Poll: Do you feel the translation market/industry has changed a lot over the last 6 months? Autor wątku: ProZ.com Staff
|
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you feel the translation market/industry has changed a lot over the last 6 months?".
View the poll results »
| | |
Work was scarce in May but nothing out of the usual ups and downs… | | | There are obvious changes | Oct 1, 2020 |
The main change I see for the translation market is the demand side. When an industry suffered due to the Covid crisis (for example, the tourism industry), the demand for translations by this industry dropped extremely. Other industries that boom due to the Covid crisis (for example, online services or videogames) create higher demand for translations. And of course there is a lot of translation work directly or indirectly related to Covid (not only medical content but also content regarding to ... See more The main change I see for the translation market is the demand side. When an industry suffered due to the Covid crisis (for example, the tourism industry), the demand for translations by this industry dropped extremely. Other industries that boom due to the Covid crisis (for example, online services or videogames) create higher demand for translations. And of course there is a lot of translation work directly or indirectly related to Covid (not only medical content but also content regarding to all kinds of business transformations, newsletters, events that were canceled or moved to online events, safety measures, disclaimers, whatnot). On the supply side, I believe the translation industry was probably better prepared for this crisis than many other industries. Most of us are used to working at home anyway - not only we translators, but also LSP project managers and other contributors are used to working online or at least can move to online working easily. ▲ Collapse | | | expressisverbis Portugalia Local time: 04:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2015 angielski > portugalski + ... "A growing change" | Oct 1, 2020 |
Take a close look at the number of registrations with ProZ.com in these last six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Am I wrong to assume that now professional translators have to face competition from a number of other large "players in the game"? I really hope I am mistaken.
[Edited at 2020-10-01 10:52 GMT] | |
|
|
Tom in London Wielka Brytania Local time: 04:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2008 włoski > angielski
question "Do you feel the translation market/industry has changed a lot over the last 6 months?" A lot of Italian agencies seem to have gone out of business. On the other hand I've been getting more direct clients. | | |
It’s easy to speculate about how the industry might have been affected, but there is no way of knowing for sure. Even if there had been major changes in the amount and types of work coming my way (and there haven’t), it would only be my personal experience in a tiny, tiny corner of a minor language pair. And attributing those changes to Covid would be pure conjecture. But if we’re talking about gut feeling, I would say there’s less crappy work from ... See more It’s easy to speculate about how the industry might have been affected, but there is no way of knowing for sure. Even if there had been major changes in the amount and types of work coming my way (and there haven’t), it would only be my personal experience in a tiny, tiny corner of a minor language pair. And attributing those changes to Covid would be pure conjecture. But if we’re talking about gut feeling, I would say there’s less crappy work from cheapo agencies about, and an unchanged or slightly increased amount of high-end work. ▲ Collapse | | | Liena Vijupe Łotwa Local time: 06:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2014 francuski > łotewski + ... Some, but not a lot | Oct 1, 2020 |
expressisverbis wrote: Take a close look at the number of registrations with ProZ.com in these last six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Am I wrong to assume that now professional translators have to face competition from a number of other large "players in the game"?
[Edited at 2020-10-01 10:52 GMT] I'm pretty sure most of them won't last. Also gyms are usually crowded in January, not quite the same a couple months later. | | | Kaisa I Kanada Local time: 23:38 angielski > fiński + ... Some, not a lot | Oct 1, 2020 |
In the subtitling world, the use of NMT-systems assisting translation work seems to have become the norm this year. With this comes the pressure to lower rates, though 75% of my clients have not even hinted at that. However, there is one agency who threatened demanding a 30% decrease in rates in the spring (claiming their NMT speeds up translation by 30%, of which there is absolutely no evidence, quite the opposite in fact) but assured this would be negotiated with linguists. Then suddenly just ... See more In the subtitling world, the use of NMT-systems assisting translation work seems to have become the norm this year. With this comes the pressure to lower rates, though 75% of my clients have not even hinted at that. However, there is one agency who threatened demanding a 30% decrease in rates in the spring (claiming their NMT speeds up translation by 30%, of which there is absolutely no evidence, quite the opposite in fact) but assured this would be negotiated with linguists. Then suddenly just the other day, they went ahead and decreased their offered rates anyway, without any discussion. I had already dropped them as a client in the spring after their initial threat. Still, this is just a continuation of a trend that started in the 90s, not a big change in the industry. ▲ Collapse | |
|
|
expressisverbis Portugalia Local time: 04:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2015 angielski > portugalski + ...
Liena Vijupe wrote: I'm pretty sure most of them won't last. Also gyms are usually crowded in January, not quite the same a couple months later. I hope they not get very far. | | | Depends On Your Specialization, I Would Think | Oct 1, 2020 |
Literary translation has really gotten clobbered, and in a very abrupt manner in my case, as of April, since, with the exception of 2018, I had been working for several years on a mostly full-time basis. A translator friend of mine is working more than I am, even though he has been affected work-wise, also. I think it's because he mostly does legal translations. | | | Felipe Tomasi Brazylia Local time: 00:38 Członek ProZ.com angielski > portugalski + ...
I think that in terms of demand is quite the same. What I see is that many newcomers, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are trying the translation career because they think that basic knowledge of a foreign language is enough to become a translator.
[Edited at 2020-10-02 01:45 GMT] | | | Anastasia Naoumi Grecja Local time: 06:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2018 angielski > grecki + ...
Sadly yes. And legal translation most of all, especially as courts remained closed for some time and due to travel restriction business between partners of different countries has not been flowing well since March. I have also lost lots of direct clients and private individuals as most have canceled their travels and business in Germany. | |
|
|
Paul Lambert Szwecja Local time: 05:38 Członek ProZ.com od 2006 szwedzki > angielski + ... Yes, without a doubt | Oct 5, 2020 |
I was not able to invoice for a single project in August. This situation is actually quite scary. | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Poll: Do you feel the translation market/industry has changed a lot over the last 6 months? Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
| CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |