To think it might be time for friend to seek new area of work?

[Circularargument]

This friend qualified as a translator about five years ago and frankly things in the field have gone from bad to worse, work is ultra competitive and not well paid for what they do, apparently barely enough to pay NI most years.
I've listened sympathetically for the last couple of years to her tales of woe, because it must be so frustratjng having two degrees and not benefitting from them and I really do feel for her but starting to feel maybe she should look for something else. She has volunteered that she doesn't think she could get a job using the language orally as says she's out of practice actually speaking it. But things at home are tight financially .
I know, probably not actually wanting my advice, but after the nth conversation about it, am sorely tempted. AIBU? And if so, any ideas, linguistically gifted MNetters?

I have a friend in the same position. Translating is a skill that goes above and beyond simply swopping one word or phrase for another. Unfortunately it does not get the recognition it should.

Like your friend, my friend has found that work has almost all dried up. She has to do two other jobs to make up for the fact that she gets very little translating work.

@nettie434

Does she find it's ongoingly possible to combine regular with the irregular translator work? It would be such a shame to have to leave it altogether after all that work but bills have to be paid

Almost all of her regular clients have gone so her other 'portfolio' jobs are in a different field. She doesn't work full time so when there is translation work she has got the flexibility to take it on.

In terms of interpreting roles, another friend who works in the NHS was talking the other day about how more and more consultations are being done via apps.

I feel awful not having anything positive to suggest. The only thing I can think of is to develop more co-produced translations eg working with community groups on developing bilingual material. That won't be well paid though.

I work as a casual medical interpreter outside of my normal job and I am planning to quit next year. Pay is terrible, and very soon AI will leave translators and interpreters without a job, the technology is getting actually very good. I agree with you, and as a friend I would also recommend her to use her skills in other areas.

I've been a translator for over a decade after completing my MA in translation and I'm currently retraining. So far work has remained stable for me but I've seen (talented) friends have their work completely dry up, and I also had a very fallow period over the summer, quieter than I've ever seen it, and that was enough to scare me into action.
While my work has remained stable I've been unable to put my rates up very much over the years, which means that although my income is the same as it was 10 years ago, I definitely feel poorer, which is depressing.

Our problem is that we're very qualified but I think having worked for yourself for so long scares employers. Over the summer I applied for jobs and got nowhere, despite having my MA and having been a strong academic achiever and despite being a successful freelancer for so long. The trouble is you find yourself in a bit of a void: nobody wants to take you on for the entry level jobs because they think you're overqualified and won't want that pay cut, yet simultaneously you don't have the in house corporate world experience to be taken up for the jobs that pay what you're earning now. Translation is also fairly linear (input....output....) so its hard to talk up transferable skills although god knows I tried.

My solution has been to start retraining and volunteering with a view to slowly transitioning.

It is sad that something so nuanced could find itself on the frontline of the AI takeover but there we have it. She should never have retrained in this five years ago, the writing has been on the wall for about 6 or 7 years now I'd say. The AI is actually pretty good in a lot of fields. The other problem we have is we can't really move laterally: you would be unwise to switch sides and try and get into PM in the agencies, for example, as I think it's only a matter of time before they implode (and it strikes me as quite depressing these days, being a PM in the languages industry).

She needs to retrain.

Spoken rather than translation, but apparently Harry Potter tours in Norwegian are quite a good earner.
Friend does other tours, but Harry Potter is the most frequent.

That sounds rather niche!

@ThinWomansBrain
Maybe I've become a bit cynical, but I think re AI we have to be thinking long term in our career pivots now and IMO it's only a matter of time, give it three or four years and these tours will be provided by some kind of app and VR set up

What're you retraining in if you don't mind saying, @HannahHannahAnna ?