| דפים בנושא: [1 2 3] > | Poll: What conspiracy theories afflict translators? מפרסם התגובה: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What conspiracy theories afflict translators?".
This poll was originally submitted by Mario Chávez. View the poll results »
| | | | | Conspiracy theories? | Mar 28 |
Who vets these polls?
OP, please stop insulting our intelligence. Yes, a few of the options are wild but there is no denying that MT and "AI" are being used to displace "expensive and inefficient" human translators.
| | | | | Who believes in conspiracy theories? | Mar 28 |
I am not prone to them at all!
| | | | Lingua 5B 
בוסניה והרצגובינה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2009)
מאנגלית לקרואטית
+ ...
Some of the options are realities, not conspiracy theories.
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Sandra Boca
איטליה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2024)
מאנגלית לאיטלקית
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These polls are becoming more absurd by the day...
| | | | Lieven Malaise
בלגיה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2020)
מצרפתית להולנדית
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| Conspiracy theories | Mar 28 |
I have an innate contempt for conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists, but I think this is an interesting question because despite its provocative nature it points to a real problem, imo: the lack of reliable and extensive data about the state of the translation industry, and freelance translators in particular.
This leads to claims like "I've lost my work because of AI" and the like. I suppose this might and will be true in some cases, but I'm pretty sure this argument won't b... See more I have an innate contempt for conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists, but I think this is an interesting question because despite its provocative nature it points to a real problem, imo: the lack of reliable and extensive data about the state of the translation industry, and freelance translators in particular.
This leads to claims like "I've lost my work because of AI" and the like. I suppose this might and will be true in some cases, but I'm pretty sure this argument won't be valid for the majority of people claiming it. Having and maintaining enough work is the result of a complex combination of elements: rates, quality delivered, the number of customers one has and their loyalty, willingness to work with MT, adaptability in general, commercial feeling, resilience, willingness to work long hours or not, luck, etcetera etcetera. The balance between all those elements needs to be really good, and some sudden unbalance can have severe consequences.
Let's not forget that even in the early nillies translators were complaining about lowering rates and their nearing end, which makes me suspect that the problem is not the translation industry as such, but the difficulties and lack of willingness people have to adapt to changes.
[Bijgewerkt op 2025-03-28 10:42 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise wrote:
I have an innate contempt for conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists, but I think this is an interesting question because despite its provocative nature it points to a real problem, imo: the lack of reliable and extensive data about the state of the translation industry, and freelance translators in particular.
This leads to claims like "I've lost my work because of AI" and the like. I suppose this might and will be true in some cases, but I'm pretty sure this argument won't be valid for the majority of people claiming it. Having and maintaining enough work is the result of a complex combination of elements: rates, quality delivered, the number of customers one has and their loyalty, willingness to work with MT, adaptability in general, commercial feeling, resilience, willingness to work long hours or not, luck, etcetera etcetera. The balance between all those elements needs to be really good, and some sudden unbalance can have severe consequences.
Let's not forget that even in the early nillies translators were complaining about lowering rates and their nearing end, which makes me suspect that the problem is not the translation industry as such, but the difficulties and lack of willingness people have to adapt to changes.
[Bijgewerkt op 2025-03-28 10:38 GMT]
[Bijgewerkt op 2025-03-28 10:41 GMT]
While I can certainly not fully disagree with you, one point that grinds my gears is how you seem to put most (not all, but most) responsibility on the translators' side.
To make my point clear: I am not averse to change. And while I am not enthusiastic about playing the babysitter for inane machines, I'm down for it if the pay is right. The problem is that most industry players are offering an absolute pittance for MT/AI post-editing. While modern NMT/AI solutions are certainly better than traditional statistical MT could ever have aspired to be, their output is still VERY far from presentable. In fact, if I don't want to LOSE time editing MT/AI output, my safest bet is to batch-delete it completely and translate from scratch, i.e. I do not win nor lose any time in the best-case scenario. Worst case: I decide to actually give it a chance, just to still end up rewriting it completely.
As Gabriel Fairman of BureauWorks once put it with all his usual lack of self-awareness: Translators need to be prepared to work more for less money. And this is where I'm out. This is not how inflation works. This is not how the world works.
| | | | | A theory affects whoever believes in it | Mar 28 |
After all, it's a theory: if you are following it, it affects you (and you don't have to be a translator to be affected). Or does the question refer to (alleged) phenomena as theories: if you believe in one or more items on the list, you should automatically be labelled as a conspiracy theorist and held in contempt by some people? It's a handy label; if a person who has studied some facts and took the labor to conceptualize them comes up with a conjecture saying that those facts may result from ... See more After all, it's a theory: if you are following it, it affects you (and you don't have to be a translator to be affected). Or does the question refer to (alleged) phenomena as theories: if you believe in one or more items on the list, you should automatically be labelled as a conspiracy theorist and held in contempt by some people? It's a handy label; if a person who has studied some facts and took the labor to conceptualize them comes up with a conjecture saying that those facts may result from some form of conspiracy, i. e. people with wealth and power coming together and agreeing to achieve this or that end in covert ways, then that person's opinion will simply be dismissed as another conspiracy theory. But wait, people with wealth and power keep conspiring for or against something all the time without disclosing their dealings to the public, don't they? Doesn't matter. Here's a label for you. I can't say anything specific about the conspiracy items from the original post. I'm not affected by any of them where I am, and I'm especially curious about the crypto tech part: what's it all about? Have I missed any news on this? ▲ Collapse
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Zea_Mays
איטליה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2009)
מאנגלית לגרמנית
+ ...
