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Doesn't anybody realize how lucky we are? Or is it just me?
Thread poster: Daniel Frisano
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
No specific rates possible Dec 8, 2016

Mikhail Kropotov wrote:

RobinB wrote:
Actually, I'm paid three to four times as much per word as I was back in the old dial-up modem days, and I know this is the same for many of my colleagues - certainly those in the premium market segments.


I would think you've enhanced your qualifications substantially over the last 20 to 30 years.

Still, could you please share the specific rates you're talking about?


Please understand that members of professional associations such as ATA and ITI (and, I know, many others, such as the BDÜ in Germany) are prohibited from discussing actual rates.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:28
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Oh dear Dec 8, 2016

Oh dear. Is it bragging time again? Anyone sitting on a yacht in St. Tropez, doing translations?

[Edited at 2016-12-08 17:51 GMT]


 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
Qualifications Dec 8, 2016

Mikhail Kropotov wrote:

RobinB wrote:
Actually, I'm paid three to four times as much per word as I was back in the old dial-up modem days, and I know this is the same for many of my colleagues - certainly those in the premium market segments.


I would think you've enhanced your qualifications substantially over the last 20 to 30 years.


If I hadn't "enhanced my qualifications substantially over the last 20 to 30 years", I'd be dead in the water. I sometimes think that we translators actually invented the concept of "life-long learning". The key is to specialise in areas for which there is strong, long-term market demand and in which demand outstrips supply. Even now, when I'm starting to slow down, I'm learning all the time - and adding new subject areas to my specialisations, either in response to market demand, or simply because I find them interesting and/or challenging. All this learning has to be reflected in my income, otherwise - to be perfectly honest - it's not worth the candle, and I may as well go off and do something entirely different. That is the case today as much as it was 20 years ago.

That doesn't mean I'm driven to earn more each year, but I do aim to ensure that my productivity (i.e. income per hour worked) increases even as the number of hours I work decrease. And technology plays a decisive role in being able to do that. In the past, the critical technologies have been the Internet (generally, and specifically for communication and research) and TM. In the future, MT will also play an increasingly important role in our professional lives. And I'm really looking forward to the future!


 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
Bragging? Dec 8, 2016

Tom in London wrote:

Oh dear. Is it bragging time again? Anyone sitting on a yacht in St. Tropez, doing translations?

[Edited at 2016-12-08 17:51 GMT]


Don't be silly, Tom, this has nothing to do with bragging. And everything to do with debunking the myth that "rates have gone down in the past x years". It's funny though: so often when somebody points out that, they get jumped on. Looks like the Poverty Cult is still alive and kicking.


 
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 23:28
German to English
+ ...
Living in your source country Dec 8, 2016

I would also guess that having established your business in your source country and being able to speak your source language fluently plays a role in determining your level of income. I know that there is a huge demand for top-quality specialized German to English translations in Germany and it's much easier to find direct clients when you are physically present.

[Edited at 2016-12-08 18:08 GMT]


 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
No longer the case Dec 8, 2016

Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:

I would also guess that having established your business in your source country and being able to speak your source language fluently plays a role in determining your level of income. I know that there is a huge demand for top-quality specialized German to English translations in Germany and it's much easier to find direct clients when you are physically present.

[Edited at 2016-12-08 18:08 GMT]


Well, being able to speak your source language fluently will always be an advantage when it comes to selling to clients. Physical presence certainly used to play a role in the pre-Internet days (i.e. before about 1995 when HTML browsers started becoming widespread). In fact one of my first direct clients (a major bank in Frankfurt) had a policy of giving preference to suppliers located in Hessen! Luckily I was in the right place.

But the Internet has exploded those barriers, and - given how few top-quality German-to-English financial/legal translators there are - clients (both direct clients and specialist translation companies) now work with translators all over the world. Demand is so strong that distance and time zone are largely irrelevant. I should point out, though, that many translators living on different continents do travel to Germany every year or two to meet clients in person (as well as to spend time in a German-speaking environment, meet up with colleagues, attend CPD events, etc.).


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:28
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
False modesty would be no more attractive... Dec 8, 2016

RobinB wrote:
Looks like the Poverty Cult is still alive and kicking.

No kidding... And apparently so is the Cult of Snidely Expressed Envy.

Why should successful freelancers not state that they are successful, particularly given that so many others seem to think that financial success as a freelance translator is impossible?

