Translation Rates and Inflation / CAT Tools and Discounts / AI, Machine Translation and Post-Editing / Changing Our Working Methods / Full and Light Editing / Light Editing Into or Out of Our Mother Tongue / Offering Multiple Languages or Specialising in One Language Combination Only

Translation Rates and Inflation

What do you think our industry will bring for 2024?  Judging by numerous posts I’ve read on the various social media platforms and many conversations I’ve had with colleagues over recent weeks, 2023 was probably the most challenging year in terms of turnover to date for many of us.  This year, in 2024, I’ll be celebrating 30 years in business as a Dutch<>English translator, and although I’m very proud of my achievements over the past three decades, it’s quite depressing to think that my income has steadily decreased since entering the 21^st century!  Comparing my source word rate for agency clients in Europe between the 2000s and the past few years, my base rate has seen a net drop of as high as 17%, i.e. invoice amounts have decreased by a staggering 17% in euros since 20 years ago.  This doesn’t even take into account inflation or the rise in the cost of living, investments in technology and CPD commitments.

CAT Tools and Discounts

At the start of the 21^st century, productivity gains and time savings could still be achieved through the use of CAT tools and we were free to choose our preferred CAT tool and the way we organised our work.  In recent years, many agencies have started to dictate which CAT tool we should use or they have moved their translation operations to online platforms for us to work on in real-time using their terminological databases on their systems.  More and more of our translation work is pre-translated by CAT tool leverage so, where in the past we used to be paid for both the easy and the difficult parts of a text, we are now only dealing with the harder parts of the text.  Our time spent on research is the same, but our earnings have considerably decreased.  Plus, client databases often contain many errors and inconsistencies as they do not appear to be properly maintained by knowledgeable translators or revisors, yet these incorrect segments are still included as fuzzy matches leading to discounted rates, with us translators having to spend a lot more time on delivering quality translations for much less pay.

AI, Machine Translation and Post-Editing

Over the past few years, the focus of many discussions in our industry has been on AI, Machine Translation and Post-Editing taking over our profession.  Initially, translators may have been of the opinion that we had nothing to fear, as the quality of MT output used to be rather poor, and editing poor translations was always more time-consuming than doing the translation ourselves in the first place.  However, is this still the case now that technology and database input are constantly improving?  I first subscribed to DeepL about two years ago now and I must say that for translations between Dutch and English, I have found the quality of MT output to be astonishingly good.  I generally use DeepL alongside my own work and often prefer the translations suggested by DeepL to what I came up with myself.

So we’d better get used to it!  AI, Machine Translation and Post-Editing are real contenders and here to stay, but rather than posing a threat to our profession, I think we need to embrace all this new technology and make it work for us.  These are exciting times for our industry!

Changing Our Working Methods

Having said that, changing the way we work can be painful and will require changes in our attitude and our way of thinking so we can learn new skills.  This applies not just to us, but to agency owners and their PMs too.  Take post-editing for example.  One agency prescribes the process for post-editing as follows:
a) Read the target segment;
b) Read the source segment;
c) Check that the meaning conveyed is the same;
d) Does the MT definitely need changing or are these preferential changes?;
e) Change the MT accordingly.
However, according to the RWS Post-Editing Certificate training material, the steps to follow are:
a) Always read the source segment first and identify anything you’re unsure about;
b) Look at the MT output and see how close it is to the translation you had in mind;
c) Make the necessary corrections to the translation using the MT output as a basis;
d) Reread the target segment and compare it against the source segment and make any final changes if necessary.

Full and Light Editing

And then there is the distinction between the different levels of editing, i.e. Full or Light Editing and their respective rates of pay.  I would equate Full Editing with what we used to call Translating for Publication Purposes, and Light Editing with Translating for Information Purposes.
Again, the RWS Post-Editing Certificate training material prescribes the following for Light Editing:
a) Only correct critical or major errors for mistranslations, omissions/additions;
b) Check client-preferred terms against the client glossary at the end;
c) Do not correct mistakes in grammar and spelling unless they affect the meaning;
d) Do not correct errors in consistency, style, country standards, register or tone.
For most translators, Light Editing will be a shock to the system as it goes completely against our instincts and what we have always been told to do.

Light Editing Into or Out of Our Mother Tongue

So, what does Light Editing mean for translators and agency owners and their PMs?  If mistakes in grammar, spelling, consistency, style, country standards, register and tone are supposed to be left untouched and only critical and major errors and client-preferred terminology need correcting, who will be the best professional to do this: someone who is a native speaker of the source language or of the target language?  In my opinion, this will bring a shift of emphasis in favour of the importance of the source language.  The editor should have a perfect command of the source language to understand all the specific nuances.  Whereas agencies in the UK have always insisted that translators should translate into their mother tongue only, I feel that, for light editing, editors should be working out of their mother tongue to be able to pick out all critical and major errors.

Offering Multiple Languages or Specialising in One Language Combination Only

What this means for translators is that rather  than having multiple languages to work out of into our mother tongue, I believe we will be better off specialising in one language combination to reach native or near native language competence in the one foreign language and our own.  So, someone who completed a degree in one or two foreign languages, where they studied another language from scratch for a year, may have been translating from all their foreign languages into their mother tongue for years.  However, is their command of the language they learned from scratch for a year going to be sufficient to carry out light editing, i.e. will they be able to pick out all the critical and major errors?  For Dutch into English translations, the Dutch will generally have little faith in English native speakers having a thorough enough understanding of the Dutch language to be able to do a light editing job and they will insist on having a Dutch person carry out these jobs.  Will the same apply to the languages you work with?  What will this mean to you and your future in the industry?  How can you prepare for this?  Should you specialise in your strongest language combination to futureproof yourself?  Hopefully, this has given us all some food for thought.  If you have any comments to add to this debate, it will be great to hear from you!

Nicole van den Wittenboer, Interpreter, Translator, Dutch<>English

The post INTO OR OUT OF OUR MOTHER TONGUE? appeared first on North West Translators' Network.

Sara started her presentation by showing us a particularly useful tool that gives a better idea of the impact of your profile: the SSI (social selling index). Just sign into your LinkedIn account, then visit this page https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi which will display your current SSI score. This score measures your profile’s performance on the site, how you engage in the network and what your rate is in your industry. You can find further help about this online, which brings me to Sara’s second piece of advice: if you need help with LinkedIn, Google it, as it will be quicker than looking for help directly on the website.

The next step is to decide which language you want as the default setting for your profile. When you view your profile, this can be found in the top right corner. It is important for linguists to have a multilingual profile, so that people can find us and view our profile in their own language. Make sure you do this first, before completing the different sections in all languages. Now let’s start with the profile itself. The top Intro section is the one that introduces you and the only one most viewers will see, so make it count! Sara told us that, according to research, the photo is a key element for people visiting your page; it should show your full face, either front on or at a ¾ angle, with a blurred or neutral background. It may be worth investing in a professional photo. The background photo or banner should illustrate who you are and what you do: you can even create a banner on Canva, for example, and add some inspiring text or logo to illustrate your specialisms.

Your title is especially important and must be explicit – mine is “English/French Translator”, followed by MA and MITI which are both recognised in the UK. On my French profile, I have put SFT instead, which is more relevant in France. It is also recommended that you use all 120 characters allowed. It is better to avoid abbreviations for the languages, and to use full words instead: they will become part of the defining keywords in your profile. It is important to understand the major role of keywords in LinkedIn, and to choose our words carefully.

Next to the title, your most recent/current employment is displayed in your list and the latest education item, with a logo. If the organisations concerned do not have a logo, they will appear with a grey design, so make sure you have a logo when you select a university, for example, or a company. Sara advised us to create a LinkedIn business page as well if we have a trading name as it is the easiest way to have a logo on display for your current employment; it may just be your name. Until I have one (I am currently working on rebranding myself), I have moved up a main client’s company listed in my Experience section so that I can show a logo, as my business name does not have one. My next task will be to create a business page on LinkedIn and a personal logo using Canva!

The rest of your profile should be full of relevant information for potential clients, which means using their words, what they are looking for – the term “technical translator” is often used in searches – so it would be wise to include it in your information, for example. The About section allows 2,000 characters, which means there is plenty of space for describing what you do and how it fits with your interests. The other sections should also contain more keywords aimed at the people who may visit your profile.

The Skills section allows you to add 50 skills, and according to Sara, LinkedIn likes it to be full. I have just revised mine by adding a few new ones related to my specialisms and deleting some that are not relevant anymore. At the same time, I have started to endorse some of my contacts’ skills. In return, some of them have already endorsed mine, and most importantly, some of the new ones. I find it more difficult to ask for recommendations, but it is an opportunity to enhance your profile further.

The Volunteer experience section is another opportunity to place some valuable keywords about you, your interests and your experience. Again, organisations listed in LinkedIn with logos are the best.

Finally, as LinkedIn is increasingly becoming a social platform, I have started to be more active on the feed, as well as liking posts and following companies and groups which relate to my work and where I want to take it. Have you joined the NWTN group? Don’t forget to turn on the notifications so you don’t miss any of our posts.

Ideally you should create original posts with the right #hashtags to improve your visibility, but I am not there yet! These few pieces of advice summarize what I took away from this webinar, and what I can do to enhance my LinkedIn profile. It is a start, but the few tweaks I have done since the webinar have already improved my SSI rating! So, go and try a few, and see what happens!

Written by Laurence Bisot
NWTN Chair
English to French translator

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