| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | How's biz? Thread poster: Paul Lambert
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Zea_Mays 
Italy
Local time: 02:42
English to German
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| on a general and a personal level... | Sep 11 |
In general, I see a different dynamic between the US and the EU.
In recent months I've been contacted through ProZ by various new agencies based in the EU/Switzerland and the UK, and with some luck a new collaboration will start with at least one of them. That project would be connected to SEO, which I am specialised in.
Another German agency I've worked with in the past has also contacted me, also with a project related to a website (copywriting and SEO).
In my experience, we... See more In general, I see a different dynamic between the US and the EU.
In recent months I've been contacted through ProZ by various new agencies based in the EU/Switzerland and the UK, and with some luck a new collaboration will start with at least one of them. That project would be connected to SEO, which I am specialised in.
Another German agency I've worked with in the past has also contacted me, also with a project related to a website (copywriting and SEO).
In my experience, website updates/refreshes are often linked to new economic outlooks, and in fact the economic slowdown should be slowly recovering in the European area, while the US seem to have bigger problems at the moment.
As I've said in the past, my impression is that the economic crisis is the main reason for the slowdown in the language services branch.
Are companies now actually using "AI" (e.g. generative chat bots) for their translation needs? Or do they use machine translation tools like Google Translate and DeepL? The latter have AI in the backend, but that's not what most people mean when they use the word "AI" - they rather mean ChatGPT, Gemini and the like. And these bots are being largely used to generate cheap - and recognisable - content. So I think sweatshop copywriters are far more affected by generative AI/LLMs than translators.
Maybe more companies than before are using MT or generative AI bots, but for what? I can't think of any serious company that would risk critical errors in important documents or on their website. From what I hear from some agencies I have been collaborating with for years, former clients are not commissioning translations (not even MTPE), which IMO is rather a sign that they have reduced spending.
We'll see how things really are - if "AI" has taken over the translation field etc. - only once the general economic situation recovers (hopefully from next year).
Meanwhile, I am getting almost daily offers like this:
In a direct job offer an Indian agency wrote:
We are looking for English>German Translator for an upcoming
requirement.
Content for the project would be AgriTech UI/UX and the estimated
budget we can offer is 0.03USD.
I don't think that these Far Eastern agencies get the assignments directly - I rather suspect that they are subcontractors of Western agencies that are saving money that way.
On a personal level, how's biz? So far, the first 8 months of this year can be classified as follows (being 1 the best and 8 the worst month, with only the worst one being below what I need to earn to cover all costs and expenses):
January: 3
February: 2
March: 1
April: 7
May: 4
June: 6
July: 8
August: 5
[Bearbeitet am 2024-09-11 09:57 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tony Keily
Local time: 02:42
Italian to English
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| That doesn't sound like ordinary translation business | Sep 11 |
Axel Dittmer wrote:
One big project seems to be gone, although today a small translation came in after almost 2 months silence.]
Two months' silence is completely and utterly abnormal. I've been working in the field off and on for 40 years. A decade ago my inbox was constantly full and I was dealing with several hundred emails a month. I would get roughly three times more offers than I could take. This was true right through the crisis in the wake of the 2008 meltdown.
A few years ago I noticed that, although I was still working full-time, the volume of offers was declining. Also, although I had bumper years from 2019-2022, I noticed that they came on the back of a few large jobs, rather than the constant stream I used to have. I asked myself what would have happened without those big jobs. Now I'm finding out!
I take your point about a potential AI bubble, but AI isn't having the same impact everywhere. What it has mainly done in our sector is draw people's attention to MT, and MT is improving apace. It's not important that AI/MT will never provide a full-human level of excellence. What's important is that the market thinks these are sufficiently good solutions. It seems to me that that has already happened and even the best agencies are bending to the will of the market... when they get the chance.
My advice is to diversify away from translation while it's still providing a good income cushion. If it comes back (it wont!), you can always revert.
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Axel Dittmer wrote:
But we had hypes before (DeepL especially) and we/I survived.
I do think AI hype is different. Previous claims of the demise of translation were largely (but not exclusively, for sure) in relation to new tools within the translation sector/industry itself. Taking MT, for example, it was certainly adopted by many agencies, and perhaps a small number of end clients with huge translation volumes, but most end clients/direct clients didn't go near it. Maybe only had a vague notion that it existed, but not the time/energy to investigate how to access it.
Whereas the AI hype reached everyone, in their role as consumers, citizens, members of the public. Who hasn't heard of ChatGPT by now? Anyone with a white-collar job (& doubtless other roles) was bound to investigate the possibilities, if only to be ready for when their boss asks "what can AI do for us?". That was bound to effect translation. Those end/direct clients without the time/energy to investigate MT (or DeepL) have no excuse not to try AI. Unfortunately
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What I mean is, in the darkest scenario, if the translation business is going down the drain, it will mean that at the end there will be no translators left due to the lack of work, and Proz will lose their clients. Seems only logical.
Can't they give us an insight in the current situation, or am I asking too much?
Just wondering.
[Edited at 2024-09-11 15:44 GMT]
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:42
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Even by the glorious standards of ProZ... | Sep 11 |
...this is a depressing thread!
Dan
| | | | Becca Resnik
United States
Local time: 20:42
Member
German to English
+ ...
| Better than ever, but I am wary (and yet optimistic) | Sep 12 |
A couple months ago, I received two enormous contracts that will keep me going through the next several months, and potentially through next summer. I negotiated very high rates for both. I'm also still getting regular orders from a few of my favorite agencies. Profits and billable hours are the best they've ever been by a long shot, but I am conscientious of the state of the industry and the possibility that anything could change at any time.