Many freelancers seem to take the "I am experiencing X, therefore the entire translation market is X" approach when really there is no single monolithic market for translation. The translation industry's most obvious feature (to me) is heterogeneity, which means there are bountiful opportunities to differentiate. Plan! Set yourself targets! Find the median income for your country and double it - there's your revenue goal. Throw yourself into the fight and give 'em hell. It's all out there waiting for you.

Of course as RobinB points out, you have to invest in yourself and your tools and generally keep up with the game, otherwise you'll be cast aside. The world owes us nothing, after all.

Regards
Dan

PS And sacrificing a higher income for more time for the other things in life, which freelancing certainly allows, is an approach both valid and admirable


 
Mikhail Kropotov
Mikhail Kropotov  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:28
English to Russian
+ ...
Can't have your cake and eat it too Dec 8, 2016

RobinB wrote:
Please understand that members of professional associations such as ATA and ITI (and, I know, many others, such as the BDÜ in Germany) are prohibited from discussing actual rates.


Then I'm sorry but I will not take your word for it.


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Rates Dec 8, 2016

RobinB wrote:

Actually, I'm paid three to four times as much per word as I was back in the old dial-up modem days, and I know this is the same for many of my colleagues - certainly those in the premium market segments.

Why do so many people claim that rates are lower now as if it was some sort of self-evident truth?


How about because they are?

Yours might not be but others' clearly are.

As has already been pointed out, changes in your personal circumstances will have contributed to your increased earning power. I find it very hard to believe that you are paid four times as much today for exactly the same service as 15-20 years ago.

I earn more per word than 15 years ago but only because I work for higher-paying customers. In real terms I earn about the same.

We used to work a lot for the largest Scandi agency. In 1992 they happily paid us 11p per word. Now they're looking to pay no more than 8p a word. Not surprising given that agencies are busy hoovering up government contracts over there by quoting just 10p a word.

So I would humbly suggest that your reality, if that's what it is, is the exception.


 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
Not the exception, rather multiple realities Dec 8, 2016

Chris,

I'm not arguing that prices in some markets have declined over that 20-year period. What I am saying is that prices in other markets have increased over that same period (and not just for me, but for everybody working in those markets). And of course the greater knowledge and experience I gained over that time have been a significant (but by no means the only) contributory factor to the increase in prices and income.

But, absent any hard evidence to the contrary,
... See more
Chris,

I'm not arguing that prices in some markets have declined over that 20-year period. What I am saying is that prices in other markets have increased over that same period (and not just for me, but for everybody working in those markets). And of course the greater knowledge and experience I gained over that time have been a significant (but by no means the only) contributory factor to the increase in prices and income.

But, absent any hard evidence to the contrary, I reject any notion that there has been a general decrease in prices over all - or even most - markets since the beginning of the Internet era.

Robin
Collapse


 
Mikhail Kropotov
Mikhail Kropotov  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:28
English to Russian
+ ...
Hearsay Dec 8, 2016

Likewise, absent any hard evidence to the contrary, I reject any notion that there has been a general increase in prices since the beginning of the Internet era.

After getting established, I'm charging 8 times what I did when I started out in 2004. But I don't go on saying prices have gone up by 700%.


 
Mikhail Kropotov
Mikhail Kropotov  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:28
English to Russian
+ ...
You keep speaking of other people Dec 8, 2016

RobinB wrote:
(and not just for me, but for everybody working in those markets)


How would you know, given that your association membership prevents you from sharing specific rates?


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:28
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
I know what you mean but... Dec 8, 2016

... I miss the slowness of Compuserve on a modem. It was the means by which I got my first online customer more than 20 years ago. I can now compare Compuserve with them polished steam engines on board romantic boats in a Swiss lake. Slow but lovely.

 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:28
German to English
At last, an easy question! Dec 8, 2016

Mikhail Kropotov wrote:

RobinB wrote:
(and not just for me, but for everybody working in those markets)


How would you know, given that your association membership prevents you from sharing specific rates?


Because I know what my clients are willing to pay me and I know what many other clients in the markets I work in are willing to pay their translators (often, because they have also approached me). You can find out a lot about pricing through market intelligence. Admittedly, that does demand an active approach, but (as a former marketing professional) I am also convinced it provides more accurate, more reliable data.


 
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