| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: With your education and experience, could you earn more doing something other than translation? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| I'm not sure what else I could do... | Aug 23, 2006 |
...or would want to do!
| | | | Beth Dennison 
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:12
Chinese to English
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Javier Herrera wrote:
But my concern after reading all these comments is that many of those 40% translators who could earn more by doing something else could as well do something to make translation more profitable (at least as much as those other activities), ie, by demanding higher rates, specializing more...etc.
I could make more money doing something else, but that "something else" would involve a commute and long working hours.
As things stand, I work as much as I need to to have a decent standard of living while at the same time always being around for my daughter. I could earn more money at translation not by demanding higher rates or specialising more, but by simply putting more hours in!
As a single Mum with a 5-year-old daughter, the most important thing for me is to be able not only to support her financially, but also emotionally. So, at the moment, freedom to work the hours I please when I please is the most important thing in a job.
| | | | Aurora Humarán (X)
Argentina
Local time: 14:12
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Not worried about the results | Aug 23, 2006 |
Let's re-read the question:
«With your education and experience, could you earn more doing something other than translation?»
This is only asking us about a fact, it has nothing to do with being willing to give up translating or vocation, just: do you have any other qualifications that would allow you to earn more money?
Au
| | | | Aurora Humarán (X)
Argentina
Local time: 14:12
English to Spanish
+ ...
| What else...? | Aug 23, 2006 |
Sandra Petch wrote:
...or would want to do!
Have we had a poll on this already? If we have not, it would be great to have it.
Au
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| I voted N/A - for in theory yes, in practice no. | Aug 23, 2006 |
I did in fact try for a good many years to find some other kind of work before I fell into place with a translation agency, and later set up as a freelancer.
I trained as a technical librarian in the UK - and would probably be earning a comfortable salary by now if I had not met and married a certain Dane, but who knows?
I ended up as an ex-pat with unusable qualifications and struggled with culture shock and a period of high unemployment and economic depression.
... See more I did in fact try for a good many years to find some other kind of work before I fell into place with a translation agency, and later set up as a freelancer.
I trained as a technical librarian in the UK - and would probably be earning a comfortable salary by now if I had not met and married a certain Dane, but who knows?
I ended up as an ex-pat with unusable qualifications and struggled with culture shock and a period of high unemployment and economic depression.
There are always some reasons why people prefer a native rather than an ex-pat, which may often be valid enough, and nothing to do with discrimination. I did get jobs, but they barely called for any qualifications. They paid the rent, however...
As a translator in Denmark, not being Danish is actually a qualification, and when I did start as a translator, suddenly having taken any job I could get rather than specialising proved to be grist to the mill, not a handicap. I was earning more than ever before.
Now that the economic trends are more favourable, people with qualifications like mine and experience can earn a lot more in other jobs, but there is still the fact that I am well over 50, and I have no inside experience of any other business or industry. The most recent of my qualifications are directly translation-related anyway, though some exporting companies might be able to employ me in administration.
People my age are asked when they plan to retire - and some are still squeezed out of jobs. Realistically, very few employers would take me on.
It's been a struggle, but since I have landed on my feet, I am not about to make any big changes.
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I do believe translators ought to be paid on a level with other professionals who are qualified at the same level and carry the same kinds of responsibility.
We may not need fancy offices like architects, and our equipment may not be as expensive to buy and keep sterile as my dentist's ... But when all expenses are paid, translators qualified at that level should have the same take-home salary as lawyers, doctors and similar professionals. We translate their texts, and they depend on us just as we depend on them for a living.
That is another story.
[Edited at 2006-08-23 12:15] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:12
Flemish to English
+ ...
| Not at the moment... | Aug 23, 2006 |
but on the long term, I would like to add website-building, VB.net programming to the services offered and focus more on interpreting. No pennypinching when you repeat a word or a sentence once or a hundred times. Pays better and experiences have taught me that with interpreting you don't have to send out so much reminders when payment is due.
Personally, I would prefer a contract as a freelancer at a big institution/bank providing services against my rates and being paid as an empl... See more but on the long term, I would like to add website-building, VB.net programming to the services offered and focus more on interpreting. No pennypinching when you repeat a word or a sentence once or a hundred times. Pays better and experiences have taught me that with interpreting you don't have to send out so much reminders when payment is due.
