| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Are you dealing with more volume/requests for work "post-pandemic"? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are you dealing with more volume/requests for work "post-pandemic"?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | More or less the same | Aug 12, 2023 |
I wasn’t much affected by Covid work-wise (health-wise is quite another story as I had it for a week and some symptoms have lasted long). Some fields went down (a big drop in translation demand from my consumer-goods clients) but others went up (a growth in translation demand for Covid-19 related documents). All in all, things balanced, but since the end of the pandemic what I have noticed is that there are more ups and downs and the volume of work is extremely irregular: after a very slow mon... See more I wasn’t much affected by Covid work-wise (health-wise is quite another story as I had it for a week and some symptoms have lasted long). Some fields went down (a big drop in translation demand from my consumer-goods clients) but others went up (a growth in translation demand for Covid-19 related documents). All in all, things balanced, but since the end of the pandemic what I have noticed is that there are more ups and downs and the volume of work is extremely irregular: after a very slow month comes a very hectic one… ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:52
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Apart from one single month at the very beginning Covid didn't affect my workflow at all.
| | | | | Am I the only person who | Aug 12, 2023 |
is struggling to understand the question with the slash and quotation marks? And no, COVID did not affect my work flow in any way
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I suppose the poll looks at any potential "catch-up effect" after a couple of years of economic slow-down due to the pandemic. Or perhaps something totally different.
Anyway. As much as I didn't suffer from the aftermath of the outbreak in my work load, save a period of hesitation when European lockdowns started and a couple of projects cancelled, I didn't notice business picking up after the bug "disappeared".
However, I've noticed these past few years, before the outbreak, t... See more I suppose the poll looks at any potential "catch-up effect" after a couple of years of economic slow-down due to the pandemic. Or perhaps something totally different.
Anyway. As much as I didn't suffer from the aftermath of the outbreak in my work load, save a period of hesitation when European lockdowns started and a couple of projects cancelled, I didn't notice business picking up after the bug "disappeared".
However, I've noticed these past few years, before the outbreak, that I have far less "buffer" (id est offers from vetted agency customers that I cannot take on because of conflictive delivery dates). My hunting ground is shrinking, and I feel I might end up like those smelly, grumpy Catalan wild boars that survive by scavenging in unwelcome places like towns or beaches.
Philippe
Edit to sort of stick to the poll question, for once
[Edited at 2023-08-13 09:31 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:52
Member (2008)
Italian to English
No- Unless you're one of the unfortunate people who have Long Covid, I think we're well past the time when we can stop mentioning the pandemic as a reason for anything that's happening. The pandemic is, thankfully, history.
| | | | | Volume/requests and "quotation marks" | Aug 13, 2023 |
Denis Fesik wrote:
...struggling to understand the question with the slash and quotation marks? ...
The quotation marks would "appear" to be "decoration" and can be "ignored".
The slash ("...volume/requests..."), on the other hand, means we have two questions, both of which are potentially interesting.
In my case, for example, volume has remained constant since 2021, because I more or less decide what it will be: this year I opted to take on a huge job and thus had to turn down work from other clients. I told three museums that I would not be available until September and have reason to believe I'll get them back as clients.
Requests, on the other hand, have gone down considerably for a number of reasons:
- In 2020 I started receiving a pension and decided I wanted to cut volume by about 20%. I therefore turn down more requests than in the past and people have stopped asking.
- Market rates have tended to fall while I have slightly raised mine in order to receive less work
- Some clients (art galleries, for instance) make do with Google Translate. They save money and nobody reads their stuff anyway, so I don't really blame them.
I would say that the post-pandemic future of translating does not look bright in Italy. Highly specialised work and advertising will remain but the rest is pretty much down the drain for most people. Having said that, the number of top-end translators appears to have dwindled dramatically - so maybe there is some space after all for young people who are capable of really high-quality work.