I increased my rate by a large margin w... See more A couple months ago, I received two enormous contracts that will keep me going through the next several months, and potentially through next summer. I negotiated very high rates for both. I'm also still getting regular orders from a few of my favorite agencies. Profits and billable hours are the best they've ever been by a long shot, but I am conscientious of the state of the industry and the possibility that anything could change at any time.
I increased my rate by a large margin with one particular agency, after much discussion, just a few months ago. On the other hand, two of my favorite agencies were gobbled up by bigger agencies this year. Another went belly-up. And while I still get the occasional email request to work with a new agency, they are much fewer and farther between. Not counting the nonsense/peanuts offers – I consider those as good as spam (the meat-like product and the annoying email).
I am wary of the future because of what I see here on ProZ (e.g., this thread) and everything that goes with it (e.g., seeing for myself that people think MT is good and accurate), alongside the agencies I work with being affected as they have been. Having fewer potential sources of workflow is neither secure for business nor a good sign. And I'm not foolish enough to believe that what is happening to many in the field could never happen to me.
All that being said, I am still optimistic. My current earnings and recent rate increases and negotiations tell me that I'm doing something right and that things are far from over! Plus, the work I get now is nothing MT could ever handle (it would require literal artificial intelligence), so when the client decides they need me, they know they really need me. And I don't see that changing anywhere in the near future. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:42
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Becca Resnik wrote:
I am wary of the future because of what I see here on ProZ... And I'm not foolish enough to believe that what is happening to many in the field could never happen to me... My current earnings... tell me that I'm doing something right...
As somebody operating in the same pair, albeit not the same specialization, this is basically how I feel.
I'm still concerned that if the bottom falls out of our parts of the translation market, effectively going from 100 to 0 in a few months, previously busy people like Becca and myself will not have had the time to do anything to facilitate a move out of translation.
Then again, she is well qualified to work in other fields and has demonstrated that she has the right approach to succeed in them.
Some people like to sneer at positivity, but mindset is everything.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 20:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
| The sun is sinking low | Sep 12 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
What I mean is, in the darkest scenario, if the translation business is going down the drain, it will mean that at the end there will be no translators left due to the lack of work, and Proz will lose their clients. Seems only logical.
Can't they give us an insight in the current situation, or am I asking too much?
Just wondering.
[Edited at 2024-09-11 15:44 GMT]
I was wondering the same thing.
And it really is not just this site. What about the ATA and other translation organizations? I can't even imagine what ATA's annual conferences are like these days. I would certainly not want to be the keynote speaker tasked with conveying a cheery outlook of the state of the profession.
Maybe the only consolation at such events would be the cocktail hours. I can only hope that the bars are well stocked!
Some translators have moved into interpretation, which seems "safe," at least for now, although I fear a day of reckoning will eventually come for interpreters as well....
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Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 20:42
Romanian to English
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| Specialize, specialize | Sep 12 |
Becca Resnik wrote:
All that being said, I am still optimistic. My current earnings and recent rate increases and negotiations tell me that I'm doing something right and that things are far from over! Plus, the work I get now is nothing MT could ever handle (it would require literal artificial intelligence), so when the client decides they need me, they know they really need me. And I don't see that changing anywhere in the near future.
I have been retired for six years (72 old) and my workload has doubled since before Covid.
The secret? I work as a translator and interpreter in a very narrow super-specialized field and my clients really need me.
It seems that in the US the future of our trade is not that bleak.
| | | | Tony Keily
Local time: 02:42
Italian to English
+ ...
| Maybe also the music? | Sep 13 |
Robert Forstag wrote:
Maybe the only consolation at such events would be the cocktail hours. I can only hope that the bars are well stocked!
Is your post a reference to Sam Cooke's Good Times?
Gotta tell you, evenin' sun is sinkin' low
The clock on the wall say it's time to go
I got my plans, I don't know about you
I'll tell you exactly what I'm gonna do
Get in the groove and let the good times roll
I'm gonna stay here till I soothe my soul
If it take all night long
Yeah, everybody let the good times roll
We're gonna stay here till we soothe our souls
If it take all night long, yeah
Great song that also echoes of Dan's call for 'positivity' in these hard times.
| | | | Tony Keily
Local time: 02:42
Italian to English
+ ...
Liviu-Lee Roth wrote:
I have been retired for six years (72 old) and my workload has doubled since before Covid.
The secret? I work as a translator and interpreter in a very narrow super-specialized field and my clients really need me.
No question that there are niches that can hold up and that's where the work is, for now. My work from some institutional sources is also expanding and rates there have happily increased. The market that is cooling rapidly seems to be the general market for agency-distributed work (even in specialist areas). Many translators, specially those living in remote areas, depend on that market and are suffering badly.
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 20:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
[Edited at 2024-09-13 19:09 GMT]
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David Mossop
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:42
Member (2010)
German to English
| In the past two weeks... | Sep 19 |
... I have had emails from two agency clients stating that they will no longer be able to work with me if I do not offer MTPE, and that it is becoming impossible for them to get clients to accept their rates for human translation. We are not talking horrible, cut-throat LSPs here: these are both fairly boutique agencies that have always paid me a good rate and with whom I have enjoyed a long and fruitful working relationship over many years.
I have written elsewhere on these forums... See more ... I have had emails from two agency clients stating that they will no longer be able to work with me if I do not offer MTPE, and that it is becoming impossible for them to get clients to accept their rates for human translation. We are not talking horrible, cut-throat LSPs here: these are both fairly boutique agencies that have always paid me a good rate and with whom I have enjoyed a long and fruitful working relationship over many years.
I have written elsewhere on these forums about how my workload has never recovered post-pandemic. I'm lucky enough to have effected a career-change into copywriting/legal marketing over the past couple of years. If I were still solely reliant on my translation income, I'd be up the creek without a paddle.
[Edited at 2024-09-19 10:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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