I'm a translator, will Brexit affect my job?

[PhilSwagielka]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

Background: I'm a freelancer who works for an agency and I translate from German and French into English. I also speak Spanish but the agency doesn't offer Spanish jobs, and the little Spanish work I did get was from American agencies. I've done jobs for companies in the UK and US (some of my jobs are American English). I used to do a day job in a hospital to have a steady income and do my translation job at night, but I decided to quit my hospital job and go full time.

I'm wondering how much, if at all, Brexit is going to affect my job and whether I should be worried. Any other translators here?

I run a small translation business on the side (also have a f/t day job), though I'm in the EU so less affected by Brexit. I do medical/pharma/legal.

If you are working only for UK and US clients then in theory Brexit shouldn't affect your direct work relationships with your clients.

However ... I'd be concerned about how data flows will be affected by Brexit. Translators often handle personal data and both you and the agencies which employ you will need to be compliant with EU data protection regulations.

The ICO says:

"However in the event of ‘no deal’, EU law will require additional measures to be put in place by UK companies when personal data is transferred from the European Economic Area (EEA) to the UK, in order to make them lawful."

Source: ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-how-will-personal-data-continue-to-flow-after-brexit/

So, my concern would be whether U.K. based agencies are able to meet the EU requirements for data transfers to third countries on Brexit day, whether you as a subcontractor will have to do anything to make your data transfers legal, and whether this has the potential to reduce the supply of work for U.K. translators.

On a broader note, personally I am relatively gloomy about the future of all but the most skilled translation work. Machine translation is a pile of shite, but it's being used to dumb down the job and reduce rates. I won't touch machine translation jobs so my work is increasingly highly technical documents - can still earn good money doing this, but I am very very picky and if they won't pay my rate then I don't do the work. Having a salaried job means I can be fussy. Wouldn't even consider going f/t as a translator right now I'm afraid! But with several language pairs you are in a better situation than me (I only translate French).

Are you British? If yes then you'll probably get more work as non Brits may leave.

Yeah, I am and I'm based in the UK. Re GDPR, I'm not allowed to use Google Translate because of it. It's shite, so I wouldn't anyway.

I do a lot of technical stuff myself, as well as medical/pharma - I worked in a hospital so I know the lingo. The irony is that scientific and technical translation was the one kind I didn't want to do at uni, and yet it's the type I do the most.

I think data transfers of all or almost all medical/pharma documents will be affected by Brexit as they almost invariably contain personal data of some sort. Obviously the big agencies will sort out what they need to do (though how quickly given that there is no info on this from government?) but I'd keep a close eye on the ICO website to make sure there isn't anything you need to do yourself.

Google translate is hopeless for technical stuff, though it isn't half as shite as the machine translation tools being used by some major agencies! They want to pay proof reading rates for gobbledegook ... no thanks. But there are people out there desperate for work and it will eventually drive rates down (which is the aim of course). I won't ever work below my minimum, because I do this on my evenings/weekends not to pay the bills, but overall compared to a year ago I am taking more work at rates I consider "borderline acceptable".

My top advice would be to get a European nationality then apply to the EU as a staff translator, as there is going to be a massive shortage in years to come when British citizens can no longer apply. It pays very very well.

I can't unless Scotland becomes independent - I'm half-Scottish - and I don't want to leave the UK. I'm autistic, and I have mental health issues, so the thought of setting up on my own abroad, sorting out bank accounts and a home etc., and being away from my family really frightens me.

ah that's a shame. No chance of claiming Irish ascendancy?

Re-Train

There will be no need for translation after we are free of the EUSSR because all forringers will have to speak English if they want to do business with us.

Nah, my Scottish dad was of Irish descent but it goes too far back. I think it has to be parents?

No, it can be grandparents.

If yes then you'll probably get more work as non Brits may leave.

Non-Brits are unlikely to be OP's competition as they're not likely to be working into English.

My top advice would be to get a European nationality then apply to the EU as a staff translator, as there is going to be a massive shortage in years to come when British citizens can no longer apply. It pays very very well.

Interesting point - my DD is a dual national, trilingual and is studying history and English literature at the Sorbonne. I've told her not to even think about becoming a translator but maybe it's worth considering ...

My top advice would be to get a European nationality then apply to the EU as a staff translator, as there is going to be a massive shortage in years to come when British citizens can no longer apply.

What are you on about? Look at the number of Brits amongst the EU staff of translators/interpreters. I take it you’re a Brexiteer, wasn’t that one of the issues; the low representation of British EU staff. Also there are tons and tons of applicants for these jobs. Comparative exam.

On an unrelated note, I still think there is a decent future for legal translators (and plenty of work) in the EU. My friend is one (English/French/Dutch/Russian/German – although he mainly does French/Dutch because of the high demand). Many EU countries have language laws/laws that require you to use an officially registered translator. Quite lucrative.

My top advice would be to get a European nationality then apply to the EU as a staff translator, as there is going to be a massive shortage in years to come when British citizens can no longer apply. It pays very very well.

If you can claim a European nationality, which is clearly not something you just buy from Tesco, then fine. However, even if you can, passing the EU official exams can take a long time. The competition for obvious reasons is enormous.

I work for a translation agency in UK. I think that if your client (the agency) is in UK, they will have to worry about data transfer not you. You are only sending the documents back within the UK. Right?

As for the agency offering you Spanish jobs, well... that's normal. There are plenty of professional Spanish native translators. There's no point in using one whose native language is English. Even people who grow up bilingual, when it comes to translating, they are stronger in one of the languages. Translation is not an easy job!

