AI killed the translation industry by making people believe that it can assist translators and thus streamline production. This is not actually true, because the words, even if acceptable, will often need to be rearranged to reflect the communicative intention and for stylistic considerations. And that is without considering the sometime need to rearrange entire paragraphs to create a suitable flow of meaning. AI is merely a distraction.
The result is that I am now often expected to accept work for as little as 8 euro / page when my standard rate for normal clients six years ago was 14 euro. The average time required to translate a page is about 1h 15min, falling to as little as 30min for simple documents and rising (thankfully very rarely) to almost a full 8 hours for abstruse documents in highly language-specific fields (sports, the arts, ships and yachting, and so forth).
I have always kept my rates as low as possible, while some of my skilled colleagues charge far more and are thus obliged to concentrate on more demanding high-end publishing projects. They are perhaps suffering less from the onslaught of the machine and so have been vindicated.
Having decided many years ago to concentrate on the lower end of the market, I agreed in 2020 to acquiesce for a few selected clients, working at 11 euro / page for some AI projects (specific companies) and even less for another client, but it was mainly just a price cut because any imaginary benefit was amply outweighed by the penchant of AI to insert misleading concepts and terms that have to be very carefully vetted and removed. This does not occur when the document is translated from scratch by a skilled actual translator, which is the preferable format for the maximum quality result.
Latterly, I have decided to insist on full rates, leading to a drastic decrease in contracts and a great deal of free time. I think it’s a matter of principle, ultimately. The Bible says Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and that the workman is worthy of his hire.
Now, due to the oppression of our rulers operating through their corporations and the corrupt financial system, the hire in my profession has fallen well below the official minimum wage in the UK of £11.44/hour.
My response has now become:
“If your customer wants AI, please go ahead, but if you want my work it comes at a fair price”.
In truth, the price should have kept pace with inflation over the past decade and would therefore be between 20 and 25 euro/page, but we are all cheated out of our wages by the stealth tax of relentless inflation.
The result will be that inexperienced translators will be accepting work that is beyond their ability at minimal prices, and thus producing mainly gobbledygook, also because some will be persuaded to consider the gain and adopt a superficial approach to their work.
Because I have based my reputation on quality (and punctuality), and because of my mental process, I cannot do this, so every AI translation I am offered has to be processed meticulously to the very best of my ability.
Also, third-party proofreading is now optional, but as a writer I know full well that it is very important stage of the process. That’s just another result of using money as the sole deciding factor at every stage, again owing to financial pressures placed upon us by our rulers.
We are like our ancestors in Egypt, when Pharaoh decided to treat them harshly and hamper their work while demanding ever higher productivity.
So the Lord did not allow that kind of situation to endure excessively, and I think our rulers do understand this.
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Psalm 2, AV.
I see this a stand of man against the machine. I think many of my colleagues will be adopting a similar stance and the best translators will simply drop out of the market and change profession, or focus on creative writing. It is not a “strike”, but a “walk-away”. Perhaps there are similar battles to be waged in other areas of the economy.
Me? I’m looking for a part-time job in a supermarket.
(not joking)
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