translators on a global market: actors or victims? - ciuti · ciuti forum uno genf 2012 (c)...

Univ.‐Prof. Dr. Peter A. Schmitt´

Translators on a global market: Actors or victims?

CIUTI Forum Geneva

2011

CIUTI Forum UNO Genf 2012 (c) P.A.Schmitt, Univ. Leipzig IALT 2

Translation marketTurnover of the translation industry in the EU

(European Commission, Study on the size of the language industry in the EU) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/studies/size_of_language_industry_en.pdf

• Growth rate 10% p.a.• conservative estimate 16.5 billion EUR by 2015• „real value… to be expected „well above 20 billion € by 2015“


GlobalizationOutsourcingTeleworking


Frankfurt


Worldwide visibility


ProZ.com


TraduGuide


Uebersetzervergleich.de


Worldwide WiFi Internet accesse.g. in Okonjima (Namibia)


Result: Global competitionTranslators may sit anywhere


„Money makes the world go round“A few remarks on translation prices

Theory vs. reality

Theory

• BDÜ sample calculation for a „minimum“(!) gross (before tax) income of a freelancetranslator

49 €/h 1.63 €/line 7,840 €/month


prices per hourmonthly income


Reality


e.g. chief physician, medical director:

Ø 8,159 €

e.g. specialist for surgery: Ø 6,033 €

Berufspraxisreale Einkommenssituation


Reality:monthly gross income of employed translatorsin Germany: Ø 2,350 €

Income of IALT graduatesGraduates of 2003 through 2008, Survey in 2010

e.g. survey limited to graduates who are 2 to 7 years on the job market

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

< 5 5 bis 10 11 bis 15 16 bis 20 21 bis 25 26 bis 30 31 bis 35 36 bis 40 41 bis 45 46 bis 50 51 bis 55 56 bis 60 > 60

Average(!) income:28,013 Euros p.a. before tax= 2,334 €/month


Reality

• Case 1: Corporate client, global player, hugeannual translation demand, xlation servicecompletely outsourced– client deals with translation agencies only– client typically pays 1.15 €/line* to agency– agency delegates jobs to translators

– either in‐house: typical salary 1,500‐2,500 €/month– or free‐lance: usu. 30 % less than client‘s price, i.e. 0.80 €/line

*plus VAT; in Germany 19 %


prices per linemonthly income


Rent in Germany (€/m²)


Reality

• Case 2: Private client (this week)translation of one page from a car owner‘smanual, engger– 6 TSP asked to submit an offer– 2 out of 6 responded:

• one free‐lancer charged flat fee 35 € (= 8.5 cents/word)• one translation agency charged 8 cents/word

– Both translations were useless, partially utter nonsense


TSP AgencyACHTUNG: Das Umschalten in die Stellung PARKEN (P) oder NEUTRAL (N) bei vollbelastetem Motor (Fahren bei hoher Geschwindigkeit) ist gefährlich. Sofern sich Ihr Fuß nicht entschieden auf dem Bremspedal befindet, kann sich Ihr Fahrzeug äußerst schnell bewegen. Sie könnten die Kontrolle verlieren und gegen Menschen oder Gegenstände fahren.

HINWEIS:Beschädigungen an Ihrem Getriebe, die durch das Umschalten in die Stellung PARKEN (P) oder NEUTRAL (N) bei vollbelastetem Motor entstehen,sind nicht durch Ihre Garantie abgedeckt.

AUTOMATISCHER SCHONGANG (D): Diese Stellung dient dem normalen Fahren.DRITTER GANG (3): Diese Stellung wird ebenfalls für das normale Fahren verwendet, bietet jedoch mehr Leistung und eine geringere Kraftstoffeinsparung


Free‐lancer

Es wird keine Haftung für eine Beschädigung IhresGetriebes durch Schalten aus der Position PARKEN (P) oder NEUTRAL (N) übernommen, wenn Sie mit hoherGeschwindigkeit fahren.SCHONGANG (AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE, D): DiesePosition eignet sich für normales Fahren.DRITTER GANG (THIRD, 3): Diese Position wird ebenfallsfür normales Fahren verwendet, aber sie bietet mehrLeistung und es wird weniger Kraftstoff verbraucht als in der Position SCHONGANG (AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE, D).


Reality

• So THIS is what an unaware client gets andpays for:– a useless document (at 40 €/page)– a translation which confirms the widespreadnotion that

• translations are unreliable, bad, even nonsensical• translators deserve to be badly paid• translators are not in the same league as, e.g.,engineers, lawyers, surgeons, web‐designers, …


Outsourcing to India

Indien


Clients‘ Perspective

• Price does not reflect quality• Location of TSP‘s office is no indicator oftranslation quality

• The profession name „translator“ is unrelatedto translation quality

• TSP website claims are practically irrelevant(„only qualified native speakers“, „proofread by experts“, „quality assurance according to ISO 9000, DIN EN 15038“)


Consequences

• clients tend to place orders with the cheapestsupplier (e.g. in India)

• translators charging higher prices often pricethemselves out of the market– because there is almost always somebody whooffers the (seemingly same) service at a lowerprice

• some clients turn to T&I institutes, asking fortranslations by students


Conclusionor: so what can we do?

I see 4 options – in order of feasibility:

Option 1:• wait. until globalization has reached all economies around the globe, establishing thesame income/price levels everywhere– this may take a while, like 50…1000 years



Option 2:• establish „translator“ as a legally protectedname for properly trained, competent, examined translators– obviously this would work best on a global, international scale, in many languages

– but doing it on a national basis would be a goodstart



Option 3:• increase general awareness (at least amongpotential T&I clients) of the competenciesexpected and provided by professional translators– this is next to hopeless, but we should try



Option 4 – step 1:• improve training of translators to ensure thatgraduates of T&I institutes have a clearcompetitive edge over other competitors. This happens already:– CIUTI (since 1960)– EMT (since 2009)



Option 4 – step 2:• communicate everywhere that graduates fromCIUTI and EMT T&I institutes are much morelikely than others to provide useful T&I services AND that they deserve payment atthe same level as other professionals with a masters‘ degree– one forum for this is the annual Tekom conferencewith its 3500 participants


CIUTI and EU DGT at Tekom/tcworld


translators on a global market: actors or victims? - ciuti · ciuti forum uno genf 2012 (c)...

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