Author: Translating Economist
-
Back up and running
It’s hard for me to believe that my last post here was May 2019. So much has happened. Apart from the obvious (i.e., pandemic), the language services market finds itself in the midst of major transition, as it adapts to the widespread use and acceptance of artificial intelligence, large language models, and ever-improving machine translation.…
-
Checking in…after a long time away
It has been quite some time since my last post. Almost 18 months. I’ve had every intention of continuing this blog; but joining the Board of Directors of the American Translators Association (ATA) has ended up occupying much of my non-work professional development time and energy. I was elected treasurer in November 2017, after having…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates?
An Introduction to the Economics of Language Services* For millennia, humans have struggled with the concept of value. Why are some things more valuable than others? Who decides? Why, Plato pondered, are rare things so valuable, when others, like water, are not? Scottish philosopher Adam Smith, in his seminal work, Wealth of Nations, formalized this…
-
Thoughts on Presenting an ATA Webinar
The American Translators Association (ATA) hosts an ongoing series of webinars on a range of issues related to language services. Participants either watch live presentations online, with Q&A sessions, or can click on a link to the webinar at any time afterward. ATA recently asked me to prepare and present a webinar on a subject…
-
Convergence in Language Services
The average person tends to think of translation and interpreting as essentially the same thing. If you can speak, read, and write in two languages, you should be able to translate as well as you interpret, and vice versa. Those of us in the language-service industry know better. We understand how different these professions can…
-
Do Translators compete against Translation Agencies?
I recently came across a thoughtful, impassioned article* written and presented at the 1st NYU Translation Day Symposium by Kenneth Kronenberg, a long-time German-English translator. I don’t know Mr. Kronenberg, but after reading his piece, it became clear to me that he truly cares about translation and translators. His words reveal a genuine concern for…
-
A Linguist Makes it to Hollywood
Our profession doesn’t make it to the big screen too often. But this November, a film called “Arrival” promises to showcase translation, interpretation, and linguistic theory. At least, that’s the hope, given the source material. The movie is based on award-winning novella “Story of Your Life”, by Ted Chiang. In just 39 pages, Chiang’s tale…
-
A land of fire and ice and…language service professionals?
Tourism in Iceland has skyrocketed over the past 15 years, in part because so many movies and TV series have recently been shot there (e.g. Interstellar, Game of Thrones, Flags of our Fathers, Prometheus, Oblivion, Batman Begins, etc.). The number of visitors now far outpaces the local population. Source: Wikipedia In 2015, Americans and Brits…
-
A novel so good, people were afraid to translate it
The New Yorker has a very interesting piece about this Irish novel, which Irish Gaelic speakers have revered for nearly 70 years, to the point of it never having been translated. Until now. Suddenly, within the past year, two translations have been published. Expectations are sky-high. Let the debate and analysis begin.
-
How close are we to real-time translation technology?
In an excellent recent article that examines the state of real-time translation technology, Professor David Arbesú, of the University of South Florida, explores where we stand in terms of knocking down the global language barrier. The short answer: technology is quickly improving, but it still relies heavily on human translators to make it work.
-
An hourly rate for translation?
A few articles have recently been published on the possibility of changes to fee structures in the language service industry. The time-honored way in which freelance translators charge out for their work has been per word, while freelance interpreters generally charge out per hour or day. Now, however, there is talk of translators charging out…
-
Keeping abreast with technology
What lessons, as language service professionals, can we take from this year? Technology continues to make inroads into our business and livelihoods. For translators, this comes in the form of more advanced CAT tools and ever-improving machine translation, along with an increasing number of cloud-based applications at our disposal. For interpreters, VoIP software, from Skype…
-
What’s the deal with translating Seinfeld?
Whether or not you were a fan of Seinfeld (disclaimer: I was a HUGE fan), there is a lot to be learned from this article on the difficulties that translators face when attempting to translate comedy and culture. Thanks to my lovely wife for passing along this link.
