| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Future of freelance translators in auto-translated world Thread poster: Ömer Maraş
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Ömer Maraş
Türkiye
Local time: 22:56
German to Turkish
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Hi folks,
future trends seem to be "shutting down" the concept of "translation done by translators". I'm concerned about the future of our profession. Anyone else who feels like it? Of so, what do you plan to do? Your plans might help me plan my own future as well!
Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Omer Maras
| | | | | The sky is falling in | May 11, 2020 |
Back in 2010, while most were still laughing at MT, I looked into it and told myself the industry could be on its knees in ten years’ time and I might need to find a new area of work. And yet it’s 2020 and I’m still here. (Un)fortunately, I have simply been too busy to think about another career. I should think interpreting will eventually go the same way, so that’s not an option for me (even if I were any good at it). I’ve been translating more books – this area seems quite MT-proof... See more Back in 2010, while most were still laughing at MT, I looked into it and told myself the industry could be on its knees in ten years’ time and I might need to find a new area of work. And yet it’s 2020 and I’m still here. (Un)fortunately, I have simply been too busy to think about another career. I should think interpreting will eventually go the same way, so that’s not an option for me (even if I were any good at it). I’ve been translating more books – this area seems quite MT-proof. Otherwise I’ll be looking to go back into the classroom (though, because there are so few CS/SK > EN natives, I hope to be the last translator standing in these pairs).
I feel sorry for all the “Getting established” posts. My immediate response is, “Don’t do it; it’s too late to make a career out of translating, and, most of all, don’t throw money at MA translation courses.” Of course, I readily acknowledge that I’m a glass half-empty guy in most things and I’m sure my colleagues here will be a lot more optimistic. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:56
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| It's not as good as it was, but then it never was | May 11, 2020 |
Stuart Hoskins wrote:
Back in 2010, while most were still laughing at MT, I looked into it and told myself the industry could be on its knees in ten years’ time
People were saying something similar to me - essentially variations on the theme of the industry going to hell in a handbasket - when I was looking at this in 2014. Until just before coronavirus, my business had gone from strength to strength, and seems to be picking up again quite nicely. There's still a living to be had, provided that you can differentiate yourself in some way. If not...
Regards,
Dan
| | | | Ömer Maraş
Türkiye
Local time: 22:56
German to Turkish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks for the shot of optimism | May 11, 2020 |
Dear folks,
Thanks for the shot of optimism So let's all hope for the best.
regards,
Omer Maras
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Yolande Hivart
Austria
Local time: 21:56
Member (2016)
German to French
| Simply keep improving | May 11, 2020 |
The advice I could tell new beginners is that they have to keep improving if they want to keep ahead of the curve and not think that because of a diploma they owe anything to anyone.
That way with the process of adding experince, you distinguish yourself from backyard translators who keep a flat line as a secondary living and are prone to be replaced by the advances of MT.
I would not even pass a single translation test now with what was accepted from me in 2001. Maybe when you are s... See more The advice I could tell new beginners is that they have to keep improving if they want to keep ahead of the curve and not think that because of a diploma they owe anything to anyone.
That way with the process of adding experince, you distinguish yourself from backyard translators who keep a flat line as a secondary living and are prone to be replaced by the advances of MT.
I would not even pass a single translation test now with what was accepted from me in 2001. Maybe when you are starting, you are forgiven much but when you add years of experiences more and more is expected from you to even prove your experience. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | MT could only be a threat if MT vendors were accountable for the result | May 11, 2020 |
This topic has been discussed many times, but anyway, maybe here is a new twist: So-called AI applications are everywhere, that is true, but if we look closer, we also realize that nobody takes responsibility for AI results. AI adoption goes hand in hand with the removal of accountability. Will the MT providers pay damages if the result of their so-called translation is a broken promise, a broken machine, or a broken arm? Only then, if the providers of the service take responsibility for their p... See more This topic has been discussed many times, but anyway, maybe here is a new twist: So-called AI applications are everywhere, that is true, but if we look closer, we also realize that nobody takes responsibility for AI results. AI adoption goes hand in hand with the removal of accountability. Will the MT providers pay damages if the result of their so-called translation is a broken promise, a broken machine, or a broken arm? Only then, if the providers of the service take responsibility for their product/service, it could be a threat to human translation. I don't see this in the foreseeable future. And then, on the day far in the future when machine translation is equivalent to responsible human translation, we will have an artificial intelligence that is also able to do every other job available to humans, so no one has to worry about careers any longer. In fact, a lot of jobs are much easier to automate than translating. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikolay Novitskiy
Russian Federation
Local time: 00:56
Member (2018)
English to Russian
Above the nose, Lieutenant! No matter how unenviable the future is, our second oldest profession was predicted, machine translation to normal - like to the moon!
- This text was auto-translated by Google
And here is the real meaning: "Bite the bullet! No matter how dim some people see the future of our second oldest profession, machine translation is a far cry from a human one!"
| | | | | Surely the highlighted is somewhat of an exaggeration? | May 11, 2020 |
Stuart Hoskins wrote:
I feel sorry for all the “Getting established” posts. My immediate response is, “Don’t do it; it’s too late to make a career out of translating, and, most of all, don’t throw money at MA translation courses.” Of course, I readily acknowledge that I’m a glass half-empty guy in most things and I’m sure my colleagues here will be a lot more optimistic.
