UK Linguists Earn GBP 30 per Hour for LSP Work, CIOL Survey Finds
An October 2019 survey report released by the United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) marks the first in a series meant to “provide a snapshot of the languages professions in mid-2019, at a time of political and economic uncertainty in the UK”.
The picture that emerges, the report concludes, is “both contrasting and challenging.”
From May to June 2019, 431 language professionals answered the CIOL Insights survey’s quantitative and open-ended questions about working conditions. Over 65% of respondents said they lived in the UK, and 24% said they lived elsewhere in Europe. Almost 84% of respondents had some type of affiliation with CIOL.
Over 70% of respondents identified themselves as translators and interpreters. Options also included “those who use languages as part of their professional role (9%), teachers/lecturers (8.6%) and students (4.6%).” A catch-all “other” category, selected by 5.6% of respondents, covered “editing, proofreading, copywriting, examining and lexicography.”
https://slator.com/industry-news/uk-linguists-earn-gbp-30-per-hour-for-lsp-work-ciol-survey-finds/
Comments about this article
Local time: 20:46
French to English
The term "earn" is usually employed to describe take-home pay. In the case of self-employed individuals, I suppose that "to earn" means net, once all the usual contributions have been deducted. If "to earn" is, in fact, being used here to describe the hourly rate invoiced, then perhaps this could be indicated.
[Edited at 2019-11-06 14:59 GMT]
Maybe it’s a British thing, but here what you say you earn is before tax unless stated otherwise. In this case, the linked article says that it’s the freelancer’s hourly rate that is being referred to.
Iran
Local time: 22:16
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
to earn means get money by working, and deserve what one has worked for
Local time: 20:46
French to English
Maybe it’s a British thing, but here what you say you earn is before tax unless stated otherwise. In this case, the linked article says that it’s the freelancer’s hourly rate that is being referred to.
Yes, the article does refer to gross hourly rate.
The title is still ambiguous though. Note that I referred only to contributions and not to tax; I meant before (income) tax. Once the compulsory contributions have been deducted, the level of gain is sometimes below that of income tax.
France
Local time: 20:46
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
[Edited... See more
[Edited at 2019-11-25 10:31 GMT] ▲ Collapse
Local time: 20:46
English to Latvian
+ ...
I am a freelancer, and this sounds like very little money, we earn netto 440 in the EU, and they even pay something for the pension. Working since 2009, I already have above 200K collected. I hope I will not live too long and soon die in Spain.
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:46
Serbian to English
+ ...
This figure presuming to be an "average earning" has be taken with a shovelful of salt ....
And not only because the majority of translators DO NOT charge "per hour".
Nor because even interpreters DO NOT charge "per hour" - at least professionals - who would charge PER DAY, with a minimum of half-day
If... See more
This figure presuming to be an "average earning" has be taken with a shovelful of salt ....
And not only because the majority of translators DO NOT charge "per hour".
Nor because even interpreters DO NOT charge "per hour" - at least professionals - who would charge PER DAY, with a minimum of half-day
If you want more details, all you can find is lots of comments about the report. When you finally get hold of the original "Survey report", you are none the wiser about its relevance.
If this "survey" was done with the same methodology as their current survey about "Careers and Qualifications", this figure of £30 per hour is to be handled with gloves.
It was an automated online survey, with apparently no checks whatsoever - anyone could fill the survey with any figures they fancy.
Even assuming that all answers are totally accurate (meaning that everyone filling the survey gave the same and correct meaning to all terms used and knew how to calculate the right figures), there is still no guarantee whatsoever that those who answered the survey are in any way a "representative sample" of anything, as the inclusion criteria seems to have been as precise as "anyone with interest in languages", anywhere in the world!.
In brief, this figure is about as relevant as would be an "average hourly earning of a taxi driver" obtained through an online survey where anyone with a passing interest in driving could declare any figure they fancy, putting together professional drivers of luxury limousines with black cab drivers, minicab drivers, Uber drivers and moonlighting amateurs, and in a final push to make the figure more relevant, in the mix was added about 30% of answers given by people not even living in UK.
[Edited at 2020-01-29 22:41 GMT]
[Edited at 2020-01-29 23:02 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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