u/DigBick951

Most people I've seen that have 10+ years of experience can't translate for sh*t, yet they talk down to me like they've got some kind of authority. My dude, if you were as good as you claim, you wouldn't be beggi... I mean "translating" for 0.0099/word.

And like, you may see translation as a career, but to me it is so toxic that I'm investing every penny I make in hope that someday I can finally pivot towards something else. And this is coming from someone who hasn't had a month below $3k for 4 years and a half. My translations aren't perfect, but like, who cares? I'm what most would consider a bottom feeder, mostly working for low paying agencies. Why would I bother making quality translations for agencies that don't give a damn about me? I'm just a number in their giant pool of translators. I could die tomorrow, and be replaced by a cheaper translator the next hour.

Last year I paid myself close to $40k. This year I'm already at $25k so far, with several agencies still owing me more than 5k. My translations are average, but I'm ballin... at least compared to a lot of people in the industry. I could stop working now and still receive a $2k salary for more than a year if I wanted to.

In 2023 I made more than 50k.

So yeah, I'm sleep deprived and ruining my own health, but at the end of the day, I'm so done with this industry and these stupid incompetent PMs that I feel it's a small price to pay in order to finally be free of this lifestyle, if that makes sense.

Whatever some of you may say, people in this industry are miserable. Just taking a look at LinkedIn makes me want to die. And to be fair I feel like it's also partially due to the freelancer lifestyle.

Like we aren't meant to stay indoors sitting at a chair for 10 hours every day. Especially with how big of a toll stress and anxiety take on mental health. I'd probably feel (slightly) more contented with my life if I wasn't worrying about job security or money every damn second.

Another thing: I truly am happy for those who can afford to decline a job because they've got dozens of high paying clients lined up. But please, don't pretend that it's achievable by everyone. If it were, you wouldn't be where you are. So when you see people like me busting their a*s off for pennies, it's not because we want to. Some bad translators probably don't have a choice because they suck, but the majority of people just didn't get the same opportunities as you. There's also only so much volume to go around in some language pairs. Like, to me it's crazy when someone is shocked seeing others work for 0.02/word. What do you expect? I haven't seen a company offer me more than 0.05, like ever. So idk who y'all work for (feel free to share), but if you're just here to gatekeep, which I understand btw, just don't bother lecturing me/us on how we are devaluing our work blah blah blah.

At the end of the day, it's just another job to some, and we do what we gotta do.

TLDR: Companies don't care about you. If you genuinely enjoy it, more power to you, but don't be surprised when most just see it as a job. The goal is to make as much money as we can while doing the strict minimum.

As a side note, my highest month ever was 14k (euros) during my first year. Agencies ain't exploiting me. I'm exploiting them.

Hi

I (30) am from western Europe (France but living in Germany) and my partner (34) is from the Philippines (also living/working in Germany). She recently told me she may have an opportunity to go to the US as an EB3 nurse through an agency. Unfortunately my knowledge regarding US immigration is limited, so I have a few questions:

- Considering the current political landscape, how long would it approximately take for the agency to process her visa, and then get a green card? I understand the green card is not automatically granted upon arrival, and from what I've read both steps can take quite a bit of time.

- I have been self-employed for more than 4 years, earning all of my income online, would I be eligible to follow her under the E34 dependent visa? If yes, would both of our visas be granted around the same time if she includes me in her initial application? Also, is an E34 visa holder eligible to get a green card as well?

Do E34 visa applicants need to justify a minimum income?

I couldn't find much online about the E34, which from my understanding is a derivative of the EB3, so I assume it is pretty much the same?

Thanks

If you ever are tasked with editing, proofreading or quality-checking an LLM translation, no matter how good it is, never praise it.

You can say it's fine, acceptable or pinpoint specific areas it may be good at, but why would you praise something that might replace you down the line?

I just came across a comment in a project made by an editor, basically saying the entire post-editing step can be skipped because of how good an AI translation is.

Like bruh. That's exactly what managers want you to say. What do you think will happen? They thank you for your time and move on?

You should always have something to say about an AI translation. Always correct the most minor things (within reason). And if a sentence is perfect and you have nothing to correct, make the most minor changes under the pretense of making it sound more natural to your native/expert ear. The AI used "buy"? Change it to "purchase". The AI went with "use"? Correct it to "utilize", "employ" or "operate".

Yes, it's tedious. But put yourself in a manager's shoes: what would you think if someone just delivered an AI-translated file completely unchanged? Right.

You may think there is no way for them to completely replace humans, but it's already happening in many industries. Reviewers and quality-checkers may be safe for now, but in the long term I would not be surprised if companies entirely relied on LLMs and user feedbacks only.