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translation is dead as a profession
论题张贴者: Daniel Rich
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
日本
Local time: 02:36
正式会员 (自2005)
English英语译成Japanese日语
+ ...
I don't read Chinese, but Jun 24, 2022

[quote]LIZ LI wrote:

Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:

LIZ LI wrote:

QQ图片20220617111332

I cannot understand how the translation for the second image came up with "noodles", since I do not recognize any Chinese character representing noodles in the original Chinese.



If "一米"+"线",
that's a reference line to indicate the distance of one meter, so that people may keep up with social-distancing rules.
If "一"+"米线",
that's litterally "one rice noodle".

I am not sure if this kind of mistranslations commonly seen anyway within my country apply to Japanese as well or not. But Chinese, as a language, is not so precise as German, French, English... a loooooong list to name (even if we indeed have an insanely difficult writing system)
Since machines are not able to read unpuntuated phrases nor are aware of the contexts,
the one-meter-line is mistranslated into "one rice noodle" that we shall step on.

Am planning on putting a "Stop wasting food" sticker right next to it.

It's true that something within our profession is fading, eternally, like any other profession in the world.
However, translators die, translation doesn't.







[Edited at 2022-06-23 02:58 GMT]


I thought that the word for noodles was 麵 only, and 线 looks more like the word for "money" to me. I cannot give you any examples right now, but you have guessed right that these kind of mistranslations also apply to Japanese as well.


 
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
日本
Local time: 02:36
正式会员 (自2005)
English英语译成Japanese日语
+ ...
Now it's all clear Jun 24, 2022

Lingua 5B wrote:

Could it be Google Translate going crazy?


 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
葡萄牙
Local time: 18:36
正式会员 (自2015)
English英语译成Portuguese葡萄牙语
+ ...
Translation is not dead, but Jun 24, 2022

Capturar

I believe the right word would be "meatballs" as it was wrongly transliterated.


P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
Adieu
Baran Keki
 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
英国
Local time: 18:36
正式会员 (自2004)
English英语译成Italian意大利语
State of the industry... Jun 25, 2022

In a job just posted today by an American agency... a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

XXXX is looking for Italian translators that can provide high quality translations. ... See more
In a job just posted today by an American agency... a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

XXXX is looking for Italian translators that can provide high quality translations. You will be evaluated also on your ability to follow instructions the first time, as well as your timeliness in regards to meeting deadlines and answering emails/calls. You will be asked to provide an unpaid sample.

Resume
Educational Degree and where it was obtained
Years of professional experience doing translations (volunteer work and interpretation do NOT count)

Knowledge of CAT Tools (memoQ, Trados, etc.)
If you have a current memoQ license.

How fast can you translate 2,000 words at high quality.
How many words a day for Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE)

Usual working hours (Start to end time, with time zone)

Your rates for proofreading/translating.
Translation rate per word:
Proofreading rate per word:

Fuzzy rates
95-99% Match:
85-94% Match:
75-84% Match:

Rush translation rate per word:
Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE) rate:

Note: We do not pay minimum fees, let us know if you have any more questions about this.

Current Phone Number
Current Address
Time Zone
Certifications

Languages that you know (specify the level of proficiency and which language is your 1st language). It also helps to tell us how you were able to learn those languages.

Area of Expertise (i.e., Subject Matters: Technology, Education, Medicine, etc.)

Do you have your own proofreader?

3 Email References (People who have experienced your translating/proofreading work)


Languages that you would translate/proofread (Ex: ENG->SPA, SPA->ENG, GER->ENG, etc.)

Note: If you could translate/proofread other languages but would prefer to just do one language to another, put that down instead of listing all possible languages that you can do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My reply:

I have 25 years experience... I'll tell you my rate, then, if it's acceptable to you, give me a small paid job to find out how good/bad I am...

[Edited at 2022-06-25 08:18 GMT]
Collapse


Peter Shortall
P.L.F. Persio
Robert Rietvelt
Elena Feriani
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
英国
Local time: 18:36
正式会员 (自2008)
Italian意大利语译成English英语
"Go away" Jun 25, 2022

Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:

a few demands, as you can see below... the translation profession is indeed dying because of this attitude. What are we? Children?
]


I can't believe anyone would respond to an advertisement like that. They're asking

"Are you willing to put yourself under our total control?"


