Do you think people know that translation costs money?

Dmitry

I've had a few surreal conversations with a couple of site visitors and leads the other day.

First was a representative of a law firm that handles all kinds of cases. Their office manager was tasked with a job to find a translator for their website because apparently they have some Russian-speaking clients.

The chat started with her sentiment that she used Google Translate and the quality was just awful. I offered my help and said that I'd love to have a look at her website and provide an estimate for my services.

She was stunned. She thought that translation should be free (these were her words). She decided that to leave the conversation.

30 minutes later I'm having another chat with my site's visitor. From what I could gather she's a financial administrator at some company. Her first (and only) question was: is this free?

And yesterday I was preparing an estimate for a video production company and after they received my estimate they said it was way over their budget (and their current budget is hardly enough to hire a newbie let a alone assemble an all-start team of experts).

So my question to you: do you guys think people (in general) are not aware that translation is a paid service? I mean, if I'm looking for a plumber, accountant, lawyer or architect I know that it costs money.

But it seems like the profession of a translator is not that visible and people simply don't know that it's actually a paid (and often rather expensive) service.

What can we do to change that? Feel free to share your thoughts below! ?

spyrosbal

Hi, everyone! Unfortunately, this is the nature of our job. One that we allowed to manifest. Most people think that paid translation should be just certified translation. All the rest is seen as a "voluntary" task. At least, that happens in Greece, where translation tends to be way underestimated.
The biggest issue is that there are those inexperienced and unqualified that will offer translation services as cheap as possible, in order to attract clients. What they don't realise is that such practices not only kill the industry for those who are professionals and trained to translate, but also create this false perception that translation should be hardly paid. Another issue could be some translation agencies that also charge the crumbs.
What could be done requires long discussions and primarily the cooperation at a national level of all the professional translation associations, in order to set some "norms" and provide a universal handbook for acceptable practices within the industry. Well, among other things...

Greetings from Greece (Corfu)!

Dmitry

spyrosbal Very nice breakdown, @spyrosbal!

Do you think that perhaps we are not very well represented in the media compared to other professions?

It seems to me that general public simply doesn't know that such profession exist and than people need to find a translator they're often surprised because they didn't know that making money this way is actually a thing. ?

I mean, there's no shortage of coverage for machine translation and its advancements. Hell, even a guy who decided to become an emoji translator had more time in the spotlight than actual translators. It feels like our profession needs to step up its PR game, don't you think?

spyrosbal

Dmitry, it's exactly this misrepresentation we lack, not just in the media, but also in the market per se.

The common problem is that translation is often regarded as a service of low prestige and hardly recognisable. People probably don't consider the fact that it actually needs hard work and dedication to be a translator and they usually respond to your quotes with "why should I pay for something that my niece can do as well?", simply because she has a Proficiency certificate. Unfortunately, this is a regular phenomenon here in Greece, one that you hear many times from those who are unaware of what translation is all about.

Therefore, you need to be straightforward with people, say that I charge that much for this project and for this deadline and negotiate as little as possible, especially if you have to deal with bad payers. However, to answer your question, I do think that it is a matter of "profession branding", one that cannot simply be built in one day and cannot definitely be based just on translators' meetups; it is also important that our industry reaches out to those related with our specialisations, in order to exchange opinions and ideas and ultimately to show that our profession is also part of the market (and not just volunteering).

_marocca

I know that feeling Dmitry. When I say I am a translator, some people ask me "that sounds great, but what ELSE do you do for a living?"
Being on the other side of the table, I cannot understand why people think it should be for free, as they don't expect people to come and fix their heating, electricity or appliances for free. And I am sure they wouldn't work for free themselves! I mean, ask a teacher to teach for free, or a policeman to work for free, or a builder to work for free... doesn't make sense.
I think people don't realize how much they need the translation, first of all. They receive their phones, washing machines with manuals in their own language and don't realize that they needed someone to do that job for them. The same for the TV shows, a lot of praise is given to the voiceover actors (and I don't diminish their job, it's amazing what they do!) but nobody thinks that the text had to be translated before it was acted!
I am sure my friends know that translation costs money, I am doing my part in educating them ?
But I am sure there is still a lot of people there that need some info on our market and profession.

eleonorang

_marocca I think people don't realize how much they need the translation, first of all. They receive their phones, washing machines with manuals in their own language and don't realize that they needed someone to do that job for them. The same for the TV shows, a lot of praise is given to the voiceover actors (and I don't diminish their job, it's amazing what they do!) but nobody thinks that the text had to be translated before it was acted!

I couldn't have said it better, @_marocca. To be a translator is basically to be invisible, to produce texts that do not look like they were translated. People see the price tag on items they can buy, but there is never a price tag for translation. The name of the translator is barely even mentioned in books, let alone in standard commercial products. How can we expect awareness? ?