Comments on: Global Watchtower says sky not falling on freelancers

By: miriam

miriam — Thu, 28 May 2009 11:02:18 +0000

@yndigo:
As a freelance translator, let me tell you: this is most definitely not a good time to be a translator. Compared to the same time period last year, my business is down 70 per cent. Yes. Seventy. Which means I cannot even pay my taxes now, let alone live.
That, despite the fact that I am a qualified translator, known to be fast, reliable and delivering first-rate quality; despite the fact that I have been chasing clients, been added to databases, asked my regular clients for jobs on a daily basis; despite my marketing efforts and my wasting money on memberships on prestigious translation sites; and despite the fact that a freelancer has the luxury of being able to work internationally with clients from all over the globe.

The answer is always the same: We don’t have anything. The result is always the same: No jobs whatsoever.

Five more months of this and I’ll jump out the window…

By: Yaron Kaufman

Yaron Kaufman — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:41:25 +0000

Sky not falling on freelancers, and will never fall. The demand for translations is on a constant increase, and you can see the predictions for the years to come on common sense website as well. The reason for the expansion is the increasing need to communicate internationally. Customers, naturally, do demand lower rates when business goes slow.

By: ÜBERSETZER IM INTERNET Die Übersetzerwoche 19/09 | spanisch - deutsch - englisch - französisch

Mon, 11 May 2009 05:48:51 +0000

[...] Globalwatchtower publiziert die Ergebnisse seiner Umfrage “Freelancers Voice Their Views on the Economy”. Das Ergebnis: “Same Old Same Old Profession” (EN) via via via [...]

By: Umfrage: Entwicklung des Geschäftsjahres 2008

Umfrage: Entwicklung des Geschäftsjahres 2008 — Sat, 09 May 2009 08:19:44 +0000

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By: yndigo

yndigo — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:32:46 +0000

Corinne,

My findings — though also not scientific — concur with the survey you cite.

I know we’ve been getting more resumes and more translators calling to ask about work — even those who are usually busy when we call them. So things have changed. For agencies too.

Our clients have been doing some cost cutting; they seem to be waiting until they HAVE to get something done (even more than usual).

But there is still lots and lots of work out there however it doesn’t arrive in the same size, or language pairs, or frequency. Japanese and German seem to be down; Spanish and French and Italian seem to be up. Again, very unscientific. But in Legal translation, a few major — urgent — cases can have every translator in a language pair busy for months, while for other pairs the crickets are chirping.

Overall though, I’m convinced freelancers in general are faring better through this economy than the salaried folks who, even in the most secure places, think they may be next. Companies have let go a LOT of people — translation agencies too from what I’ve heard — but there’s still work and they still have to get it done. I know one agency that said last fall, OK, all editing and proofreading will now be done in-house. But then they let staff go and had to give even more work to freelancers.

So I say it’s a good time to be a translator.

By: Judy Jenner

Judy Jenner — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:50:02 +0000

That’s some good news in the middle of a bleak economy. Thanks for sharing. I only have anecdotal data, of course, but many folks’ results for the last quarter vary widely. I think it might be a tough year for all of us, but staying positive, doing innovative marketing, and expanding your reach are things we should all be doing.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:09:51 +0000

Among the group of freelance translators I know personally from frequent collaboration over the years, many would disagree with this result. It seems that for quite a few of them, with few or no jobs so far in 2009, the sky already has fallen. I am aware that I am talking about an unscientific sample, and with so many factors contributing to success or failure it is difficult to generalize, but I am inclined to take surveys such as the one you write about with more than a grain of salt.

By: Kevin Lossner

Kevin Lossner — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:14:06 +0000

No surprise there.