would be true, only the cheapest translators would get work and only a few exceptions could demand a higher rate. I'm pretty sure reality is more complex than that.
| | | | Zea_Mays 
Italy
Local time: 10:46
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| AI vs recession/inflation | Sep 11, 2023 |
I think many are confusing the impact of AI
with that of the current (hopefully mild and short) recession,
which began in the spring of '22, when energy prices skyrocketed
in connection with the attack on Ukraine.
My electricity bills rose by 100% last year
(they are now almost back to normal but still higher than before),
at the supermarket I pay about 30% more than last year for the same products.
... See more I think many are confusing the impact of AI
with that of the current (hopefully mild and short) recession,
which began in the spring of '22, when energy prices skyrocketed
in connection with the attack on Ukraine.
My electricity bills rose by 100% last year
(they are now almost back to normal but still higher than before),
at the supermarket I pay about 30% more than last year for the same products.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/08/eurozone-sinks-into-recession-as-cost-of-living-crisis-takes-toll
Well, ChatGPT & co. were published in the middle of this crisis, when many companies
were already looking for ways to save money. The world was impressed
with what those language models are able to do, and for a while everyone will want to
believe in miracles. But those models are not primarily designed for translation,
so that's not what they can do best. Coders/programmers may fear them
more than translators and other language service providers.
[Bearbeitet am 2023-09-11 10:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Surely not dead, but admittedly work does seem a bit scarce at the moment, at least in my field (subtitles) and my language pair... :/ (And with my current clients. Currently on a marketing spree to get new ones!)
| | | | | Productivity gurus, efficiency experts, LinkedIn lunatics | Sep 12, 2023 |
When managers assign the same text to many translators that are expected to work simultaneously in a race against the clock, so that by the time one has translated one sentence others have translated the ten next ones, resulting in a text without any consistency or coherence, then yes, our profession seems to be dead.
Who is to blame? For me, it's all those self-proclaimed experts who talk too much and invent all sorts of processes and metrics and tools to justify their parasitic ro... See more When managers assign the same text to many translators that are expected to work simultaneously in a race against the clock, so that by the time one has translated one sentence others have translated the ten next ones, resulting in a text without any consistency or coherence, then yes, our profession seems to be dead.
Who is to blame? For me, it's all those self-proclaimed experts who talk too much and invent all sorts of processes and metrics and tools to justify their parasitic role in the business; all those 'motivational speakers' and uncalled 'thought leaders' who flood LinkedIn timelines with their applied psychology mumbo jumbo, and take part in events that are said to 'shape the future of the industry' but in fact sabotage the work of people who do the actual deed of translation and possess the real knowledge and tangible expertise.
But hey, we live in 2023. Soft skills are all the rage; hard skills are so boring! If you need to survive in today's competitive and ever-changing environment, you need to be a manager: a 'wild card' who manages to get in the way of any real work getting done by trained, qualified specialists. Work smarter, not harder: have a gander at dashboards and reports and take a cut of the money. ▲ Collapse
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 10:46
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Typical hollow bs | Sep 12, 2023 |
Epameinondas Soufleros wrote:
Who is to blame? For me, it's all those self-proclaimed experts who talk too much and invent all sorts of processes and metrics and tools to justify their parasitic role in the business; all those 'motivational speakers' and uncalled 'thought leaders' who flood LinkedIn timelines with their applied psychology mumbo jumbo, and take part in events that are said to 'shape the future of the industry' but in fact sabotage the work of people who do the actual deed of translation and possess the real knowledge and tangible expertise.
Yes, that typical hollow bs of those motivational speakers and the like is really awfull: it's usually a collection of nice sounding ideas and nothing more.
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 04:46
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Profession dead? | Sep 12, 2023 |
Actually, the con is as follows. The agency will take a text, divide it up into multiple parts and have multiple translators do a particular part as a test, seriatim. It could involve as many as 20-25 translators. The agency has thereby cobbled together the translation of a text of a particular text for free. This hack is more common than people think.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 10:46
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Michael Newton wrote:
Actually, the con is as follows. The agency will take a text, divide it up into multiple parts and have multiple translators do a particular part as a test, seriatim. It could involve as many as 20-25 translators. The agency has thereby cobbled together the translation of a text of a particular text for free. This hack is more common than people think.
Okay, but if they want to do it again, they will have to look for other translators. Doesn't seem very efficient to me.
| | | | | Efficiency isn't a concern for today's "agencies" | Sep 12, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote: Michael Newton wrote:
Actually, the con is as follows. The agency will take a text, divide it up into multiple parts and have multiple translators do a particular part as a test, seriatim. It could involve as many as 20-25 translators. The agency has thereby cobbled together the translation of a text of a particular text for free. This hack is more common than people think. Okay, but if they want to do it again, they will have to look for other translators. Doesn't seem very efficient to me.
