| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4 5] > | Can we have a poll to find out how translators are doing financially? Thread poster: Guofei_LIN
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Can we have a poll to find out how established translators are doing financially, compared to the average income of their country of residence as indicated in this table: https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php
By established translators I mean those that have been in this industry for some years and mainly rely on translation for their livelihood. Such polls are easy to g... See more Can we have a poll to find out how established translators are doing financially, compared to the average income of their country of residence as indicated in this table: https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php
By established translators I mean those that have been in this industry for some years and mainly rely on translation for their livelihood. Such polls are easy to give a distorted picture if we lump the established translators together with the others who are still trying to find their foot. So there must be one selection for those that are still getting established.
For example, I live in Australia. My income from translation is about 66% of the average annual income of my country of residence (which is $57170 as per that table). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:50
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I wouldn't expect respondents to tell the truth.
| | | | | Submit a poll suggestion then! | Jan 30, 2023 |
I make about 50% more than the UK average FWIW.
Although obviously I must be lying.
| | | | | I'm not sure how that would look as a quick poll | Jan 30, 2023 |
I'm not sure how that would work in a quick poll, though there have been polls asking about related issues, on a general level.
Last year's industry report, https://www.proz.com/industry-report/ , also includes a section where issues like income, savings capacity, etc. are discussed.
I would expect similar-ish questions to appear in surveys that will help build this year'... See more I'm not sure how that would work in a quick poll, though there have been polls asking about related issues, on a general level.
Last year's industry report, https://www.proz.com/industry-report/ , also includes a section where issues like income, savings capacity, etc. are discussed.
I would expect similar-ish questions to appear in surveys that will help build this year's report as well. ▲ Collapse
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Guofei_LIN 
Australia
Local time: 01:50
Chinese
TOPIC STARTER | something like this | Jan 31, 2023 |
Jared Tabor wrote:
I'm not sure how that would work in a quick poll
Something like this:
I'm established as a translator and my income from translation is xx% of the average income in my country (average income figure as per https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php) :
1. 50%-60% higher than the national average income;
2. 30%-40% higher than the national average income;
3. 10%-20% higher than the national average income;
4. Same as the national average income;
5. 10%-20% lower than the national average income;
| | | | Mark Somers
Belgium
Local time: 17:50
Member (2017)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| Less work from established clients | Jan 31, 2023 |
Well, what I've noticed over the last four months,
is a decline in work from regular customers, who are all complaining about less work.
Is anybody else noticing this, or is it just me?
I expect people to tell the truth, btw, or otherwise not say anything at all.
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Mark Somers wrote:
Well, what I've noticed over the last four months,
is a decline in work from regular customers, who are all complaining about less work.
Is anybody else noticing this, or is it just me?
I expect people to tell the truth, btw, or otherwise not say anything at all.
Why would anyone lie? This is the third time in the last few days I've seen a comment like that. I find it irritating tbh.
No, I have not noticed a decrease in work from regular customers.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:50
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Mark Somers wrote:
Well, what I've noticed over the last four months,
is a decline in work from regular customers, who are all complaining about less work.
Is anybody else noticing this, or is it just me?
I expect people to tell the truth, btw, or otherwise not say anything at all.
It's because direct clients are enchanted with the idea of DeepL (while keeping the translation budget as their pocket money or bonus money). Your client may be using people cheaper than you to proofread the DeepL output (talking about honesty, your client is not being honest, most likely). Or it may be that direct clients don't think it's necessary to proofread it at all (in which case your client is completely honest).
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Ice Scream wrote: Mark Somers wrote:
Well, what I've noticed over the last four months,
is a decline in work from regular customers, who are all complaining about less work.
Is anybody else noticing this, or is it just me?
I expect people to tell the truth, btw, or otherwise not say anything at all. Why would anyone lie? This is the third time in the last few days I've seen a comment like that. I find it irritating tbh. No, I have not noticed a decrease in work from regular customers.
Even if people don't lie, you won't necessarily get an accurate response. People tend to be happier publically celebrating their successes than sharing their failures.
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Rachel Waddington wrote:
Even if people don't lie, you won't necessarily get an accurate response. People tend to be happier publically celebrating their successes than sharing their failures.
Publicly maybe, but not if it's an anonymous poll.
That said, the occasional people who celebrate their successes on here rather than moaning constantly are generally shot down in flames...
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 18:50
Member
English to Turkish
| Down in flames | Jan 31, 2023 |
Ice Scream wrote:
That said, the occasional people who celebrate their successes on here rather than moaning constantly are generally shot down in flames...
That guy who claimed he broke the $100k record a few years back caused a bit of an uproar, didn't he? Some waxed lyrical about his toil and success as I remember. Point taken though 
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Baran Keki wrote: That guy who claimed he broke the $100k record a few years back caused a bit of an uproar, didn't he? Some waxed lyrical about his toil and success as I remember. Point taken though
... wasn't it 100,000 in JMD?
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Guofei_LIN
Australia
Local time: 01:50
Chinese
TOPIC STARTER | I'm sure he hit the $100k mark | Jan 31, 2023 |
Baran Keki wrote: That guy who claimed he broke the $100k record a few years back caused a bit of an uproar, didn't he? Some waxed lyrical about his toil and success as I remember. Point taken though
But I think we learn more from the reaction of the community regarding the reality of the current market situation than we can learn from one individual's experience which may be a statistical anomaly.
[Edited at 2023-01-31 23:17 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:50
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| I think I can remember | Jan 31, 2023 |
Baran Keki wrote: Ice Scream wrote:
That said, the occasional people who celebrate their successes on here rather than moaning constantly are generally shot down in flames...
That guy who claimed he broke the $100k record a few years back caused a bit of an uproar, didn't he? Some waxed lyrical about his toil and success as I remember. Point taken though
He wanted to show me his Instagram photos to prove his wealth. Anyway, hope he's doing great, he's a nice guy. And he knows we made a joke out of it just for fun.
There were a couple of colleagues who reported $500k annual peak for some years. I wouldn't think it's impossible with the right location, language pair, specialty and methodology. The problem with this is when I write something like this on the board, some newbie is reading this and will jump to join ProZ hoping to become a millionaire. Then in a month or two down the road, they will open a thread here shocked at the lowball offers.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 17:50
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Last year I earned 60% more than the average national income in Belgium.
January 2023 turned out to be okay, but I had to compensate a slow period with very (too) hard work and my monthly income for January (assuming it would be average over the coming year) wouldn't be enough to achieve the figure above once again by the end of the year.
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