Dan Lucas wrote:
CARLIER BRUNO wrote:
Thanks for your comprehensive and very personal testimony... which sounds very gloomy, actually.
Because we know that context is everything, I should point out that Eleftherios (Abba Storgen) has been gloomy ever since he started posting on ProZ.com in 2004. One cannot deny that he has been consistent, and that's a good thing. And he's still here, so he must like it.
Personally, if I had listened to the people who were saying in 2014 that the end was nigh for translators I would never have started out in this business. I would have lost out on hundreds of thousands of pounds in income achieved with no investment other than a PC. Fortunately, I took a view, pushed on, and have been reasonably successful.
Unsurprisingly, since then people have made various excuses for why (until COVID) I was managing to grow my revenues steadily and why, despite CAT and MT, my professional life has actually been pretty good. One of my favourites is "Ah, but you're in a good language pair". In fact, on the JP-EN specific mailing lists there is plenty of doom and gloom, and talk of falling rates, so clearly the pair isn't the determining factor. JP-EN has been affected by broader industry trends, just like other pairs. Some people succeed, some people fail. It's complicated.
I fully expect to read many more wild and unsupported assertions to the effect that by 2024 (ten years after I started) my business will have dried up and I'll be no more than an MT jockey. Maybe that will happen, maybe not. Maybe it's no big deal if it does happen provided that my income remains much the same. Some people found ways of prospering despite CAT, some didn't.
But I can tell you now that, if my business hasn't imploded by 2024, the doomsayers will move the goalposts again and some other reason will be found for the success of people like myself. "You've been fine because of XYZ, but don't you worry, it's coming", will be the vague threat. "You just wait. By 2030 you'll be out of a job".
Yeah, OK. Anyway, good to see you again mate, you're looking well. Sorry, can't stop to chat, need to finish 6,000 characters by tomorrow morning.
I would not deny that the market has changed over the past decade, and I expect it to change again over the next ten years. I've been waiting for the sky to fall in - as foretold by many in this forum and elsewhere - for seven years. And you know what? If this is the end of the world, it's been fairly lucrative and quite enjoyable.
BUT, and it's a big "but", you need
something that makes you stand out from other freelancers. For me, and many others, that has been domain-specific knowledge. If you are an expert in a particular field, there is demand out there. (For example, if
this person's linguistic skills are up to scratch, she'll probably do fine because of her specialist knowledge.)
If you don't have some kind of expertise, it's going to be harder. Just being able to take simple text in one language and express it reasonably well in another language isn't enough any more. That market is under pressure. Adapt, evolve, or die. Then again, isn't that the case in most industries? Everybody needs a Plan B.
Regards,
Dan
[Edited at 2021-04-01 10:37 GMT]