Weak economies
Beside that, "conspiracy theories" is a misplaced concept here, as it implies a more or less large group of people ("the conspirators") with a bigger plan they want to realize. And actually, most of these "theories" are just myths.
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AI is eliminating our jobs. This is not a conspiracy theory. I've lost my main client to AI, after 10 years of relationship... and I had to heard that "my contributions were vital to train their model".
Anyway, I started bartending again to make up and pay may bills. My Southside Fizz is ridiculously good by the way.
[Edited at 2025-03-28 12:11 GMT]
| | | | | What is this nonsense? | Mar 28 |
So yesterday we had a poll no-one could vote in, and now this arse gravy.
Click bait, essentially, since I'm reasonably sure that Chavez knows what an actual conspiracy theory is.
Still, it gives Malaise another opportunity to spout his piffle about how it's not happening to him so it's not really happening to any of us (I paraphrase) and all we all need to do is be more like him.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
בלגיה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2020)
מצרפתית להולנדית
+ ...
Charlie Bavington wrote:
Still, it gives Malaise another opportunity to spout his piffle about how it's not happening to him so it's not really happening to any of us (I paraphrase) and all we all need to do is be more like him.
The tips and trics or hints about my work method I sometimes share here, could be (a start to) a way out for some people, but that won't be possible without an open mind. With this reply you basically confirm my opinion about the lack of adaptability of some (or better: many). All I see is frustration and an apparent lack of ability to stay respectful, which might be telling since it's rather important in a business environment.
To conclude: I see no harm in trying to represent the 40% of freelance translators that are still doing ok in this doom and gloom nightmare Proz seems to have become. So close your eyes or be ready for more of the same in the future. And if it would end for me too, I will just leave, go do something else and forget about Proz, that's for sure. If a door closes, I walk into the one that newly opens and forget about the one that's closed.
PS: my opinion is not that it's not really happening to others, but that it is mainly happening to people that lack adaptability and probably lack a lot of other things too (too few eggs in the basket, only 1 or 2 specializations, one single language pair, unadapted rates, poor skills etcetera), exceptions aside.
[Bijgewerkt op 2025-03-28 13:55 GMT]
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Cecília Alves
ארגנטינה
Local time: 08:52
חבר (2011)
מאנגלית לפורטוגזית
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| You have voted on this poll. How? | Mar 28 |
And it even says "You have voted on this poll". How could that possibly be true if I haven't had the chance to do a single click on a response? Not much to lose, anyway...
| | | | Zea_Mays
איטליה
Local time: 13:52
חבר (2009)
מאנגלית לגרמנית
+ ...
| inflation conspiracy | Mar 28 |
Zea_Mays wrote:
Weak economies
Beside that, "conspiracy theories" is a misplaced concept here, as it implies a more or less large group of people ("the conspirators") with a bigger plan they want to realize. And actually, most of these "theories" are just myths.
With inflation expected to reach 5% in the US, there could be some big problems ahead.
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/michigan-inflation-expectations
| | | | | Stages of research | Mar 28 |
Although I do understand Lieven's point about confirmation bias, I don't think we can dismiss anecdotal evidence as worthless. Actually, anecdotal evidence is the first step for scientific research: a problem is identified, a hypothesis is formulated, literature is reviewed, data is collected and analyzed and hypothesis are confirmed (or discarded). But the only way to become aware of the fact that there might be a situation which merits further analysis is anecdotal data. And when you have tran... See more Although I do understand Lieven's point about confirmation bias, I don't think we can dismiss anecdotal evidence as worthless. Actually, anecdotal evidence is the first step for scientific research: a problem is identified, a hypothesis is formulated, literature is reviewed, data is collected and analyzed and hypothesis are confirmed (or discarded). But the only way to become aware of the fact that there might be a situation which merits further analysis is anecdotal data. And when you have translators from the most diverse backgrounds, levels of experience, language combinations and geographies saying that they are experiencing a downturn in business, well, I'd say there could be something there that's worth looking into, even if it's just to disprove the original hypothesis. We can't just assume that confirmation bias is the root cause of the perceived situation. We should at least entertain the possibility that there might actually be a problem.
By the way, based on pure common sense, if only 40% of translators are reporting to be doing ok, as Lieven points out, I'd dare say something must be going on. That's 6 out 10 translators who report to be struggling. I know what follows is coarse extrapolation, but were the translation industry be a country, with us linguists its citizens, that would equal to a 60% unemployment rate. Nations have been obliterated for much less than that. On that front, I'd also be cautious of chalking up the apparent inability of that 60% to keep making a sustainable living to their incapacity to adapt, to quality issues, to their inability to work long hours or to their rates. Given the size of the figure, that's a sweeping statement that certainly does not reflect the reality of translators with decades of experience under their belts who have always known how to adapt in the ever changing language sector and that now are seriously considering to leave the industry. That's an oversimplification of a much more complex, multifaceted situation which, as I mentioned, merits further research.
[Edited at 2025-03-28 15:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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