| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15] > | Off topic: How do you think UK leaving EU would affect our profession? Thread poster: Balasubramaniam L.
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| Spain just blocked it | Jun 30, 2016 |
Christine Andersen wrote:
I hope the EU sceptics will now close ranks and get the EU back on course, and wish the Scots good luck if they want to stay in and help!
[Edited at 2016-06-30 09:03 GMT]
Spain (together with France) just blocked this for the Scots and I feel ashamed. I also feel ashamed by the fact that my fellow citizens massively voted for a party who could be teaching at a prestigious university how to get away with corrupt practices. I'm sure my post will be removed anyway.
While EU remains "intergovernmental", strong countries' interests will always prevail. If it swings towards more "supranational" way of thinking and doing, things may get better.
| | | | | My pinch of salt | Jul 1, 2016 |
Hubert Védrine (former FR Foreign affairs minister) nailed it i think with this
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/brexit/20160624.OBS3296/brexit-hubert-vedrine-pour-sauver-l-europe-il-faut-dire-stop-et-reflechir.html
In a nutshell, he says Europe has become too big, too vague an entity an... See more Hubert Védrine (former FR Foreign affairs minister) nailed it i think with this
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/brexit/20160624.OBS3296/brexit-hubert-vedrine-pour-sauver-l-europe-il-faut-dire-stop-et-reflechir.html
In a nutshell, he says Europe has become too big, too vague an entity and needs to refocus on a few core objectives and give itself a clear geographical limitation (read Turkey in or out for good).
Also, yes the economy, the Euro etc. is important, but to me the EU main role is to redistribute wealth across the continent, and is the only viable entity to stand up to big corporations, and a number of big issues (environment, etc.).
To answer the original question Brexit will in the short term at least be good for our business, as it will generate quite a lot of news articles... In the long term, no one knows, so no need to get mad, the deed is done. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | First small sign | Jul 5, 2016 |
One UK based translation agency pays me in Pounds (= equivalent of my euro price). Unfortunately the price (pounds versus euros) was agreed before brexit. I was paid today, but 7% less.
Viva brexit!
| | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Opposite "problem" | Jul 5, 2016 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote: Unfortunately the price (pounds versus euros) was agreed before brexit. I was paid today, but 7% less.
And I'm mostly paid in euro and yen.
Instant boost to revenues - Viva Brexit indeed!
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Dan Lucas wrote: Robert Rietvelt wrote: Unfortunately the price (pounds versus euros) was agreed before brexit. I was paid today, but 7% less. And I'm mostly paid in euro and yen. Instant boost to revenues - Viva Brexit indeed!
Sorry, it might be me, but I don't get it. How does it boost your revenues?
Except for this agency I am also paid in euros, no problems there. But in this (one) case it is me who is paying for the brexit (lower exchange rate).
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| I'm based in the UK | Jul 5, 2016 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Sorry, it might be me, but I don't get it. How does it boost your revenues?
If you are based in a eurozone country, the pound has weakened so the money from your client buys fewer euro when converted, as you noted.
However, I'm based in the UK so a weaker pound boosts payments to me made in currencies that have appreciated against sterling i.e. nearly all of them.
Assume that a Japanese client pays me 100,000 yen. A an exchange rate of 160 yen (as it was just before Brexit) to the pound that would have been converted to £625. At 135 yen to the pound the same 100,000 yen becomes £741.
I should add that I have very few UK clients; most of mine are in Europe and Japan.
Longer term some of my costs will rise due to lower purchasing power of sterling, but only some, and they are very small compared to my revenues.
Dan
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Dan Lucas wrote: Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Sorry, it might be me, but I don't get it. How does it boost your revenues? If you are based in a eurozone country, the pound has weakened so the money from your client buys fewer euro when converted, as you noted. However, I'm based in the UK so a weaker pound boosts payments to me made in currencies that have appreciated against sterling i.e. nearly all of them. Assume that a Japanese client pays me 100,000 yen. A an exchange rate of 160 yen (as it was just before Brexit) to the pound that would have been converted to £625. At 135 yen to the pound the same 100,000 yen becomes £741. I should add that I have very few UK clients; most of mine are in Europe and Japan. Longer term some of my costs will rise due to lower purchasing power of sterling, but only some, and they are very small compared to my revenues. Dan
Don't worry, your bill wil come. Somebody has to pay for brexit!
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Serious thinking | Jul 6, 2016 |
For anyone who wants to read some serious reflections on this matter, I recommend this:
See more
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| Foreign currency | Jul 6, 2016 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Don't worry, your bill wil come. Somebody has to pay for brexit!
When you accept to be paid in foreign currency, you know there is a risk/chance of exchange rate fluctuations, Brexit or not. Historical fluctuations of the pound, the dollar and many other currencies have already been much larger than the moderate drop of the pound relative to the euro after the Brexit vote, and the pound has already been lower in the past few years than it is now.
When I quote rates in foreign currency, I always do it with the caveat that said rate is only valid as long as there are only minor exchange rate fluctuations. That you didn't do that has nothing to do with Brexit but is a normal part of dealing with foreign currency.
There are always pros and cons involved in exchange rate fluctuations. You may find, for example, that it has become cheaper now to buy certain goods and services in the UK rather than in the Eurozone, as your euros now buy more in the UK than they did before.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 06:48
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER
Two weeks down the road after Brexit, I, as an outsider to both the EU and the UK, am greatly relieved to see that the fallout has not been as catastrophic as I had feared. So far, the damage seems to be limited to the two regions directly concerened with Brexit - EU and UK. The rest of the world is carrying on as before. So the dooms-dayers were wrong afterall.
It also appears that the overall impact on the translation profession is likely to be positive in the short and medium ter... See more Two weeks down the road after Brexit, I, as an outsider to both the EU and the UK, am greatly relieved to see that the fallout has not been as catastrophic as I had feared. So far, the damage seems to be limited to the two regions directly concerened with Brexit - EU and UK. The rest of the world is carrying on as before. So the dooms-dayers were wrong afterall.
It also appears that the overall impact on the translation profession is likely to be positive in the short and medium term, as more documents are likely to be translated as the two estranged parties negotiate a messy separation, and the EU adjusts to a Europe without English.
As for UK, I don't think much will change there either. Of course the politicians have been thoroughly discredited and it will take them a long while to creep back into respectability. The main architects of the referendum, BoJo and Farage, have reneged from their fiery bombast and have gone into hiding into some dark cave.
The Eurocrats have politely refused to have any truck with Nicola Sturgeon, so there is no fear of the UK breaking up any soon. It could not have been otherwise, as, had the Eurocrats pandered to Scotland's separatist tendencies, they would have fanned similar tendencies in vast tracts of EU itself, such as Spain.
In all likelihood, the EU is going to make an example of UK to show to other referendum-happy elements within Europe that leaving EU wouldn't be without terrible costs for them. My only fear is that if EU takes a too tough stand on UK, we could have in UK another Germany that was similarly insulted at the end of the first world war, and which grew into a monster and precipitated the second world war. Saner voices have advised EU against such a mistake, and I do hope the EU leaders would have enough wisdom to not take a too confrontationist a stance against UK.
Of course there would be many political and economic consequences of UK going it alone, but it is too difficult to forsee the implications of these on translation. For now, Brexit seems to have been just a storm in a tea cup, and that in my opinion is a good thing.
[Edited at 2016-07-06 15:04 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 02:18
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| "Storm in a teacup"? | Jul 6, 2016 |
Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
For now, Brexit seems to have been just a storm in a tea cup, and that in my opinion is a good thing.
That may be the way it looks for you, in India. I can assure you that for a massive number of people, especially for EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU, it's rather more than a storm in a teacup.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 06:48
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER SITE LOCALIZER | To the rest of the world it is | Jul 6, 2016 |
Sheila Wilson wrote: Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
For now, Brexit seems to have been just a storm in a tea cup, and that in my opinion is a good thing. That may be the way it looks for you, in India. I can assure you that for a massive number of people, especially for EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU, it's rather more than a storm in a teacup.
I said that in the beginning of my post itself. I quote myself:
I wrote:
Two weeks down the road after Brexit, I, as an outsider to both the EU and the UK, am greatly relieved to see that the fallout has not been as catastrophic as I had feared.
You need to get used to Britain no longer being the centre of the universe.
I understand a large number of people are affected. But there are many current world events that are having much larger impact on much larger number of people. Clue: the middle-east.
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| Weak Sterling | Jul 6, 2016 |
I am also enjoying the weak pound at the moment as my clients are mainly in Europe and some pay in US$, however, I am dreading what is to come...
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Gabriele Demuth wrote:
...my clients are mainly in Europe ...
So are you and so am I
One of the problems has always been that the Brits think Europe is somewhere else and that Europeans are "them" (rather than "us"). It's a psychological inability to accept European-ness.
[Edited at 2016-07-06 15:49 GMT]
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 02:18
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| I'm a European, not an imperialist | Jul 6, 2016 |
Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
You need to get used to Britain no longer being the centre of the universe.
I understand a large number of people are affected. But there are many current world events that are having much larger impact on much larger number of people. Clue: the middle-east.
Thank you so much for the lesson. As I left the UK in 1993 and have since lived and worked in the Netherlands, France and Spain, I don't actually see Britain as the centre of Europe, let alone the universe.
When I reached the age of majority in 1973, the "British Empire" no longer existed. It's a shame to see that in your mind it's still so much a part of recent history.
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