Personally, I would prefer a contract as a freelancer at a big institution/bank providing services against my rates and being paid as an employee to having to chase invoices and pennypinching. No BB needed if you have such a contract of say 4 days and work the rest of the week on another project for another client.
When you get older, it is easier to become an employee of that institution in order to secure a higher pension.
Working for a company is not always that bad: What would you say if there is a company which pays you a decent salary, with colleagues worldwide (at whose homes you can stay), which offers airline discount up to 90%, 75% on sending letters, packages and even freight worldwide, give you meal-vouchers, a health-insurance plan and a stock option plan. Before 9/11 they used to give their employees free rides on their planes, but for security reasons that privilege has been abolished. .
Going on a weekend to Japan was no luxury. All you needed was time, not money.
For those who reach middle-management levels in such companies life is not that bad and work is fun, with colleagues worldwide, who become your friends.
I also learnt some very sound business principles at that company, such a short-term payment, people service profit against "I" Service Profit (the translator's credo), ....
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Some links with regard to this discussion
http://www.proz.com/topic/53220 (in French)
http://www.wageindicator.org/main
[Edited at 2006-08-23 10:29] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 18:12
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Teaching and research were my options, so I guess not | Aug 23, 2006 |
Nonetheless, they paid my social costs up to such a time as when I decided to assume them myself.
The acid test came last January when I was "invited" back to a teaching post by the university where I got my PhD. Since there was no guarantee of permanence and it meant calling off my holidays "just when", I said no. I guess that pretty much sums it up.
Anyway, I've set up my pension in such a way as to earn more upon retirement than a university professor.
<... See more Nonetheless, they paid my social costs up to such a time as when I decided to assume them myself.
The acid test came last January when I was "invited" back to a teaching post by the university where I got my PhD. Since there was no guarantee of permanence and it meant calling off my holidays "just when", I said no. I guess that pretty much sums it up.
Anyway, I've set up my pension in such a way as to earn more upon retirement than a university professor.
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| | | | | Higher rates, but not higher that your competitor offers ... | Aug 23, 2006 |
Javier Herrera wrote:
by demanding higher rates, specializing more...etc.
What I will say may sound bitter, but that is the fact: demand high rates and you are undercut by an anonymous competitor and two possible and rather big (20 and 120 pages) jobs just run away like scared fat piggies. And as the action takes place almost in real time - a translator (myself) is frustrated.
Sorry for that bitter stuff... and not related to the subject either
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Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 22:42
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | I don't know | Aug 23, 2006 |
I am trained in software development in addition to Hindi, and may be if I take up a job as a software developer, I might earn more, but I doubt if I will be happy. My heart is in languages and translation.
[Edited at 2006-08-23 18:05]
| | | | Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 10:12
Spanish to English
+ ...
In memoriam | poor but happy ... | Aug 23, 2006 |
Denise DeVries wrote:
I can live wherever I want, I don't have to commute to work, I don't have to deal with a boss every day, I can wear what I want, I set my own hours, and I'll probably live a longer, happier life.
Well put!!
Sure, I could earn more if I moved to be big, expensive, noisy city, and then I would have wardrobe costs, commuting costs, therapy costs, etc. Much prefer to be poor but eager every day to rise and get to work (in my sandals and the big baggy clothes that I bought at the second-hand store).
| | | | Irene N
United States
Local time: 11:12
English to Russian
+ ...
For quite a few years I make between top 5 and low 6 digit numbers depending on the year and there is no way I could have gotten a managerial position with somewhat close salary without a US PhD, which means paying for it first, spending several years studying fot it while losing income etc... and a risk of ending up with some idiot manager or signing corporate policies and having a 2-week vacation... Thanks but no, thanks! I wanted to live to the fulliest, have fun, travel, to me the very idea ... See more For quite a few years I make between top 5 and low 6 digit numbers depending on the year and there is no way I could have gotten a managerial position with somewhat close salary without a US PhD, which means paying for it first, spending several years studying fot it while losing income etc... and a risk of ending up with some idiot manager or signing corporate policies and having a 2-week vacation... Thanks but no, thanks! I wanted to live to the fulliest, have fun, travel, to me the very idea of fleeing from the USSR and landing in the cubical was bone-chilling. Freedom in all respects was my ultimate goal.
