A JET alum translator e-mailed with the below questions. Feel free to share your response in the comments section of this post, or e-mail to jetwit at jetwit dot com if you’d prefer your comment to remain anonymous.
1) At the moment, the Japanese economy is doing just terribly. Has anyone seen declines or reductions in the amount of work they are receiving?
2) In the longer term, as well, the economy doesn’t look like it is going to improve much, either. How do they feel about the prospects for making a business out of translating, are they feeling pessimistic for the future?
3 comments so far...
I have seen a sharp decline in the volume of work I’ve received this year, and I can feel a tiny daemon of panic clawing its way out. In the past month, my two biggest clients have asked me to sharply reduce my rates–one as much as 40%–while of course maintaining the volume and quality they’ve come to expect of me. Another company has also offered me a chance to participate in another major telecommunications job, at a rate 75% lower than what I’ve traditionally charged. The industry seems to be trending towards commoditization, and the lowest offer gets the job–who cares if you specialize in biomedical, and frequently help companies out who need accurate translations so that their products don’t kill someone?
Needless to say, I’m feeling incredibly bleak about my continued prospects as a freelance translator. With the current situation, I could go get a job bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s and make the equivalent per day of what my clients want to pay me now–and it would probably be much lower-stress.
I apologize for the bleak tone of this post, and I hope there’s someone out there who can either sympathize or talk me down. I genuinely love the career of translation, but I honestly would not recommend it in our current climate.
Stuart:
Have you thought about trying to hook up with a larger organization, where you could be part of a “stable” of translators? I’m sure that you’ve come across this, but here is the ATA website:
http://www.atanet.org/
http://www.atanet.org/careers/index.php
I’ve found it offers some very interesting angles on the industry …
– Steve
Sadly, I’ve been an ATA member for the past four years, as well as a member of the JAT. Being an ATA member is actually useful and is a large source of the jobs I get, but as of late, things are frighteningly slow.