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Poll: Does the strong euro impact your business?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jul 9, 2008

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Does the strong euro impact your business?".

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629


 
Tomas Mosler, DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITI
Tomas Mosler, DipTrans IoLET MCIL MITI  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 22:32
Member (2008)
English to Czech
SITE LOCALIZER
a different point of view Jul 9, 2008

I don't mind allegedly strong euro as much as I do mind strong Czech "koruna" (CZK). 1 euro was equal to 28,5 Czech "koruna" (CZK) year ago. Now it is 23,5 CZK. So from the perspective of my currency, euro is actually *weak*.
(Make the maths for the combined effect for USD rate Y/Y: 21 -> 15 CZK. So getting back to the poll question, the impact is negative.)

Well, at least I can buy products from abroad cheaper...

[Edited at 2008-07-09 20:01]


 
Marek Buchtel
Marek Buchtel  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 22:32
Member (2005)
English to Czech
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Weak euro Jul 9, 2008

I have the same problem as Tomas.
It's the WEAK euro and VERY WEAK dollar that impact my business negatively
Of course, strong koruna is to blame.
But it's a real disaster


 
Konstantin Kisin
Konstantin Kisin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:32
Russian to English
+ ...
Loving it Jul 9, 2008

I've been putting off being paid on a very large project (X0,000 euros) for about 6 months now and it's due for payment this week. I estimate a 20% or so gain in GBP, discounting what I would have earned in interest on that amount had it been paid in January.

Overall, as the majority of my clients are from Europe or the UK, I am positively affected and unaffected respectively.

The only problem is that working with the US is currently close to impossible, but I never h
... See more
I've been putting off being paid on a very large project (X0,000 euros) for about 6 months now and it's due for payment this week. I estimate a 20% or so gain in GBP, discounting what I would have earned in interest on that amount had it been paid in January.

Overall, as the majority of my clients are from Europe or the UK, I am positively affected and unaffected respectively.

The only problem is that working with the US is currently close to impossible, but I never had many American clients, and those that I lost were replaced very quickly.
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Nikki Graham
Nikki Graham  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:32
Spanish to English
Yes, positively Jul 9, 2008

As most of my clients pay me in euros, I now don't have to work so hard to earn the same amount of money. However, given that prices here for food and petrol especially have soared, what I have gained on the swings, I have lost on the roundabouts.

So I better stop getting sidetracked by polls and get back to work!


 
Magda Dziadosz
Magda Dziadosz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 22:32
Member (2004)
English to Polish
+ ...
Strong? Jul 9, 2008

I see it similarly as the colleague from the Czech Republic above: euro is actually weak compared to my local currency (Poland) and it has a negative impact.

Magda


 
Fernando D. Walker
Fernando D. Walker  Identity Verified

Local time: 18:32
English to Spanish
+ ...
A catch-22 situation Jul 9, 2008

As I don't work for international agencies, unfortunately, my earnings are the same, but the cost of living in Argentina is higher and higher. The problem is that local agencies pay translators in Argentine pesos, although their rates are either in USD or EURO. They are in a winning situation while translators are in the same or worse situation.
Best regards,
Fernando


 
Giuseppina Gatta, MA (Hons)
Giuseppina Gatta, MA (Hons)
English to Italian
+ ...
Positive situation for me Jul 10, 2008

I am in a very good situation, because I relocated from Europe to the U.S. about 2 years ago.
I kept my European clients, which keep on paying me in Euros, and I buy here in the U.S., where everything is ways cheaper than where I come from (in my native country nearly everything is a rip-off).

Furthermore, many agencies here cannot outsource anymore to Italy, due to the strong Euro, and they search for Italian translators here. That means less competition for me (although I
... See more
I am in a very good situation, because I relocated from Europe to the U.S. about 2 years ago.
I kept my European clients, which keep on paying me in Euros, and I buy here in the U.S., where everything is ways cheaper than where I come from (in my native country nearly everything is a rip-off).

Furthermore, many agencies here cannot outsource anymore to Italy, due to the strong Euro, and they search for Italian translators here. That means less competition for me (although I feel very sorry for the colleagues in Italy, which cannot be competitive and still have to pay enormous amounts of taxes).

Finally, for once in my life, economy is working for me and not against me

Giusi
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Agnieszka Zmuda
Agnieszka Zmuda  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 22:32
English to Polish
Weak, weak euro Jul 10, 2008

Magda Dziadosz wrote:

I see it similarly as the colleague from the Czech Republic above: euro is actually weak compared to my local currency (Poland) and it has a negative impact.

Magda



I totally agree with Magda and the colleagues from the Czech Republic. For the past year my earnings have been on the low side largely due to the weak position of both: euro and dollar compared to Polish zloty.

Agnieszka


 
Marta Cervera Areny
Marta Cervera Areny
Spain
Local time: 22:32
Catalan to Spanish
+ ...
Yes, negatively Jul 10, 2008

I was on a huge project for a US company. I gave them my quote in December, when I finally got paid in May at the end of the project, it meant almost 1000€ less for me.

Bad timing I guess...


 
m_temmer
m_temmer  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:32
English to Dutch
+ ...
why not raise your rate? Jul 10, 2008

I have a couple of customers who pay me in USD. However, that doesn't impact my earnings as I raised my rate accordingly. The dollar has been weak against the euro for quite a long time already, so a rate increase can easily be justified.
If a customer doesn't want to pay my rate, I just go on with my customers that do. Why waste my time on poorly paid projects if I could be working for my other customers that do pay well...


 
Oleg Rudavin
Oleg Rudavin  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 23:32
Member (2003)
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
Currencies and trends Jul 10, 2008

There can't be a single answer to the question - and mostly, it all boils down to the local currency and its behaviour.

Like Tomas and Marek said, EUR is getting weak (and dollar even weaker) against koruna. Same with Magda, her national currency gaining weight against foreign competitors.

So it's mostly the local currency (and inflation) that determine the impact.


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 22:32
Spanish to English
+ ...
No as far as I know Jul 10, 2008

... although the use of "impact" as a verb certainly gets my goat.

 
Williamson
Williamson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:32
Flemish to English
+ ...
Pay to work. Jul 10, 2008

When joining the E.U. the Czech republic and Poland also agreed to introduce the euro. That is only a matter of time and economics.
I got a "best rate request" of 0.05$ p.w. or about 0.016 eurocent p.w.
Nobody in Europe works for 0.01 eurocent. If you deduct the use of electricity to power your p.c., you pay to work.
To what extent the policies of the next U.S.-president will be able to influence the rate of the $ remains a?

[Edited at 2008-07-10 09:37]


 
Xanthippe
Xanthippe
France
Local time: 22:32
Member (2008)
Italian to French
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
No, the strong euro doesn't impact my business Jul 10, 2008

because I work only in euro. My clients work only in euro and the colleagues I pay to do others translations they send me invoices in euro.

[Modifié le 2008-07-10 11:48]


 
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Poll: Does the strong euro impact your business?






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