If when I arrived in the US I were 16 things could probably go differently but in my specific situation they've turned out to the absolute best.
By aiming stubbornly and steadily at a few fairly narrow fields with extremely high potential, and going deeper rather that broader I can now relate to another poster - it's easy money. I chose not to jump between bodybuilding and gardening and stock exchange and vacuum cleaner manuals. Instead I picked 2 markets with universal potential, sweated my way into it and today my name means a little something in both. What can be better?!?!?!?!:-)
Actually, the results are scary to me too... Apparently not too many people here could claim executive/CEO positions. This means that an average, may it be top average salary could still look more attractive... This is sad, guys...
[Edited at 2006-08-23 16:04] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Bill Greendyk
United States
Local time: 12:12
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Likewise, Irene! | Aug 23, 2006 |
IreneN wrote:
By aiming stubbornly and steadily at a few fairly narrow fields with extremely high potential, and going deeper rather that broader
I agree completely, Irene. I voted "a lot less" as well, and for precisely the reason you mention above. To me, the key is focusing on one, or at the most two, highly specialized niche markets. True, in my profile I offer services in various fields, but I actively promote my services in the two fields I specialize in -- children's literature and religious literature. Once becoming established and known "out there" for being specialized in these fields, one can charge USD 0.25 - 0.50 per word without the client blinking an eye. I recently had the editor of a very well-known publisher in the US request that we raise our rates! Her reasoning was that she knew how many millions were being made on these books that were being sold to Wal-Mart, Borders, and Barnes and Noble, and she felt that we simply weren't being paid enough. Ehem....yes, we took her up on the offer
I studied for eight years and got two degrees -- one in language and the other in teaching. I can't fathom how jobs in either of those two fields, even in administration, (I was formerly a school principal) could have provided me with the work, income, independence, and other perks that I have now. While it took a lean year or two to take off, I now get so many work requests from well-known children's publishers that I've had to form a team of collaborators. All in all, I'm very thankful for being able to do the work that I love, be paid very well for it, and also for being able to pay the translators who collaborate with me the rates that they deserve as well. If that's not a win-win-win situation, I don't know what is!
[Edited at 2006-08-23 16:29]
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As relatively new to being full-time freelancer I work usually 2 - 2,5 weeks per month and earn 3 to 5 times more (depending on a month) than in my previous nine to five office job, which I really hated.
And I still have "empty" time to gather new clients and fill it with more work
I do what I love, and earn real money, not peanuts, what more could I ask for? ... See more As relatively new to being full-time freelancer I work usually 2 - 2,5 weeks per month and earn 3 to 5 times more (depending on a month) than in my previous nine to five office job, which I really hated.
And I still have "empty" time to gather new clients and fill it with more work
I do what I love, and earn real money, not peanuts, what more could I ask for?
Anni ▲ Collapse
| | | | janen
Local time: 06:12
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Me or a person with my qualifications? | Aug 23, 2006 |
I was a trainee solicitor with a major London law firm. But I don't consider that I gave up a lucrative career. The main think I was judged on there was fitting in and having the right persona. I didn't, and I would never have made it, even if I had wanted to.
| | | | Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:12
Flemish to English
+ ...
When one is known "out there": Is there a difference between US-based translators and the rest of the world.
Some years ago a US-based translator told me that "American have no notion of what translation is or do not know anything about prices. So they just quote a price. At times, they even uppen the price.
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Language combination
EnglishSpanish : Try to get 0.20 eurocents p.w. in Spain?
Whether specialized or not : The Spanish and Italian markets are ... See more When one is known "out there": Is there a difference between US-based translators and the rest of the world.
Some years ago a US-based translator told me that "American have no notion of what translation is or do not know anything about prices. So they just quote a price. At times, they even uppen the price.
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Language combination
EnglishSpanish : Try to get 0.20 eurocents p.w. in Spain?
Whether specialized or not : The Spanish and Italian markets are not directly the most favourable with regard to rates and payment terms. 0.05 is the normal going rate and 0.07 already a lot. ▲ Collapse
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