The 1 million words trick Thread poster: traductorchile
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I have just seen a job posted from Argentina with the following offer:
1 million words for $0.01 USD to $0.025 USD per word
I get out my calculator, and lets see:
I can translate about 2000 wds per day, that is Total = 500 days/ 17 months.
$0.025 USD x 2000 x 25 days (5 days rest per month) = $ 1250 USD per month
Maybe not that bad for someone starting off, considering it's full time and you have the assurance you'll be payed at the end of eac... See more I have just seen a job posted from Argentina with the following offer:
1 million words for $0.01 USD to $0.025 USD per word
I get out my calculator, and lets see:
I can translate about 2000 wds per day, that is Total = 500 days/ 17 months.
$0.025 USD x 2000 x 25 days (5 days rest per month) = $ 1250 USD per month
Maybe not that bad for someone starting off, considering it's full time and you have the assurance you'll be payed at the end of each month for more than a year.
But wait, that's a full time job. In a full time job you have a contract that covers health insurance, a retirement plan, unemployment insurance, severance pay, etc., etc., etc.
That is cheap labour and jumping around the law. ▲ Collapse
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 14:07
Spanish to English
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| A personal perspective | Jun 8, 2011 |
traductorchile has just …
… just seen a job posted from Argentina with the following offer:
1 million words for $0.01 USD to $0.025 USD per word
Like traductorchile, I got out my calculator, and lets see:
Let’s assume I can translate only 2000 wds per day, that is Total = 500 days/ 17 months.
$0.025 USD x 2000 x 25 days (5 days rest per month) = $ 1250 USD per month
That’s about three times the minimum wage in Chile. About half the salary of a full-time teacher in a municipal secondary school.
Maybe not that bad for someone like me who retired from the rat-race over ten years ago, considering I’d have the assurance (so says traductorchile…) of being paid at the end of each month for more than a year.
The problem is that, based on traductorchile’s arithmetic, that's a full time job...
Heck! No matter! I already have a fully paid-up health insurance for life; I don’t need a retirement plan because I’m already living comfortably on the strength of the one I slaved for 30 or 40 years ago; I don’t need or want unemployment insurance, severance pay, etc., etc., etc.
traductorchile wrote:
That is cheap labour and jumping around the law.
Hmmm… It sounds like good beer money to me in my old age!
I haven’t seen the job offer – I daren’t even look. Knowing my luck they need the entire one million words by yesterday and the specialist field is voluntary euthanasia so I would have to turn it down on moral grounds. Huh. Can’t win ‘em all, eh?
MediaMatrix
| | | | Heinrich Pesch 
Finland
Local time: 19:07
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| Or it turns out to be only 500 words | Jun 8, 2011 |
These million words jobs often are divided between many freelancers. Nobody has time to wait a year to finish the project with one translator. Perhaps you get only a few thousand words and have to wait ages for your money.
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 01:07
Chinese to English
| Thanks, Mediamatrix | Jun 8, 2011 |
Thanks for nothing. Or, thanks for confirming what Traductorchile said. It's beer money. Half the salary of a professional.
If the world/market wants there to be such a thing as professional translators, as opposed to students and retirees who do it for kicks, then the world/market is going to have to pay enough to support professionals. No market is perfect, and sometimes a client will stumble onto a great deal whereby a retiree is willing to do some work for half price. But those... See more Thanks for nothing. Or, thanks for confirming what Traductorchile said. It's beer money. Half the salary of a professional.
If the world/market wants there to be such a thing as professional translators, as opposed to students and retirees who do it for kicks, then the world/market is going to have to pay enough to support professionals. No market is perfect, and sometimes a client will stumble onto a great deal whereby a retiree is willing to do some work for half price. But those half price rates seem to be colonizing the entire market, sometimes, and it's turning the professionals into an endangered species. ▲ Collapse
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 17:07
Member (2007)
English
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traductorchile wrote:
it's full time and you have the assurance you'll be payed at the end of each month for more than a year.
Since when have these types of jobs guaranteed payment? Haven't I heard time and time again that it's the companies offering the worst rates that are the slowest to pay and will try anything to worm out of paying at all?
| | | | traductorchile
Chile
Local time: 14:07
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Please read between lines | Jun 8, 2011 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Since when have these types of jobs guaranteed payment? Haven't I heard time and time again that it's the companies offering the worst rates that are the slowest to pay and will try anything to worm out of paying at all?
If they pay or don't pay such low rates could produce further sarcastic reactions. Please lets just suppose they eventually pay. I have enough food for thought as is, and I'm growing too fat.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 17:07
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Why are we discussing this? | Jun 10, 2011 |
I don't know what else needs to be said about it really. I can't imagine that any professional translator would accept it because the rate is far too low to produce a viable income, unless you simply put it all through a Machine translator. Then again, what person doing translations for "fun" would find it so much fun full time?
I think these abuses need to be aired in a public forum, to show that they are not acceptable, but that's been done. In fact, you summed it up well in your ... See more I don't know what else needs to be said about it really. I can't imagine that any professional translator would accept it because the rate is far too low to produce a viable income, unless you simply put it all through a Machine translator. Then again, what person doing translations for "fun" would find it so much fun full time?
I think these abuses need to be aired in a public forum, to show that they are not acceptable, but that's been done. In fact, you summed it up well in your original post:
traductorchile wrote:
That is cheap labour and jumping around the law. ▲ Collapse
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