P.L.F. Persio
Barbara Carrara
Robert Rietvelt
 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
英国
Local time: 18:36
正式会员 (自2004)
English英语译成Italian意大利语
"Go away" is too polite... Jun 25, 2022

Tom in London wrote:

I can't believe anyone would respond to an advertisement like that. They're asking

"Are you willing to put yourself under our total control?"


Already six quotes.


P.L.F. Persio
Tom in London
 
Ruoyi Yang
Ruoyi Yang
澳大利亚
I'm shocked Jun 26, 2022

Nowadays, professional translation is no where to be seen.

Sadek_A
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
美国
Local time: 13:36
Spanish西班牙语译成English英语
+ ...
Organization for translators Jun 27, 2022

If only we had an organization that would represent and support human translators rather than corporations.

Sadek_A
expressisverbis
Stephen Emm
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
美国
Local time: 13:36
Spanish西班牙语译成English英语
+ ...
Increasing rates Jun 27, 2022

Lieven Malaise wrote:



In my 17-year period of freelancing my rates have only increased (apart from 1 isolated case due to exceptional circumstances). Perhaps my initial rate 17 years ago was rather low (who knows?), but certainly not too low to make an acceptable income, which has shifted to a very satisfying income nowadays.

Let's face it, you just can't generalize.

[Edited at 2022-06-22 13:48 GMT]


According to your profile, your current rate is .08. That's the rate I charged in 1993.


Sadek_A
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
美国
Local time: 13:36
Romanian罗马尼亚语译成English英语
+ ...
I agree ... partially! Jun 27, 2022

Tom in London wrote:


Or *most* translators. There is still work for translators but only for the most skilful ones, and there won't be enormous volumes of work. Instead there will be seriously demanding documents to translate that require a high degree of literacy, and are only required occasionally.



There are certain fields where MT is strictly forbidden (judicial, military, law enforcement, immigration, etc) therefore no reason to panic. I am 70 and for the last couple years I have been trying to retire; my workload has almost doubled compared to the pre-COVID era. I have been trying hard to find a qualified translator to take over but nobody seems to be interested. As soon as I give them a one page test-document to translate (ie. the header of an Indictment) they quit.

Lee


Sadek_A
expressisverbis
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise
比利时
Local time: 19:36
正式会员 (自2020)
French法语译成Dutch荷兰语
+ ...
Of course you did. Jun 28, 2022

Justin Trumain wrote:


According to your profile, your current rate is .08. That's the rate I charged in 1993.


No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did.


 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
土耳其
Local time: 20:36
会员
English英语译成Turkish土耳其语
Actually Jun 28, 2022

Lieven Malaise wrote:

No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did.

Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.


Lieven Malaise
expressisverbis
 
Lieven Malaise
Lieven Malaise
比利时
Local time: 19:36
正式会员 (自2020)
French法语译成Dutch荷兰语
+ ...
Yes. Jun 28, 2022

Baran Keki wrote:


Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.


I totally agree.


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
英国
正式会员 (自2011)
Swedish瑞典语译成English英语
+ ...
Price rises Jun 28, 2022

Baran Keki wrote:
Lieven Malaise wrote:
No internet, crappy computers, only dictionaries on paper ... Of course you did.

Considering the lack of resources available back then, as you point out, he should have charged a lot more.

Hmmm. I'm not sure I translate much faster now (see recent comments on one of these threads about how easy it is to spend more time on research now that we have the Internet).

I think inflation is the main reason to raise our rates, plus a slight experience-related uplift. I charge 4-5 times what I got when I started in 1993.


Baran Keki
expressisverbis
Sadek_A
 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
土耳其
Local time: 20:36
会员
English英语译成Turkish土耳其语
Doubt it Jun 28, 2022

Ice Scream wrote:

Hmmm. I'm not sure I translate much faster now (see recent comments on one of these threads about how easy it is to spend more time on research now that we have the Internet).

I think inflation is the main reason to raise our rates, plus a slight experience-related uplift. I charge 4-5 times what I got when I started in 1993.

Judging by your modus operandi as described by someone on another thread (tent, candlelight, pencil etc.) you must have thrived in 1993.


Christopher Schröder
 
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translation is dead as a profession






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