r/TranslationStudies

Poorly written like someone is a bad writer, not necessarily incorrect but just not great writing. Awkward phrasing, not powerful storytelling, odd transitions etc.

Sometimes I adjust it so it makes sense and flows well (EDIT: for clients who I know will ask me to do that anyway if I asked)

But in general, I don't spend too much time fixing it because that's above my pay grade? Also depends on the contract and the type of work.

What are your thoughts?

EDIT: what if the text is a marketing text, website, an app or some kind of product where you know cleaner writing in target language will be better for the end client?

Trabajo para Propio. La cliente era extremadamente grosera, me llamó “beanr”, no me dejó completar mis introducciones. Encima de todo me dice que me va a reportar. Tengo entendido que las llamadas no las graban de nuestro lado. Entonces, ¿qué pasa si en verdad me reporta y dice que fui incompetente o grosero o algo así?

I've dabbled in game localization a bit and would like to be more organized so I can provide better quality work, especially for the narrative-driven ones.

I usually ask for a reference/context for each line.

But beyond that, do you keep your own excel sheet of characters and their voice? Would like to know how other people manage them. TIA

Over the last few months, a lot of us in the interpreting industry have watched rates collapse while companies continue expanding and consolidating.

This is not a post attacking LATAM interpreters. Most of them are simply trying to survive and feed their families, same as U.S.-based interpreters. The real issue is companies using these wage differences to drive rates lower and lower across the entire profession while still charging clients premium prices.

Meanwhile:

• Experienced interpreters are burning out
• Qualified U.S.-based interpreters are leaving the field
• New interpreters are being normalized into slave wages and pay
• Clients often have no idea what interpreters themselves are actually earning

Whether you are in the U.S. or Latin America, we should be openly discussing:

• Rates
• Working conditions
• Unpaid waiting time
• Credential requirements vs compensation
• Per-minute structures
• Quality concerns
• Industry consolidation
• The long-term future of this profession

And these conversations should not stay hidden in private chats.

Talk about it on Reddit.
Talk about it on LinkedIn.
Comment professionally on company posts.
Discuss it publicly and respectfully.
Clients deserve transparency too.

Many interpreters are afraid to speak because they fear retaliation or losing work. If needed, use anonymous accounts and protect your privacy. But silence only guarantees things continue getting worse.

This profession matters. Courts, hospitals, asylum seekers, injured workers, and patients all depend on qualified interpreters every single day.

If we don’t start having honest conversations now, the industry will continue racing toward cheaper labor, lower standards, and burnout for everyone involved.

Its time we let the clients know what going on. It sees like it already started with interporeters from LSA.

https://preview.redd.it/pwqyxzgca42h1.png?width=440&format=png&auto=webp&s=487a29185b24c045e852bcea5840ab315590e043

https://preview.redd.it/1dd6xzgca42h1.png?width=452&format=png&auto=webp&s=95f13de61eb9b511b8b0879f076f31d43a76482c

I need a side income and the best idea I came up with is videogame translation. I used to work as a spanish medical interpreter so I do have some experience in a related field.

My idea isn't working for a big company, I just would like to make extra bucks translating indie games.

I just don't know where to start, freelancing pages never worked for other of my skills so I'm almost sure the same will happen if I try getting gigs in these kind of websites.

How do these middle-man agencies keep getting translators accepting low rates. I understand some languages in areas with low costs of living, but other languages with translators less likely? For example, I work with Swedish and Finnish, and I constantly get agenies wanting like 0.03/0.04 per word for these languages....like, where are these Swedish and Finnish translators living that they can work for such low rates? I live in Finland and no way could I make a living with such low rates...are these translators just using MT, scammers, etc? I constantly get turned down for rates less than 0.08 - 0.10/wd and there are these people who do it for less? No wonder we are doomed as an industry.

How do these middle-man agencies, and by that I mean agencies that go between bigger agencies and translators, get such low rate translators?? This is insane.

Trabajando con traducciones para procesos migratorios, uno piensa que va a ver principalmente certificados de nacimiento, matrimonio y antecedentes penales… pero a veces aparecen documentos que te hacen detenerte y pensar: “¿Cómo llegamos hasta aquí?” Me ha tocado traducir desde chats impresos de WhatsApp usados como evidencia en casos migratorios, hasta cartas personales explicando relaciones familiares complejas, historiales médicos muy delicados e incluso documentos antiguos escritos a máquina o a mano que parecen sacados de un archivo de hace 100 años. Cada caso cuenta una historia distinta, y muchas veces uno termina viendo una pequeña parte de la vida de alguien en momentos muy importantes o difíciles. Me da curiosidad saber: para quienes trabajan en traducción o inmigración, ¿Cuál ha sido el documento más extraño, inesperado o memorable que les ha tocado traducir o revisar?

