Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Rates for subtitling work
Poster: Georgie Scott
Post title: Agree to disagree
[quote]MK2010 wrote:
You do a really good job at showing what a global marketplace we work in. I can understand those translators who insist that we are like doctors and other professionals who set our own rates, but the fact is, that analogy doesn't work at the global level. Things like medical costs DO actually change considerably depending on the location—which is why, for instance, there are many Americans who go to Canada to buy medicine (much cheaper) and Americans who fly to Thailand or Mexico or elsewhere to get surgical procedures that cost one 10th what they cost here. A doctor or a plumber or a lawyer is usually setting his prices for the local market. He is not competing with a colleague around the world whose cost of living is a fraction of his. But we are. Our marketplace IS the entire world and we ARE in fact competing with colleagues who can afford to work for less. Of course, the translator is ultimately the one who decides which rates she is willing to accept, but I think it can only help to understand some of the points jbjb made below.
[/quote]
[Edited at 2016-03-21 16:26 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-21 16:30 GMT] [/quote]
Of course it is important to have a basic understanding of economics and the global marketplace as a translator.
But there's a reason so many of these large translations companies fail. Compare the industry with copywriters and scriptwriters rather than doctors and lawyers. I have 6 bookshelves lined with books on economics and a lot of senior contacts in multinational companies and I draw quite the opposite conclusion from jbjb.
The more rubbish translations out there, the more valuable good translations become. Either you invest in your career or you don't.
Topic: Rates for subtitling work
Poster: Georgie Scott
Post title: Agree to disagree
[quote]MK2010 wrote:
You do a really good job at showing what a global marketplace we work in. I can understand those translators who insist that we are like doctors and other professionals who set our own rates, but the fact is, that analogy doesn't work at the global level. Things like medical costs DO actually change considerably depending on the location—which is why, for instance, there are many Americans who go to Canada to buy medicine (much cheaper) and Americans who fly to Thailand or Mexico or elsewhere to get surgical procedures that cost one 10th what they cost here. A doctor or a plumber or a lawyer is usually setting his prices for the local market. He is not competing with a colleague around the world whose cost of living is a fraction of his. But we are. Our marketplace IS the entire world and we ARE in fact competing with colleagues who can afford to work for less. Of course, the translator is ultimately the one who decides which rates she is willing to accept, but I think it can only help to understand some of the points jbjb made below.
[/quote]
[Edited at 2016-03-21 16:26 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-21 16:30 GMT] [/quote]
Of course it is important to have a basic understanding of economics and the global marketplace as a translator.
But there's a reason so many of these large translations companies fail. Compare the industry with copywriters and scriptwriters rather than doctors and lawyers. I have 6 bookshelves lined with books on economics and a lot of senior contacts in multinational companies and I draw quite the opposite conclusion from jbjb.
The more rubbish translations out there, the more valuable good translations become. Either you invest in your career or you don't.