Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Rates for subtitling work
Poster: MK2010
Post title: I don't recall saying anything...
...about "rubbish" translations. Of course they're out there, but just because a translator lives in a country where she can make a decent living charging less than a translator in the U.S. or Europe does not mean her work is rubbish. Manufacturers from the richest countries in the world move their plants to developing countries where it's cheaper to make anything from a car to a computer to a tennis shoe to a phone. Hollywood shoots films in Canada or in Eastern Europe or wherever the tax incentives are these days because they can save a lot of money. I knew a major art gallery in Chicago where the curator traveled to China for every exhibit to print out the catalogue and the invitations, because even with the cost of the trip, it was cheaper than going with a local. And everything that gallery does is absolutely top-notch, they are a legend in the art world. Screenwriters accept lower fees when they're starting out (before joining the WGA for example) to get a foot in the door. They write treatments for free in the hopes of nailing that big studio gig. Major A list actors will accept to do small indie films at a fraction of their multi-million dollar salaries because they believe in the project. A novelist might choose to go with a smaller house instead of Random-Penguin because even though the advance might be smaller for that first novel she's been writing for 10 years, she feels that with the smaller publisher, she'll get more editorial and marketing support. And so on. It's not all about money.
Every translator must weigh the pros and cons of the various projects and clients that come her way. I work for several end clients in one very specific industry. One of them pays a lot more than the other one. But I still work with the other one because I love what they do, I love the job, and I want a long term relationship with one of the pioneers in that industry. That same client is now branching out into a different industry (film production), and so now I get to be involved in that, which has always been a dream.
To say there is one way for everybody is ridiculous. Even without going into globalization and outsourcing (and why should translation be one of the only industries to escape that?), certain translation sectors pay better than others, period (and with respect to this thread, subtitling is not typically one of them). And certain clients offer regular work at slightly lower rates while others pay better but the jobs are sporadic, etc. It's all a balancing act, and it's up to each professional linguist to figure out what works for them. If it takes one translator three hours to translate 1K words and another one can do the same volume in half the time, well, right there, that's a factor. Ultimately, it's about how much we make an hour. If I can work on material I really enjoy, which might pay less than other sectors, but which I can do quickly enough that I'm pulling in 200 bucks a day, well that's fine with me. If I can make those 200 bucks on any given day and still have time to hit the ski slopes, then that's EVEN better.
@ Bernhard: I have no idea what your dishwasher has to do with any of this :)
[quote]Georgie Scott wrote:
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. [/quote]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 01:17 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:38 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:39 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:40 GMT]
Topic: Rates for subtitling work
Poster: MK2010
Post title: I don't recall saying anything...
...about "rubbish" translations. Of course they're out there, but just because a translator lives in a country where she can make a decent living charging less than a translator in the U.S. or Europe does not mean her work is rubbish. Manufacturers from the richest countries in the world move their plants to developing countries where it's cheaper to make anything from a car to a computer to a tennis shoe to a phone. Hollywood shoots films in Canada or in Eastern Europe or wherever the tax incentives are these days because they can save a lot of money. I knew a major art gallery in Chicago where the curator traveled to China for every exhibit to print out the catalogue and the invitations, because even with the cost of the trip, it was cheaper than going with a local. And everything that gallery does is absolutely top-notch, they are a legend in the art world. Screenwriters accept lower fees when they're starting out (before joining the WGA for example) to get a foot in the door. They write treatments for free in the hopes of nailing that big studio gig. Major A list actors will accept to do small indie films at a fraction of their multi-million dollar salaries because they believe in the project. A novelist might choose to go with a smaller house instead of Random-Penguin because even though the advance might be smaller for that first novel she's been writing for 10 years, she feels that with the smaller publisher, she'll get more editorial and marketing support. And so on. It's not all about money.
Every translator must weigh the pros and cons of the various projects and clients that come her way. I work for several end clients in one very specific industry. One of them pays a lot more than the other one. But I still work with the other one because I love what they do, I love the job, and I want a long term relationship with one of the pioneers in that industry. That same client is now branching out into a different industry (film production), and so now I get to be involved in that, which has always been a dream.
To say there is one way for everybody is ridiculous. Even without going into globalization and outsourcing (and why should translation be one of the only industries to escape that?), certain translation sectors pay better than others, period (and with respect to this thread, subtitling is not typically one of them). And certain clients offer regular work at slightly lower rates while others pay better but the jobs are sporadic, etc. It's all a balancing act, and it's up to each professional linguist to figure out what works for them. If it takes one translator three hours to translate 1K words and another one can do the same volume in half the time, well, right there, that's a factor. Ultimately, it's about how much we make an hour. If I can work on material I really enjoy, which might pay less than other sectors, but which I can do quickly enough that I'm pulling in 200 bucks a day, well that's fine with me. If I can make those 200 bucks on any given day and still have time to hit the ski slopes, then that's EVEN better.
@ Bernhard: I have no idea what your dishwasher has to do with any of this :)
[quote]Georgie Scott wrote:
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. [/quote]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 01:17 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:38 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:39 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-03-22 03:40 GMT]