I know translators are supposed to assume a neutral position but would you be comfortable doing work for a law firm that is representing someone who did something that went against your value, e.g., rape?

Would like to hear your thoughts

Edit: Appreciate all the replies and varying viewpoints! Much food for thought for me

Hi there!

My gf has been working as an EN<->ES translator for RWS (old SDL) for the past 6 years. She’s been doing raw translation projects, post-editing after MTs, coordinating and preparing projects for freelancers and other teams. Shes on the medical and pharmaceutical translation team.

Right now theres an announcement of layoffs at their office, and even though their team is somehow a bit protected from AI because clients asks for manual translation and human QA, there would maybe come a day they would lay off all of them and just rehire them for some time until AI reaches more quality.

I know this would probably be a common question nowadays, but do any of you shifted your career into other areas?

I am (ironically) an AI Lead in a small Barcelona business and software engineer. I could initiate her into Python and some NLP to be prepare her for a Computational Linguistics masters degree, but Im not sure if the field is already saturated or the people who get the jobs are PHD and research-oriented profiles.

On the other hand, do you think medical and clinic translation will require human translation for a long time and maybe she should just stay as a freelancer?

Thanks in advance :)

I'm a first-year student in Translation Studies. I study English and German (I started German this semester, so I'm just a beginner. I'm not able to translate it yet). My English is pretty good (at least I hope so). I can watch movies and read, a little worse with writing and speaking. I do not have official verification of level. My native language is Ukrainian and I know its grammar well, so I can correct mistakes.

So I won't be bored in summer and 'invest in my future' I want to start translating. I don't mind doing it for free (I think it's the most likely option), I believe this would help me in the future and it would allow me to gain some experience.

I'm interested in written translation and I want to work in this field in future. Also, I read books, fanfics, manga, play games, so maybe I can do fan translations.

We had a little bit of practice in university. We translated articles, short stories and videos (consecutively). Once we translated memes and I really liked that, too.

But I don't know where and how to start.

Edit: I don't want to change my major because I like what I study. Also, there is no guarantee that other jobs won't be taken over by AI, so at least I’ll be learning something I enjoy. And now I'm studying for free, so it's another reason to not change my profession.

Dear Transaltors,

I am a translation student who is thinking of pursuing a MA in computer science and linguistics. with AI taking over our field, is there any future left for us ?

Dear translators, 

I’m an editor from a European country and I work for a literary magazine, in which we regularly publish poems, prose, plays and translations. I joined the magazine three years ago, while still a graduate student of comparative literature, and absolutely love it, although it is a lot of work and mostly unpaid.

My favorite part is the editing process, where I work closely together with the writers and translators. Surprisingly, I find the writers (the ones writing in my native tongue as well as the ones who are being translated) mostly very relaxed and easy to talk to, whereas I often feel like I have to walk on eggshells with translators. Here, seemingly minor misunderstandings have in the past led to hostile e-mails and even accusations, which I guess comes from their precarious work conditions and constant struggle. Although I find this unfair, since I myself work precariously too and am even more invisible than translators, whose names we put on the cover, I try to be kind and understanding.

Yesterday, a translator (via e-mail) snapped at me again, because I compared her translation to a previous one, overlooking the word-to-word-translation she sent me in an earlier e-mail. I acknowledge that the mistake was on my side and apologized, since I did overlook her first e-mail, and offered to go through her translation alongside the word-to-word-translation again. But her tone made me feel like I made a way bigger mistake. It may be strange comparison to make, especially since in this example we are both white females, but I felt like my whole approach was problematic, similar to when you notice a blind spot regarding your own sexist or racist beliefs.

So what I'm trying to do now is to reflect my role as an editor. What do you, as literary translators, expect from me? How should I enter the editing process? How and how much should I communicate with you and the author? What are my responsibilities, what are yours?

I know, the most important thing is enumeration, but unfortunately, we are sitting in the same boat here...

Hi guys,

upon suggestion I made a new thread out of the discussion section in the one I made before. When it comes to publishing literary translations, what are the responsibilities of each party involved (editor, translator, author)? Who, for examples, chooses a title? Who has to communicate and discuss what with whom? Which questions can only an author answer? And what do you do if the author is dead?