There is such an enormous pool of eager translators just on Proz alone that they can keep on posting for a long time without worrying about running out of people. Efficiency is one of those elements that no longer matters, just like accuracy and quality. Just get the job done and collect the money from the client.
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 10:46
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| That's internet | Sep 12, 2023 |
writeaway wrote: Lieven Malaise wrote: Michael Newton wrote:
Actually, the con is as follows. The agency will take a text, divide it up into multiple parts and have multiple translators do a particular part as a test, seriatim. It could involve as many as 20-25 translators. The agency has thereby cobbled together the translation of a text of a particular text for free. This hack is more common than people think. Okay, but if they want to do it again, they will have to look for other translators. Doesn't seem very efficient to me. There is such an enormous pool of eager translators just on Proz alone that they can keep on posting for a long time without worrying about running out of people. Efficiency is one of those elements that no longer matters, just like accuracy and quality. Just get the job done and collect the money from the client.
That's internet. Before internet this kind of scams was much more difficult to do.
The biggest drawback of internet is that you can get people do work for free, like making video's for free, publishing texts online for free... It's just too easy to find people to do it.
| | | | Becca Resnik
United States
Local time: 04:46
Member
German to English
+ ...
Our profession is not dead. Changing, yes. But certainly not even dying right now – I've invoiced more than what I grossed as an engineer the past two months and am set to do the same this month. Furthermore, I don't foresee that humans will ever be 100% replaced in the translation world.
| | | | Levan Namoradze
Georgia
Local time: 12:46
Member (2005)
English to Georgian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Becca Resnik wrote:
Our profession is not dead. Changing, yes. But certainly not even dying right now – I've invoiced more than what I grossed as an engineer the past two months and am set to do the same this month. Furthermore, I don't foresee that humans will ever be 100% replaced in the translation world.
 Well, that was a weighty argument.
| | | | | It is translators who are "dying", not translation | Sep 13, 2023 |
Translation has not died, is not dying and will never die. On the contrary, there is an ever-increasing demand for translation services.
The ones who will 'die' will be the translators, because these services will be provided by machine translation.
Ignoring the signs and facts does not make one optimistic about the future, but rather wishful thinking.
Many people talk about the quality of human translation that cannot be replaced by machine translation. ... See more Translation has not died, is not dying and will never die. On the contrary, there is an ever-increasing demand for translation services.
The ones who will 'die' will be the translators, because these services will be provided by machine translation.
Ignoring the signs and facts does not make one optimistic about the future, but rather wishful thinking.
Many people talk about the quality of human translation that cannot be replaced by machine translation.
In more than 17 years of experience I have come across many translations of dubious quality, by professional translators, not opportunists or amateurs.
Today machine translation may well provide better quality than many of these translators I have encountered from time to time.
And, if you like, it's not even a question of quality. As long as the machine gets to the point where it gets the message across without errors in the specifications and safety instructions, that will be enough for customers.
So, the machine will not need to reach the quality produced by the best translator on the planet in order to take his/her job. It will just need to convey the message.
Some may hope to be saved because they are good translators or because they will become managers or open their own translation agency, etc. That may be true, but they will be few and far between. And in general, hoping to be one of the few is not a very good strategy, especially if you have another 20 years to retire.
I, for one, don't want to be unemployed at 60, so as times change, I'll be changing my occupation within the next 5 years.
(the above is a straight translation from Greek to English through DeepL - I am sure you get the message)
[Edited at 2023-09-13 10:54 GMT]
[Edited at 2023-09-14 05:10 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 04:46
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
| One swallow does not a summer make | Sep 13, 2023 |
Becca Resnik wrote:
Our profession is not dead. Changing, yes. But certainly not even dying right now – I've invoiced more than what I grossed as an engineer the past two months and am set to do the same this month.
Or, as we say in Italy, una rondine non fa primavera.
PS.
Becca, it goes without saying that I hope I'm wrong and I wish you all the best.
At the same time, I think it would be interesting to come back to this very thread 5 years from now for an update.
| | | | Becca Resnik
United States
Local time: 04:46
Member
German to English
+ ...
Agreed (that one swallow does not a summer make)! However, if I'm doing as well as I am, the profession certainly can't be dead. After all, I can't possibly be taking all the last remaining translation orders (or anything even close)! Or if I am, I'll be writing a book about it. There must be many more translators out there in my situation, perhaps who don't write posts or aren't on ProZ at all.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 10:46
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Becca Resnik wrote:
There must be many more translators out there in my situation, perhaps who don't write posts or aren't on ProZ at all.
Hear, hear !
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