| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Can we have a poll to find out how translators are doing financially? Thread poster: Guofei_LIN
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 17:49
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Lingua 5B wrote:
There were a couple of colleagues who reported $500k annual peak for some years.
Is that even possible as a translator who works alone and doesn't outsoure other work (meaning pretending he or she is an agency)? Your output or your rates would have to be astronomically high to reach that figure. But perhaps I'm overlooking something.
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:49
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Possible vs. impossible | Feb 1, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
There were a couple of colleagues who reported $500k annual peak for some years.
Is that even possible as a translator who works alone and doesn't outsoure other work (meaning pretending he or she is an agency)? Your output or your rates would have to be astronomically high to reach that figure. But perhaps I'm overlooking something.
Yes, in a commercial high-traffic language pair with technical specialisation and quick skills, it used to be possible because it used to be paid well. Today, with post-editing trend coupled with dropping rates, I very much doubt it‘s possible. In the previous scenario it was 0.16-0.25, in the latter it‘s 0.04-0.05.
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Yes, in a commercial high-traffic language pair with technical specialisation and quick skills, it used to be possible because it used to be paid well. Today, with post-editing trend coupled with dropping rates, I very much doubt it‘s possible. In the previous scenario it was 0.16-0.25, in the latter it‘s 0.04-0.05.
500,000 / 50 / 0.25 = 40,000 words a week. Yeah, right.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 17:49
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Not convinced. | Feb 1, 2023 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Yes, in a commercial high-traffic language pair with technical specialisation and quick skills, it used to be possible because it used to be paid well. Today, with post-editing trend coupled with dropping rates, I very much doubt it‘s possible. In the previous scenario it was 0.16-0.25, in the latter it‘s 0.04-0.05.
A word rate of 0.25 gives a yearly income of 234k based on 40 hours per week (450 words per hour), without a single day off and without even the slightest slow period. Theoretically feasible, but not very realistic, and still not even close to 500k.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:49
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Yes, but we don‘t know all details | Feb 1, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
Yes, in a commercial high-traffic language pair with technical specialisation and quick skills, it used to be possible because it used to be paid well. Today, with post-editing trend coupled with dropping rates, I very much doubt it‘s possible. In the previous scenario it was 0.16-0.25, in the latter it‘s 0.04-0.05.
A word rate of 0.25 gives a yearly income of 234k based on 40 hours per week (450 words per hour), without a single day off and without even the slightest slow period. Theoretically feasible, but not very realistic, and still not even close to 500k.
Perhaps there was also interpreting, copywriting or some other services, or outsourcing. You calculated it/assumed it in a very simplified manner. The straightforward per word rates are not the only thing in the entire world.
| | | | Guofei_LIN
Australia
Local time: 01:49
Chinese
TOPIC STARTER | Accountants and attorneys working for mafia and drug king pins earn higher than average income | Feb 1, 2023 |
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
| | | | | What exactly are you saying? | Feb 1, 2023 |
Guofei_LIN wrote:
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
You want to work for 'illegal' clients, and promote 'crime'????
[Edited at 2023-02-01 10:50 GMT]
| | | | Guofei_LIN
Australia
Local time: 01:49
Chinese
TOPIC STARTER
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
You want to work for 'illegal' clients, and promote 'crime'???? [Edited at 2023-02-01 10:50 GMT]
No, those jobs are very hazardous, that's why the pay is well (according to Hollywood movies). At some stage your client might decide to 'terminate' this business relationship and you are done.
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Guofei_LIN wrote:
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
You want to work for 'illegal' clients, and promote 'crime'???? [Edited at 2023-02-01 10:50 GMT]
No, those jobs are very hazardous, that's why the pay is well (according to Hollywood movies). At some stage your client might decide to 'terminate' this business relationship and you are done.
So, what are you saying?
| | | | Guofei_LIN
Australia
Local time: 01:49
Chinese
TOPIC STARTER | There could be indeed translation jobs that pay $500k, this could be an example | Feb 1, 2023 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
You want to work for 'illegal' clients, and promote 'crime'???? [Edited at 2023-02-01 10:50 GMT]
No, those jobs are very hazardous, that's why the pay is well (according to Hollywood movies). At some stage your client might decide to 'terminate' this business relationship and you are done.
So, what are you saying?
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:49
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| What are you trying to prove? | Feb 1, 2023 |
In each profession, people may earn different salaries depending on their individual circumstances. This type of public discussions are very misleading for newbies who are prone to wishful thinking and/or desperate for work. In the entire discussion, they will only see the $500k figure, even though we supplied many other pieces of information. It‘s called selective perception.
| | | | Mark Somers
Belgium
Local time: 17:49
Member (2017)
Dutch to English
+ ...
Why would anyone lie? This is the third time in the last few days I've seen a comment like that. I find it irritating tbh.
I have not suggested people lie, quite the contrary.
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Guofei_LIN wrote:
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Guofei_LIN wrote:
So why not translators? Just find that customer!
You want to work for 'illegal' clients, and promote 'crime'???? [Edited at 2023-02-01 10:50 GMT]
No, those jobs are very hazardous, that's why the pay is well (according to Hollywood movies). At some stage your client might decide to 'terminate' this business relationship and you are done.
So, what are you saying?
Only in fairy tales. Keep on dreaming.
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:49
Serbian to English
+ ...
| Lots of VERY brave assumptions | Feb 1, 2023 |
Guofei_LIN wrote:
Jared Tabor wrote:
I'm not sure how that would work in a quick poll
Something like this:
I'm established as a translator and my income from translation is xx% of the average income in my country (average income figure as per https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php) :
1. 50%-60% higher than the national average income;
2. 30%-40% higher than the national average income;
3. 10%-20% higher than the national average income;
4. Same as the national average income;
5. 10%-20% lower than the national average income;
Yeah sure - that sounds like a good idea. Until you get into "details".
Trying to figure out what's "the average income" that way would assume that respondents ALL have a well above average understanding of statistics.
Poll results would probably have a "margin of error" of 10 - 20 or maybe even 30% due to varying personal interpretations of what is to be included in "income", not to forget that to have meaningful statistics you MUST have a meaningful "baseline".
Meaning: leaving aside any nitpicking about what exactly is counted as income, what's the point of comparing with the overall national average income?
Personally, what I would find to be a meaningful comparison would be to use as baseline the national average income of all professionals of comparable levels of qualification. THAT would be a far more significant statistic.
| | | | | Statistical insignificance | Feb 2, 2023 |
Daryo wrote:
Trying to figure out what's "the average income" that way would assume that respondents ALL have a well above average understanding of statistics.
.
Follow your own advice and you’ll see that there is a link in the question to a figure for each country… :-;
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