I'm asking about literary translations specifically, by which I mean texts where the translator has maybe more freedom, but I'm also about perspectives from other domains.

Another title is: why am I doing something like this?

It seems strange for someone to translate a language they know more about into the language they know less about. Should it be the other way around? You're trying to figure out the source language by translating it to the language you're comfortable with, but not me I guess. I'm trying to translate JP>EN but whenever I do it, my mind always draws a blank, like it turns off and I'm fumbling to get my words into a coherent sentence, but when it comes down to doing the reverse, I don't find myself struggling as much. Sure I'm by no means claiming I'm amazing at the job, and I definitely know EN more than JP, but it strikes me as odd that I'm doing what's essentially the harder/reverse version of what I'm trying to do.

I would love to know how much are you getting paid with Propio.
My language pair ir Portuguese/English and I was offered 16 CENTS today.
That’s $9.60 for a contractor’s pay

I am still shocked and speechless. I confirmed with the recruiter, but maybe she’s mistaken me for people based in latam?

After taxes I would most likely get less than minimum wage. I do have a job now, so this would be more to reach financial goals sooner, but for $9.60 no financial goals are ever gonna be met lol

Hola a todos. Soy intérprete y actualmente me encuentro desarrollando mi proyecto de investigación para mi tesis de maestría en Psicología. Trata sobre el desgaste mental en la profesión en nuestra profesión, específicamente en colegas que trabajan en modalidad remota. El objetivo es estudiar el factor subjetivo-individual en la experiencia del desgaste mental en el trabajo.

Les comparto un breve cuestionario psicométrico que forma parte de nuestro estudio. Es libre y anónimo, pero nos ayudaría muchísimo si decides tomarte unos minutos para completarlo con honestidad. Es de gran valor para nuestra investigación poder recoger las experiencias de la mayor cantidad de personas posible, para visibilizar una problemática muy real en nuestra industria, que a menudo pasa desapercibida.

Puedes participar aquí:
https://forms.gle/KkesZDrFVmNXJjkx7

I'm burnt out looking for project manager roles in this industry. I'm from Argentina, and most vacancies require PST, Mountain, or Central time availability, which barely overlaps with our timezone, and companies just don't care. No acknowledgment, no compensation for it.

And then on top of the timezone sacrifice, there are no benefits. No paid holidays, no vacation days, nothing. You're expected to handle the pressure with nothing more than an hourly pay.

Even if the pay was great, which isn't, I wouldn't want this for anyone. Everyone deserves a workplace that actually values them, contributes to their growth, and makes them feel like more than just a resource.

Is anyone else feeling this? Would love to know if people have found companies that actually care.

So i personally spoke both with an experienced interpreter, and with AI worker, and both told me that ai is just going to replace translators and not interpreters.

When it come to this sub-reddit i saw that some people actually think, that interpreters will eventually vanish, meanwhile other think that they won't ever, as Interpretation doesn't just require a translation, but also an actual understanding of the context, culture and emotions expressed during the conversation.

So my main question is : why do some interpreters use emotions, context, culture, ec... Motivation, thinking that this will Save their job, while others argue that they are basically f*cked.

If it is the same job; shouldn't them all give the same importance to the emotional, contextual and culture aspects of a conversation, instead of being so divided?

Hi there! I am a published writer currently working on a literary novel about a translator who does both literary and non-literary translation. I know a bit about the literary side but I would love to connect and potentially interview translators who work on documents such as corporate-legal (lawsuits?), translating medical documents about traumatic events, or even have experience translating military work or work for NGOs and/or the UN (similar to the translator in Katie Kitamura's Intimacies if anyone knows that novel)!

If you have any experience or knowledge of the above, I would really love to get to know your work, your daily routine, the ways you navigate a more bureaucratic and specialist register of language, any ethical issues that arise, or how to deal with translating negative/traumatic stories and events etc. I really would like "translation" to be a central theme for this book and want to do justice to different forms of work that translators might engage with.

Happy to compensate for a 1-2+ hour call/Zoom, and buy you a coffee IRL if you happen to be based in Scotland, London or Berlin (this summer) or NYC (in the Fall). Will also gladly send you a free copy of the novel once it's out if we have multiple discussions!

Ultimately I am just interested in speaking to translators and hope you might be interested in answering a bunch of genuine questions about your work and life.