In 2013, translations are STILL HUMAN-MADE. All true
professionals will tell you that despite the technological progress,
no program has successfully yet managed to produce a translation one
can pass for the product of human intelligence. This is simply
impossible. In the meantime I'm still waiting for someone (or rather something) to prove me wrong.
This cliché is probably the result of poor communication by
translators about their activity, as we fail to convey the message
loud and clear. We are meticulous workers, we don't just come up with
those sentences as we type them down at a record pace. We research
extensively, hesitate, and choose. As humans we can indeed make
decisions computers cannot make. We feel the subtleties of language
and the complexity of each sentence. We try to convey metaphors and
figures of speech, or double meanings and irony, subtleties programs
will not even spot in the first place. Finally we read those
translations to ourselves and hear their melody. We are therefore
irreplacable.
Agencies find us work sometimes, and keep a substantial
commission, with little or no transparency. Without information, we
are often incapable of negociating with them. We fight blindly and
the risk of loosing everything is generally pretty high. The problem is,
agencies often forget who's doing the bulk of the work. Finder's fee
is normal, as long as we can make a living. But nowadays, our share
of the cake is being drastically reduced by middlemen negotiating
unrealistic targets and budgets with their client, and in consequence
passing the burden to us and involving us in those risky schemes.
The rise of global competition has put our profession in peril, since we are not able to survive at the rates practised today in the
industry, imposed upon us by brokers
exploiting intellectual work that they trade as a random commodity.
Big work platforms like ProZ have promoted that downward spiral of
rates by letting anyone offer bottom rates and any so called
professional apply for those "jobs". Those websites are
ruining our business by acting against the profession. They are
getting paid by translators to represent them but instead treat them
like service providers rather than clients. They are not willing to
defend our interests, refusing to set a minimum rate under which a
recruiter is not allowed to advertise. Besides, there are serious
doubts about the transparency of their Blueboard, a rating system
which reflects in no way the reputation or good practises of
agencies. I paid the membership one year and this for me was a total
waste of money. I never get replies from any recruiter via Proz. The
only job I found on it was when I was not yet a paying member.
According to SFT (survey in French) and the ATA, the average sustainable rate per
word for a professional living in the EU is 12 Euro cents. Most job offers
on ProZ target a budget comprised between 1 and 5 Eurocents. No
translator in Europe can survive with those rates. Their hourly
production is on average 250 words, so their rate per hour would be 5
euros, before tax. A professional working legally pays at least 25
percent tax. Therefore, if he or she accepts a 2 Eurocent offer, the
remaining hourly salary is 3.75 euros per hour. Exciting isn't it?
Other threats to the profession :
The opening, via large unselective platforms, of the market to non
professionals looking for extra cash, creating unfair competition.
Poor selection by recruiters who
only seek profit, hiring non native "translators"
desperate for money. A translator normally translates into their
native language, and has one or two, three max language pairs. More
than that would be highly suspicious.
CV and identity theft, by agencies
or scammers. They offer a job to the translators and ask for their
CV, which they forward to the client to win the contract. Then, they
hire someone much cheaper (and often incompetent).
- Non payers,
late payments (a lot of "reputable" agencies pay 45 to 60
days after reception of the translation), ignoring completely the
following directive :
DIRECTIVE
2011/7/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 16
February 2011, according to which the minimum interest in case of
late payments (> 30 days) is EUR 40.00."
It is only with the cooperation of translation buyers willing to
ackowledge the importance and value of quality translations, and
ready to pay them for what they're worth that this beautiful
profession can be salvaged.
The translation market, despite its
apparent health and growth, is actually collapsing, while with it,
language, intellectual rigor, and overall quality of communication
are endangered.
