In the comments to one of my recent posts about translators’ rates and pay, translator Kevin Hendzel mentioned a speech by Neil Inglis, a translator with the International Monetary Fund. Neil’s speech referred to the “poverty cult” that so many (too many) translators seem to espouse. I haven’t been able to find the speech itself, but Kevin’s article “The Seven Virtues of the New Translation Era” (published by the North California Translators Association (NCTA)) was inspired by it. And Chris Durban mentioned it recently in a post entitled “The Frugal Translator” for the Institute of Translation and Interpreting’s “Pillar Box” blog. Here are some key points about the Poverty Cult, as summarised by Kevin and Chris.

The Poverty Cult and its Seven Deadly Sins

According to Neil Inglis, the Poverty Cult may develop from “the inferiority complex that language professionals have (and others have about them) regarding their worth in the marketplace”. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Poverty Cult are:

1. envying the success of others
2. gloating over the failure of others
3. a pervasive sense that it is better for everybody to fail than for a few to succeed
4. a sickly squeamishness where the subject of money is concerned
5. shabby gentility, more shabby than genteel
6. a widespread conviction that it is better to have a little and be secure than to take a gamble and risk losing everything
7. Schadenfreude mixed with sour grapes.

Read the full post in Words to good effect here: http://www.wordstogoodeffect.com/translators-rates-poverty-cult-plus-ca-change/

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