https://www.proz.com/forum/lighter_side_of_trans_interp/120152-financial_crisis_impacts_translation_agencies.html
This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings

Translation - art & business » Lighter side of trans/interp »
Off topic: Financial "crisis" impacts translation agencies
Thread poster: RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
Local time: 17:30
Spanish to English
Nov 7, 2008

(AP) Nov 7, 2008
The ongoing financial crisis is having its impact on service providers, including translation agencies.
According to (deleted), owner of a once-thriving translation agency in the US, "Things have been off quite a bit, and we've been forced to take measures in order to continue operating."
One such measure was the firm's recent sale of its scanner.
"It wasn't really essential", stated XXX, "and with the $40.00 that we got for it, we can buy enough peanut b... See more
(AP) Nov 7, 2008
The ongoing financial crisis is having its impact on service providers, including translation agencies.
According to (deleted), owner of a once-thriving translation agency in the US, "Things have been off quite a bit, and we've been forced to take measures in order to continue operating."
One such measure was the firm's recent sale of its scanner.
"It wasn't really essential", stated XXX, "and with the $40.00 that we got for it, we can buy enough peanut butter and bread to survive for at least another two weeks. Besides, with phone plans so much lower, faxing just makes more sense. So we just dusted off the old fax and bingo!"
In other developments... ▲ Collapse
 
Jaroslaw Michalak
Jaroslaw Michalak  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 00:30
Member (2004)
English to Polish
SITE LOCALIZER
Cost management Nov 7, 2008

While I have no doubt this will work for some period, I am sure that any cost control specialist would advise adopting the long-term measure: changing the ratio of peanut butter to bread. Of course, eliminating peanut butter altogether would be the most beneficial, but they might save this solution for really hard times...
 
Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 15:30
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
In other developments (cont'd) Nov 8, 2008

(AP) Nov 8, 2008

"We decided to hire our CEO's niece as a PM - she needed an internship for her studies in [insert random field]. She has never worked in this industry and she doesn't speak any of the languages that she is supposed to manage, but we told her to compare the number of question marks and exclamation points between source text and translation to make sure that the translator did a proper job."

The latter part - counting punctuation marks - is a true story.<... See more
(AP) Nov 8, 2008

"We decided to hire our CEO's niece as a PM - she needed an internship for her studies in [insert random field]. She has never worked in this industry and she doesn't speak any of the languages that she is supposed to manage, but we told her to compare the number of question marks and exclamation points between source text and translation to make sure that the translator did a proper job."

The latter part - counting punctuation marks - is a true story.

The latter part is not a joke. ▲ Collapse
 
Gerard de Noord
Gerard de Noord  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 00:30
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Crowdsourcing Nov 8, 2008

...but our new QC crowd outsourcing initiative has proven to be very effective. We have achieved a total cost reduction of around 20%. As an additional advantage we have been able to expand our translator pool with 30 of the 42 resources voted Leader by their community...
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:30
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
+ ...
There are many markets... Nov 9, 2008

I spoke with an owner of a translation agency this weekend and he told me that they regularly bill their clients a minimum of US$0.45 (that's forty-five cents) per word for into Spanish translation work.


[Edited at 2008-11-09 23:44]
 
RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
Local time: 17:30
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
¡¡¡Yo hablo ya !!! Nov 10, 2008

Jeff Whittaker wrote:

I spoke with an owner of a translation agency this weekend and he told me that they regularly bill their clients a minimum of US$0.45 (that's forty-five cents) per word for into Spanish translation work.


[Edited at 2008-11-09 23:44]

Nice work if you ken get it
 
Rod Walters
Rod Walters  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 07:30
Japanese to English
Bottom fallen out Nov 10, 2008

From where I'm sitting, translation is a dead industry. Things are looking very grim.
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
NancyLynn[Call to this topic]
Laureana Pavon[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Financial "crisis" impacts translation agencies


Forum rules
Help and orientation




CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »
Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »