Genf CIUTI Forum 2012 Schmitt

8/10/2019 Genf CIUTI Forum 2012 Schmitt

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Univ.Prof.Dr.PeterA.Schmitt

Translators

on

a

global

market:

Actors

or

victims?

CIUTIForumGeneva

2011


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CIUTI Forum UNO Genf2012

(c) P.A.Schmitt, Univ. Leipzig IALT 2


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Translationmarket

Turnover of thetranslation industry intheEU

(European Commission, Study on the size of the language industry in the EU)http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/studies/size_of_language_industry_en.pdf

Growth rate 10% p.a.

conservative estimate 16.5 billion EUR by 2015 real value to be expected well above 20 billion by 2015




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Globalization

Outsourcing

TeleworkingCIUTI Forum UNO Genf2012



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Frankfurt




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Worldwidevisibility




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ProZ.com




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TraduGuide




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Uebersetzervergleich.de




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WorldwideWiFi Internetaccess

e.g.in

Okonjima

(Namibia)




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Result:Globalcompetition

Translators may sit anywhere




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Moneymakes the world go round

Afew remarks ontranslation prices

Theory vs.reality


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Theory BDsamplecalculation for aminimum(!)

gross (before tax)income of a

freelance

translator

49

/h1.63

/line

7,840

/month




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prices perhourmonthly income




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Reality



e.g.

chief physician,

medical director:

8,159

e.g.specialist for surgery:

6,033


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BerufspraxisrealeEinkommenssituation



Reality:monthly gross income of employed translators

in Germany: 2,350


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Income

of IALT

graduatesGraduates of 2003through 2008,Surveyin2010e.g.survey limitedto graduates who are 2to 7years onthejob market

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

60

Average(!) income:

28,013 Euros p.a.before tax= 2,334 /month




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Reality Case1:Corporateclient,globalplayer,huge

annual translation demand,xlation servicecompletely outsourced

client deals with translation agencies only

client typically pays1.15

/line*to agency

agency delegates jobs to translatorseither inhouse:typical salary 1,5002,500/month

or free

lance:

usu.

30

%

less than clients price,

i.e.

0.80

/line

*plusVAT;inGermany19%




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prices per

line

monthly income




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Rent in

Germany

(/m)




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Reality Case2:Privateclient (this week)

translation of one page from acar owners

manual,engger

6TSPasked to submit anoffer

2outof 6responded:

one freelancer charged flatfee 35 (=8.5cents/word)

one translation agency charged8cents/word

Both translations were useless,

partially utter nonsense




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TSP

AgencyACHTUNG:DasUmschaltenindieStellungPARKEN(P)oderNEUTRAL(N)beivollbelastetemMotor(FahrenbeihoherGeschwindigkeit)istgefhrlich.SofernsichIhrFunichtentschiedenaufdem Bremspedalbefindet,kannsich

Ihr

Fahrzeug

uerst

schnell

bewegen.

Sie

knnten

die

Kontrolle

verlierenundgegenMenschenoderGegenstndefahren.

HINWEIS:

Beschdigungen

an

Ihrem

Getriebe,

die

durch

das

Umschalten

in

dieStellungPARKEN(P)oderNEUTRAL(N)beivollbelastetemMotorentstehen,

sindnichtdurchIhreGarantieabgedeckt.

AUTOMATISCHERSCHONGANG(D):DieseStellungdientdemnormalen

Fahren.DRITTERGANG(3):DieseStellungwirdebenfallsfrdasnormaleFahrenverwendet,bietetjedochmehrLeistungundeinegeringereKraftstoffeinsparung




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Free

lancerEs wird keine Haftung fr eine Beschdigung Ihres

Getriebes durch Schalten aus der Position PARKEN (P)

oder NEUTRAL (N) bernommen, wenn Sie mit hoher

Geschwindigkeit fahren.

SCHONGANG (AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE, D): Diese

Position eignet sich fr normales Fahren.DRITTER GANG (THIRD, 3): Diese Position wird ebenfalls

fr normales Fahren verwendet, aber siebietet mehr

Leistung und es wird weniger Kraftstoff verbrauchtals in

der Position SCHONGANG (AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE,D).




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Reality SoTHISis what anunaware client gets and

pays for:auseless document (at 40/page)

atranslation which confirms the widespread

notion that

translations are unreliable,bad,even nonsensical

translators deserve to be badly paid

translators are notinthe sameleague as,e.g.,engineers,lawyers,surgeons,webdesigners,




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Outsourcing

to India

Indien




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Clients

Perspective Pricedoes notreflect quality

Locationof TSPs office is no indicator of

translation quality

The

profession name translator

is unrelatedto translation quality

TSPwebsite claims are practically irrelevant

(only qualified nativespeakers,

proofread by experts,

quality assurance according to ISO9000,DINEN15038)




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Consequences clients tend to place orders with the cheapest

supplier (e.g.in

India)

translators charging higher prices often pricethemselves outof the market

because there is almost always somebody whooffers the (seemingly same)service at alowerprice

some clients turnto T&Iinstitutes,asking fortranslations by students




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Conclusion

or:

so

what can we do?

Isee 4options inorder of feasibility:

Option1:

wait.until globalization has reached alleconomies around the globe,establishing thesameincome/price levels everywhere

this may take awhile,

like 501000

years




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Conclusion

or:so

what can we do?

Option2:

establish translatoras a

legally protected

name for properly trained,competent,examined translators

obviously this would work best onaglobal,internationalscale,inmany languages

butdoing it on

anational

basis would be a

goodstart




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Conclusion

or:so

what can we do?

Option3:

increase general awareness (at leastamong

potentialT&Iclients)of the competenciesexpected and provided by professionaltranslators

this is next to hopeless,butwe should try




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Conclusion

or:so

what can we do?

Option4 step 1:

improve training of translators to ensure thatgraduates of T&Iinstitutes have aclearcompetitive edge over other competitors.Thishappens already:

CIUTI(since 1960)

EMT(since 2009)




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Conclusion

or:so

what can we do?

Option4 step 2:

communicate everywhere that graduates fromCIUTIand EMTT&Iinstitutes are much morelikely than others to provide useful T&I

services ANDthat they deserve payment at

the samelevel as other professionalswith amastersdegree

one forum for this is the annual Tekom conferencewith its 3500participants




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CIUTI

and EU

DGT

at Tekom/tcworld



Genf CIUTI Forum 2012 Schmitt

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