| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21] > | translation is dead as a profession Thread poster: Daniel Rich
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| I don't read Chinese, but | Jun 24, 2022 |
[quote]LIZ LI wrote:
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: LIZ LI wrote:  I cannot understand how the translation for the second image came up with "noodles", since I do not recognize any Chinese character representing noodles in the original Chinese. If "一米"+"线", that's a reference line to indicate the distance of one meter, so that people may keep up with social-distancing rules. If "一"+"米线", that's litterally "one rice noodle". I am not sure if this kind of mistranslations commonly seen anyway within my country apply to Japanese as well or not. But Chinese, as a language, is not so precise as German, French, English... a loooooong list to name (even if we indeed have an insanely difficult writing system) Since machines are not able to read unpuntuated phrases nor are aware of the contexts, the one-meter-line is mistranslated into "one rice noodle" that we shall step on. Am planning on putting a "Stop wasting food" sticker right next to it. It's true that something within our profession is fading, eternally, like any other profession in the world. However, translators die, translation doesn't. [Edited at 2022-06-23 02:58 GMT]
I thought that the word for noodles was 麵 only, and 线 looks more like the word for "money" to me. I cannot give you any examples right now, but you have guessed right that these kind of mistranslations also apply to Japanese as well.
| | | | | Now it's all clear | Jun 24, 2022 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Could it be Google Translate going crazy?
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 03:23
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Translation is not dead, but | Jun 24, 2022 |
I believe the right word would be "meatballs" as it was wrongly transliterated.
| | | | | State of the industry... | Jun 25, 2022 |
In a job just posted today by an American agency... a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?
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XXXX is looking for Italian translators that can provide high quality translations. ... See more In a job just posted today by an American agency... a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?
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XXXX is looking for Italian translators that can provide high quality translations. You will be evaluated also on your ability to follow instructions the first time, as well as your timeliness in regards to meeting deadlines and answering emails/calls. You will be asked to provide an unpaid sample.
Resume
Educational Degree and where it was obtained
Years of professional experience doing translations (volunteer work and interpretation do NOT count)
Knowledge of CAT Tools (memoQ, Trados, etc.)
If you have a current memoQ license.
How fast can you translate 2,000 words at high quality.
How many words a day for Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE)
Usual working hours (Start to end time, with time zone)
Your rates for proofreading/translating.
Translation rate per word:
Proofreading rate per word:
Fuzzy rates
95-99% Match:
85-94% Match:
75-84% Match:
Rush translation rate per word:
Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE) rate:
Note: We do not pay minimum fees, let us know if you have any more questions about this.
Current Phone Number
Current Address
Time Zone
Certifications
Languages that you know (specify the level of proficiency and which language is your 1st language). It also helps to tell us how you were able to learn those languages.
Area of Expertise (i.e., Subject Matters: Technology, Education, Medicine, etc.)
Do you have your own proofreader?
3 Email References (People who have experienced your translating/proofreading work)
Languages that you would translate/proofread (Ex: ENG->SPA, SPA->ENG, GER->ENG, etc.)
Note: If you could translate/proofread other languages but would prefer to just do one language to another, put that down instead of listing all possible languages that you can do.
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My reply:
I have 25 years experience... I'll tell you my rate, then, if it's acceptable to you, give me a small paid job to find out how good/bad I am...
[Edited at 2022-06-25 08:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:23
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:
a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?
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I can't believe anyone would respond to an advertisement like that. They're asking
"Are you willing to put yourself under our total control?"
| | | | | "Go away" is too polite... | Jun 25, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
I can't believe anyone would respond to an advertisement like that. They're asking
"Are you willing to put yourself under our total control?"
Already six quotes.
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Nowadays, professional translation is no where to be seen.
| | | | Jeff Whittaker 
United States
Local time: 22:23
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Organization for translators | Jun 27, 2022 |
If only we had an organization that would represent and support human translators rather than corporations.
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 22:23
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Increasing rates | Jun 27, 2022 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
In my 17-year period of freelancing my rates have only increased (apart from 1 isolated case due to exceptional circumstances). Perhaps my initial rate 17 years ago was rather low (who knows?), but certainly not too low to make an acceptable income, which has shifted to a very satisfying income nowadays.
Let's face it, you just can't generalize.
[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:48 GMT]
According to your profile, your current rate is .08. That's the rate I charged in 1993.
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 22:23
Romanian to English
+ ...
| I agree ... partially! | Jun 27, 2022 |
Tom in London wrote:
Or *most* translators. There is still work for translators but only for the most skilful ones, and there won't be enormous volumes of work. Instead there will be seriously demanding documents to translate that require a high degree of literacy, and are only required occasionally.
There are certain fields where MT is strictly forbidden (judicial, military, law enforcement, immigration, etc) therefore no reason to panic. I am 70 and for the last couple years I have been trying to retire; my workload has almost doubled compared to the pre-COVID era. I have been trying hard to find a qualified translator to take over but nobody seems to be interested. As soon as I give them a one page test-document to translate (ie. the header of an Indictment) they quit.
Lee
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 04:23
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Of course you did. | Jun 28, 2022 |
Justin Trumain wrote:
According to your profile, your current rate is .08. That's the rate I charged in 1993.
No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 05:23
Member
English to Turkish
Lieven Malaise wrote:
No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did.
Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 04:23
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Baran Keki wrote:
Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.
I totally agree.
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Baran Keki wrote: Lieven Malaise wrote:
No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did. Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.
Hmmm. I'm not sure I translate much faster now (see recent comments on one of these threads about how easy it is to spend more time on research now that we have the Internet).
I think inflation is the main reason to raise our rates, plus a slight experience-related uplift. I charge 4-5 times what I got when I started in 1993.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 05:23
Member
English to Turkish
Ice Scream wrote:
Hmmm. I'm not sure I translate much faster now (see recent comments on one of these threads about how easy it is to spend more time on research now that we have the Internet).
I think inflation is the main reason to raise our rates, plus a slight experience-related uplift. I charge 4-5 times what I got when I started in 1993.
Judging by your modus operandi as described by someone on another thread (tent, candlelight, pencil etc.) you must have thrived in 1993.
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