If you mean that someone who starts their translation career today is statistically unlikely to able to make a living purely as a translator up until retirement, that may well be true - but then, the same could be said of many other "traditional" fields. IMHO the safest bet to a new translator would be to initially choose a particular career field that can immediately become their first translation specialism, should they still wish to pursue a career as a translator. If their plans nevertheless fail they can still resume their former career path. It may be tougher for someone a few years out of school with little to no industry experience but still possible, especially if they have kept their options open by e.g. networking and keeping up with recent developments.
Contrary to your assertion, I don't think "translation done by translators" is to be shut down and doomed to extinction, at least not for a couple of decades. I have no doubt MT will continue to improve but not to the point where it is normally safe to leave humans out of the loop altogether. (This will of course depend on the commercial viability of each language pair as well - the more in demand a language pair is, the more pressure on "automatizing" it.) The profession itself, of course, will probably change. I predict the ones left behind by such changes, in addition to translators without a USP as mentioned by Dan Lucas, will be those who will price themselves out of the market due to very rigid ideas about translation - for example, those who believe incorporating elements of MT or even the very use of CAT tools is tantamount to heresy, or those who believe working with productivity and speed in mind should be alien to a "proper" translator.
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| Another shot of optimism | May 11, 2020 |
When in 1986, after a few years translating part-time, I decided to become a full-time translator, the general consensus around me was that I could never make a living of it, but the fact is that 34 years later I’m still here live and kicking…
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 21:56
Spanish to English
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| Second oldest? | May 11, 2020 |
I'm intrigued by "second oldest", Nikolay. I know what the oldest is, flogging forbidden fruit, but why is translation the second?
[Edited at 2020-05-11 16:39 GMT]
| | | | ATIL KAYHAN
Türkiye
Local time: 22:56
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
+ ...
| "Simulated translation" versus human translation | May 11, 2020 |
Translation has two components, one is art and the other is science, or one is mental and the other is mechanical. One of these components can be handled by the computer but not the other one. At least not to the degree that we humans can tackle successfully. That is why the best machine translation falls short of human translation.
I try to coin another term for machine translation, like simulated translation. You are trying to imitate human translation by some sort of simulati... See more Translation has two components, one is art and the other is science, or one is mental and the other is mechanical. One of these components can be handled by the computer but not the other one. At least not to the degree that we humans can tackle successfully. That is why the best machine translation falls short of human translation.
I try to coin another term for machine translation, like simulated translation. You are trying to imitate human translation by some sort of simulation. By the way, I downloaded Google Translate to my Android phone out of curiosity. However, I have never used it so far. I can safely say that I do not intend to use it for my own language pairs. Why go for the inferior?
As far as the future of translation, I think human translators will still carve their way out in this day and age. If and only if the quality of simulated translation catches that of human one, and I think this will take quite a while, then some of human translators might go towards a career change. Even then I presume the best simulated translation will still fall a bit short. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 03:56
Member
Chinese to English
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What technology-proof career are you planning on taking up?
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RobinB
United States
Local time: 14:56
German to English
| Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 13:56
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Ömer Maraş wrote:
Hi folks,
future trends seem to be "shutting down" the concept of "translation done by translators". I'm concerned about the future of our profession. Anyone else who feels like it? Of so, what do you plan to do? Your plans might help me plan my own future as well!
Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Omer Maras
Hello, Omer.
Try to get more projects from international clients and add marketing skills to your life. You will be in a stronger position to promote your services in a better way and to stregthen your Proz and Linkedin profiles.
Nice week!
| | | | Inez Ulrich
Germany
Local time: 21:56
Member (2016)
English to German
+ ...
| MT vs. human translation | May 24, 2020 |
I have no clue where we are headed business-wise, but what I've noticed lately is a weird obsession about delivering translations that in no way resemble Google translations when compared, even if they are cannot be translated differently. I understand the intention behind it, but sometimes it is just over the top. I did a job for an agency a few days ago that was about translating different simple, unconnected sentences for some AI. They were short sentences like "Es gibt drei Nebenflüsse." wh... See more I have no clue where we are headed business-wise, but what I've noticed lately is a weird obsession about delivering translations that in no way resemble Google translations when compared, even if they are cannot be translated differently. I understand the intention behind it, but sometimes it is just over the top. I did a job for an agency a few days ago that was about translating different simple, unconnected sentences for some AI. They were short sentences like "Es gibt drei Nebenflüsse." which I translated "There are three tributaries." After delivery I was told to change my sentences as they were very similar or identical with Google Translate. Well, how can you translate a sentence like the above differently? I told them exactly that and declined to work another three hours free of charge on the textst. I guess I won't get paid for this job, a few hundred Euros. To be honest, I have no clue how to defend against such things. So this is some different aspect of that problem. ▲ Collapse
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