Um no I'm not a Brexiteer, far from it. My point is that there is already a huge call for into-English translators at the EU and will be after Brexit as English is by far the biggest hub language at the commission. The translation directorate is already crying out for into-English translators as something like a third of the current staff members are set to retire shortly. However, post-Brexit, Brits won't be able to apply for these jobs. Currently the only two other English-language European countries are Ireland (population 4.75 million) and Malta (population 460,000), so there will be far less competition than there is now. Seriously, if I weren't too long in the tooth to uproot I'd be doing it myself.

As for the agency offering you Spanish jobs, well... that's normal.

I would imagine OP means Spanish to English.

There is plenty of work, but unless you are very specialised or can offer several languages, it is getting harder to make good money. You're competing with cheap (though often not very good) translators located in countries where living costs are lower. The agencies make a big song and dance about quality, but their adoption of machine translation has been an eye-opener in the sense that it has become clear that many clients will accept low translation quality as long as there are no objective errors.

Re the GDPR and European data transfers, the problem with the assumption that the agency will sort out data transfer legalities is that at the moment they can't just sort it out. If the U.K. just drops out of the EU overnight then there could well be temporary disruptions in data flow, especially in sensitive fields like medical and legal.

Um no I'm not a Brexiteer, far from it.

Oh sorry, misunderstood. Also I didn’t use the term Brexiteer in a negative manner. I have no issue with them, apart from the xenophobic/jingoistic variety. My only concern is the Irish question; not particularly fussed about the rest.

The logical solution is hiring non-native speakers. We’re stuck with English as the lingua franca. From early age you’re bombarded with subtitled English media content. I suppose a shortage of native English speakers will lead to a new kind of English. Don’t necessarily see a problem: a language evolves.

I'm not too bothered as far as getting work is concerned - I'm as busy as I ever have been in the 25 years since going freelance. Translation into English will still require native-speaking English translators, and most of us (for the GB variant, at any rate) are still based in the UK. I can't see that changing in the foreseeable. Even if we accept that machine translation is the way to go - I'm talking about high-quality, dedicated client systems rather than Gurgle - post-editing will still need a fair amount of human input by the right people for years to come. The thing that's bothering me most at the moment is how I'm going to invoice clients overseas both within and outside the EU, as I assume the reciprocal arrangements we currently have in place for dealing with VAT will all be worthless after 31 October. At present I just have to state the client's own VAT number (invariably another VAT-registered business) on the invoice and bill for the net amount, and for Switzerland the procedure is simply to invoice the net amount as they are outside the scope of EU tax arrangements, but that's based on the UK being a member of the EU, with which Switzerland does seem to have various arrangements in place. Tried looking on the government's website but the advice there seems to be geared to larger companies and not microbusinesses. I haven't used an accountant for some years as everything has always been so straightforward, until now...!

I'm based in France and have seen a thing that suggests that when FOM goes, so does the right to trade services across EU borders, which would put paid to my business. No clarity whatsoever though.

The ATC has some interesting free webinars this week on this subject

Hi guys, I've just come across this thread as someone studying Business and German at uni and going on to do a Masters in translation.

I was initially worried about the impact of Brexit upon the translation of European languages, but reading this thread makes me more nervous about the future of translation as a whole.

I have been constantly advised by careers advisers to develop a specialisation if I want to pursue translation and have been taking extra courses in Finance. I'd initially wanted to study both German and Spanish - I have some Spanish family and am already fairly proficient in Spanish, but I was persuaded that a second language pair isn't as important as a specialisation.

This thread and others by actual translators are making me scared that having a second language pair (or multipe) is actually more important to turning this into a viable career than having an area of specialisation is.

You all mention the decline in rates. I was wondering if you're talking about the ability to make "good money" or even just pay bills as a full-time job?

I knew translation wasn't well paid, but I was under the impression that a decent translator could start on about 20k and with experience make up to about 25k annually. Is that anywhere near accurate?

If your qualifications are UK based, they may not be recognised in the EU
as the trade deal made no mention of service reciprocal approval

What do your tutors think about language pair vs specialisation? I suspect that if you have only one pair, DE-EN is a bit better than FR-EN (my main language pair, so bear that in mind when reading what I've written on this thread).

I have been doing mainly medical/pharma translation work as a side gig for quite a few years now, and it is noticeably harder to make good money than it was even 18 months ago. But I am very, very fussy about what work I take, and because it's just an evening job I don't actively chase new clients. Machine translation is the main culprit, but covid has made a difference too, due to clinical trials not recruiting, etc. It would be interesting to hear other translators' experience - I wouldn't necessarily assume that my experience is typical.

Overall I'd say it's still possible to make a reasonable wage if you are good, fast and absolutely ruthless about refusing poorly paid work. (I appreciate that's tough to do until you are established.)

As it happens I also commission translation work as part of my day job (completely different field and language pairs). Tbh machine translation & the associated race to the bottom has not been great for clients who want really well-written native-standard translations. Recently we have had serious issues with poorly post-edited machine translations and I wonder if MT/low rates are driving good translators out of the business ... so maybe all is not lost and things will start to improve for young translators.

You definitely need a specialisation. After that, you can make a good living with one language, but two isn’t going to harm your prospects. My main advice at your stage is choose your MA course wisely, bearing in mind you will be running your own business on the other side of it. Being a good translator is all well and good but it doesn’t mean shite if your MA hasn’t given you basic entrepreneurial skills.