-
The Globalization of Literature
In an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times, Benjamin Moser discusses the importance of promoting non-English authors, in an English-dominated global economy. He brings up a number of good points about how works written in English not only enjoy greater readership in English-speaking countries, but they are the most commonly translated books in other…
-
Realtors are interested in translators and interpreters
We tend to think about our industry from the perspective of practitioners, but it’s important to keep end users in mind as well. Clients can be unsure of the differences between translators and interpreters, how to find qualified professionals, and whether they are actually receiving reliable services. I was recently interviewed for an article by…
-
The Opportunity Cost of Freelancing
In the March 2015 issue of the ATA Chronicle, Jonathan Hine wrote an instructive article about what he calls setting a “fair price” for translation and interpreting services. He doesn’t describe a price that is actually fair, in terms of being just compensation for services rendered. Instead, he means the amount that an independent contractor…
-
Translation and Technology
Mike Collins and I recently gave a presentation at Duke University on the state of technology in the language-services industry. Our focus was on the changing nature of the translator’s role in our business. We are no longer just multilingual wordsmiths. We must now be technologically savvy and proficient, staying ahead of the curve in…
-
The State of Languages Services in 2015
Fifteen years into the 21st century is a good time to take stock of where we are as both an industry and a profession. Language services have come a long way. In the not-so-distant past, translators and interpreters toiled away in relative obscurity, for little, or at times, no pay. Global travel and migratory flows…
-
The Neuroscience of Simultaneous Interpreting
Happy 2015! I read this article a few weeks ago about the science involved in simultaneous interpreting. Human brains are incredibly complex machines. Neuroscientists are now trying to understand how language professionals do what we do. There is still a lot to learn!
-
Bulk vs. Premium
“Bulk versus premium”: this was one of the constant refrains at this year’s ATA Conference in Chicago. The market for language services appears to be shifting into this dichotomy, with freelance translators and interpreters caught in the middle. The bulk market is understood to mean services rendered in large quantities, over short time frames, and…
-
Recap – 2014 ATA Conference in Chicago
CATI was very well represented at this ATA Conference, with over a dozen active members in attendance. Please talk to the others who attended to get their thoughts and opinions as well. The event got going on Wednesday, with a leadership-council meeting among the heads of the ATA Chapters (which are geographic) and the ATA…
-
$25 million Invested in Language Service Technology
I saw this story a couple of months ago. What struck me was the fact that venture capitalists were willing to put up $25 million for what they perceive as the future of language services, namely some type of hybrid software-and-human service such as the one being touted in the story. When people ask what…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? The Wrap-up
This series of posts has laid the foundation for answering a question that confounds many freelance professionals. They know that they have some control over the prices that they charge, and yet, there are clearly forces working against them, limiting their ability to raise their rates. The market for language services (and translations, in particular)…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? Productivity
Freelancers who feel constrained by market-imposed limitations are not completely helpless. As mentioned in my previous post, the first step to improving income potential involves differentiation; i.e. making yourself stand out from the crowd. But let’s assume that you have taken that first step. You have carved out your niche. You have made it clear…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? Differentiation
My posts up to this point have mostly been descriptive. In other words, they have sought to describe the market as it is (or appears to be). With this post, we turn to a more prescriptive discussion, focusing on what, if anything, can be done in light of this reality. In a fairly competitive market,…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? Market Equilibrium
Now that we’ve laid out the individual foundations of supply and demand in the translation market, we can bring these two concepts together to discuss another theoretical construct that helps understand translations rates: market equilibrium. Without delving into mathematical details, the basic idea is that the price on any market is the result of the…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? Variables Affecting Demand
As with supply, at the most rudimentary level, demand for translation services varies with the market price. If translations are relatively inexpensive, demand will tend to grow. If the cost of services goes up, demand will typically fall. This is a simplification, but it provides a starting point for understanding the other side of the…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? Variables Affecting Supply
In my previous post, I discussed scarcity and introduced the role that supply and demand play in determining rates in the language-service market. We looked at an example or two and noted that language professionals (i.e. translators) make up the supply, while businesses, hospitals, law firms, governments, individuals, etc. comprise the demand. In this post,…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates? The role of scarcity
The first post in this series introduced the economic concept of elasticity as a way of understanding the limitations that freelancers face when attempting to raise the rates that they charge. Two extremes were discussed: a monopoly, where one translator dominates the market and faces no competition; and a highly competitive market, where thousands of…
-
Why Can’t I Raise My Rates?*
Many language-service providers work on a freelance basis. They do not have a steady job with steady pay and benefits. Instead, they are constantly hustling, looking for the next client, the next project, the next paycheck. There is a whole host of reasons to explain how the industry got this way, but I’ll leave that…