This time I am writing the post in English since it refers to a post in GTS Blog which was written in English and I want the poster to be able to read and understand it.
It is written in the post that translation prices are dropping, attributing this to four reasons:
A. General use of machine translation
B. Professional use of machine translation
C. Pressure by translation companies
D. Crowdsourcing companies
My reactions to the above mentioned reasons are as follow:
A. Machine translation – In some language pairs, like English into Hebrew, MT provides funny jokes, not a translation one can rely on.
B. Professionals don't use MT; they use CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation). CAT tools and MT are two different technologies. These differences are thoroughly explained in the SDL site.
C. Obviously translation companies want to pay less to the translators in order to be more competitive and/or earn more money.
D. Translators will work with crowdsourcing company if they are unable to ask for fair rates because their work is not good enough, are beginners, or need to take every job they find, even at a low rate, for economic reasons.
One distinction not explained in this post is that, when mentioning the fee to be paid for a translation job, there are two related terms: 'Rate' is the fixed price for a unit (word, page, etc.) and 'price' is the value of the translation.
I have been a translator for more than 13 years. For the last ten years, I have been aware of the market's prices and rates. I can say from my experience and from other colleagues' experience that the rates are going up or staying stable, and not only in the English into Hebrew language pair. They are clearly not dropping.
For prices, the story is a different. Using a CAT tool usually involves a discount that the translator gives to the client (translation company or end client). This reduces the total price lower than it would have been for the same text with the same rate per unit without a CAT tool usage discount. Indeed, prices are somewhat lower, but, since CAT tools improve the translator's productivity, the total earnings of the translator can remain stable or even rise.
The last point, as a food for thought, is the author's position as mentioned in the blog header. He is the CEO of a translation company, a fact that made me wonder about the motive to his post.
I want to thank Stephan Rifkind for editing my English (which is not my mother tongue).
*A real "upside down", WordPress is not bilingual. I can define only one language, which in my case is Hebrew.
Filed under: CAT tools, Discount, Price, Rate, Translation, הנחה, מחיר, תעריפים, תרגום | 5 Comments »
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