Poll: Have you seen any trends during the pandemic which may be detrimental to translation/interpreting? Persoa que publicou o fío: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you seen any trends during the pandemic which may be detrimental to translation/interpreting?".
View the poll results »
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Most of my friends are no longer stuck working 9 to 5 so they can come out to play during the week and send me a steady stream of rude memes which somewhat hampers my productivity.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X) 
Spain
Local time: 21:11
Spanish to English
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One of my main customers is a well-known manufacturer of electrical personal care appliances. For over 20 years I’ve been translating all brochures and user handbooks with several projects every month but this November. With the pandemic they are taking a nosedive on sales, so no translation needed. I suppose the same is happening with other nonessential products, but I hope things will get back to normal, once the pandemic is over…
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| A new excuse to press rates... | Nov 24, 2020 |
Two agencies I have worked for and others I have heard of are asking freelancers to take a 10% cut in their rates.
I said no to the agency that directly asked me. I went along with giving them an extra month's credit, because I like them otherwise, and I know they made some big investments last year, before they knew anything about the pandemic. So I understood that they might have cash-flow problems. However, my expenses are the same, and my rate for them is quite competitive enoug... See more Two agencies I have worked for and others I have heard of are asking freelancers to take a 10% cut in their rates.
I said no to the agency that directly asked me. I went along with giving them an extra month's credit, because I like them otherwise, and I know they made some big investments last year, before they knew anything about the pandemic. So I understood that they might have cash-flow problems. However, my expenses are the same, and my rate for them is quite competitive enough already!
They have not sent me much work this year, which has suited me for other reasons, but I hope we are still friends when the market picks up again. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jorge Nunes
Portugal
Local time: 20:11
Membro (2006)
English to Portuguese
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| Lower rates and clients translating in-house | Nov 24, 2020 |
Apart from rate reduction requests from a couple of agencies, I've seen an increase in requests to revise translation work done in-house by end clients. I fear this might be a future trend with some end clients doing the bigger slice of the work themselves and then offering us peanuts to simply revise and correct their poor translations.
| | | | Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
United States
Local time: 12:11
Spanish to English
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Some business closures may affect the demand for translation.
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Amount of automotive translations has decreased.
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| slavery rates | Nov 25, 2020 |
I have been offered from am agency 0.05 us dollars per source word....for a project.
I'm not saying anything else, cos I have no more words.
The respect for this job, dignity amnd professionality is just gone.
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A steep decrease in potential jobs (and rates by the way). It appears that most "translations" also went into "lockdown".
[Edited at 2020-11-25 10:05 GMT]
[Edited at 2020-11-25 10:49 GMT]
| | | | | Interpreting | Nov 25, 2020 |
With RSI is not just the rates, but also work conditions: clients suggest that you could work on your own and act as a sound technician at the same time.
Probably, many interpreters are free and prone to accept low rates/poor work conditions rather that doing nothing, but we should reject those offers if we don't want to create a precedent for the future
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 21:11
French to English
My main specialist subjects are all in industries that are at a standstill. I was translating documentation for an exhibition at a prestigious Paris museum just before the March lockdown. The museum had only just opened the exhibition a couple of weeks before the second lockdown. If ever they organise another exhibition, they probably won't bother translating the documentation because there are no foreign tourists...
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Paul Lambert
Sweden
Local time: 21:11
Membro (2006)
Swedish to English
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| A killer summer | Nov 25, 2020 |
I thank God business has picked up now in November given a dreadfully slow summer. I literally had no billings in August, about 1000 euros in September and the same in October. Anticipating this, I paid all my rent and personal fixed expenses for the rest of the year, but had things not picked up in November, I really would not know how to pay my rent in January.
Still, I won't breathe too easily (no pun intended) given that this pandemic is still with us and a new lockdown has been... See more I thank God business has picked up now in November given a dreadfully slow summer. I literally had no billings in August, about 1000 euros in September and the same in October. Anticipating this, I paid all my rent and personal fixed expenses for the rest of the year, but had things not picked up in November, I really would not know how to pay my rent in January.
Still, I won't breathe too easily (no pun intended) given that this pandemic is still with us and a new lockdown has been imposed. Who knows when business could drop off again? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 17:11
English to Portuguese
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| Yes, unfortunately | Nov 26, 2020 |
Aside from all the negative aspects of any crisis, specifically in our market, the "Peanuts" trend has been strengthened, unfortunately. It was already a trend before the crisis, but since July, the svage capitalists of many industries are trying to profit from the bad situation, raising their prices and lowering what they pay for services. It is very clear in supermarkets, for example, but it's also very clear among our clients, trying harder and harder to lower our rates, now with the addition... See more Aside from all the negative aspects of any crisis, specifically in our market, the "Peanuts" trend has been strengthened, unfortunately. It was already a trend before the crisis, but since July, the svage capitalists of many industries are trying to profit from the bad situation, raising their prices and lowering what they pay for services. It is very clear in supermarkets, for example, but it's also very clear among our clients, trying harder and harder to lower our rates, now with the additional excuse of the COVID. ▲ Collapse
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