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 14:52
French to English
After a very promising start to 2020 I had hardly any work from March 2020 to December 2021. I then noticed a huge upturn in January 2022. It seemed like things were just back to normal, and I was back on track to enjoy an upswing in earnings. And indeed I earned too much money that year, so this year I need to earn less (or change my freelance status and pay more than double the tax).
Now that I'm refusing certain jobs, I'm getting fewer requests.
So I would have to say both yes an... See more After a very promising start to 2020 I had hardly any work from March 2020 to December 2021. I then noticed a huge upturn in January 2022. It seemed like things were just back to normal, and I was back on track to enjoy an upswing in earnings. And indeed I earned too much money that year, so this year I need to earn less (or change my freelance status and pay more than double the tax).
Now that I'm refusing certain jobs, I'm getting fewer requests.
So I would have to say both yes and no to this question, and like Tom, I feel it's time to stop scapegoating Covid for whatever.
[Edited at 2023-08-14 07:51 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney wrote:
I earned too much money that year, so this year I need to earn less (or change my freelance status and pay more than double the tax).
What a strange system. You’d think you would only pay the higher rate on the top slice of your earnings. And why would smaller businesses have a lower tax rate anyway?
Pandemic had little effect on me financially, but it did remind me what’s important in life. And that isn’t money/work (beyond a certain level obvs).
| | | | Colin Smith
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:52
French to English
+ ...
| Covid isn't the issue | Aug 14, 2023 |
My work volumes (legal/financial, banking, investment, insurance) have collapsed in recent years. Why would clients pay translation agencies and translators when these clients have access, through their web browser, to translation engines that generate translations that are far superior to what many if not most professional translators can produce.
I know this because when an agency client sends me a job which is, for example, 50% client-approved TM by its other translators, 50% MT... See more My work volumes (legal/financial, banking, investment, insurance) have collapsed in recent years. Why would clients pay translation agencies and translators when these clients have access, through their web browser, to translation engines that generate translations that are far superior to what many if not most professional translators can produce.
I know this because when an agency client sends me a job which is, for example, 50% client-approved TM by its other translators, 50% MT for me to edit, I have to spend far more time correcting the human translations, whereas the MT is largely flawless (and very rarely misunderstands the source text, which is the BIG problem with human translators).
Covid has nothing to do with it. ▲ Collapse
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The type of work has changed: longer documents, specialised in patents, legal or medical. Gone are the quick turnarounds - most likely this is due to a personal change and having the confidence to say no.
Happy translatoring,
àdie
www.pauladie.com/translation
| | | | Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 14:52
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
After three strong years (2020 was my best year so far), volumes have slightly decreased. I don't think it has anything to do with the pandemic either - I just refuse to edit machine gibberish for peanuts AND to lower my rates in the face of skyrocketing inflation.
This being said, how do people seriously choose "I don't know" as an answer? I mean, how can someone not know how much work they have been receiving?
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Colin Smith wrote:
Why would clients pay translation agencies and translators when these clients have access, through their web browser, to translation engines that generate translations that are far superior to what many if not most professional translators can produce.
Because these machine translations still aren’t as good as what the best translators produce.
But also because, like everyone else, they’re slow to embrace change.
If you have had a sharp drop-off in work, that says something about you and your clients, because this experience is not universal. Assuming the problem isn’t quality, you need different customers!
| | | | | “Best” is for most purposes an unnecessary luxury. | Aug 15, 2023 |
For clients in the fields of concern to Colin (which partly overlap with mine), “best translators” are absolutely unnecessary. Good translators will do nicely. And in this league MT delivers outstanding cost performance.
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Andreas Baranowski wrote:
For clients in the fields of concern to Colin (which partly overlap with mine), “best translators” are absolutely unnecessary. Good translators will do nicely. And in this league MT delivers outstanding cost performance.
They’re also my fields, and I’m not seeing that. There are still plenty who need or want the best. For now.
To be honest, the biggest threat I continue to face is clients deciding to publish things in English only.
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