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?

But a specialisation
if you have trained in a country whose qualifications are not recognised by others
(as the UK now is)
is irrelevant

The thread started in 2019
Angelic was within her rights to resurrect it
BUT
the reality is that UK language qualifications are currently
choocolate teapots

Well, you don't need any qualifications to be a translator, so that doesn't matter. Sure, an MA is nice, but you don't actually need one to set up in business. The main stumbling block was selling services overseas but from industry chatter (which I admittedly don't follow super-closely, being as I'm a European citizen and therefore not affected) I gather that an exemption has been made for translators and interpreters.

I gather that an exemption has been made for translators and interpreters.
Link please
as NO OTHER professional body has been exempted

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?

FWIW I make a fair chunk over twice the upper end of that. I'm in a fairly MT-safe niche, but I wouldn't swear to what the industry will look like in ten years.

Tbh LQ translation is not like some other professional services - most of the industry isn't regulated like law or medicine.

Brexit might be an issue in some circumstances - for eg in the past I've been offered stints working directly at European clients' sites translating technical materials; Brexit has limited these mobility opportunities for British translators. It has probably made life very difficult for interpreters, and it has closed doors at EU institutions of course. But for regular run of the mill commercial translation work I am not sure it makes a huge difference.

Listening it was on industry-specific Twitter, people highlighting the relevant part of the Johnson deal, but TBH it's late here and I can't be arsed to go trawling through my feed to find it. It'll be on the industry association feeds somewhere.

IIRC interpreters can do short hop jobs without a visa.

slator.com/industry-news/brexit-no-work-visas-needed-for-uk-translators-interpreters-on-short-eu-trips/

That's for very short term business visits though - I don't think it would enable me (for example) to take a 4-6 week contract translating technical pharma manufacturing docs (except in France where I am a resident). I wouldn't take that sort of work anyway, but it is a loss of opportunity for young translators.

Overall though most freelance/agency work can be done from anywhere - in fact that's the industry model. I don't think Brexit is hugely relevant for that sort of work, either from the point of view of work permits, or qualifications.

I will UTTERLY defer to Mistigri on this
as I speak from a UK Accountancy perspective
she is EU / languages
and has a rock solid long term posting history behind her :-)

Actually I think notafan is the more reliable source here. (I'm a very part time translator, it's not my day job).

Ahem. I am EU and have been a professional translator and translator trainer for 20+ years. Mistigri you are doubtless right about medium-term internships etc. From within the industry the big worry was UK-based translators not being able to sell their services within the EU but that worry seems to have gone away. I’ll see if I can dig out the relevant links (I don’t have them to hand because as I said I am not directly affected).

I have been an MNer for a number of years fwiw but name change regularly. I’m an occasional visitor to the main Brexit threads.

From within the industry the big worry was UK-based translators not being able to sell their services within the EU but that worry seems to have gone away

I always thought it was overplayed. Services are affected by Brexit in two ways - firstly by the need for recognised qualifications (but this is not relevant to most translation work) and secondly by the need for physical mobility (again, not usually directly relevant to translation, which can be done remotely - but depends on circumstances as per the discussion on internships below).

AI is a much bigger threat to translation than Brexit. I imagine that there will be a flight towards more "MT-proof" specialisations, and that a lower supply of good translators will eventually improve rates in the more MT-affected sectors.

Angelic I would advise you to look up Chris Durban on YouTube. She is a finance translation expert and trainer who is full of good advice on how to build your career.

Yes I agree with you there Mistigri. AI and NMT are the big game-changers. Whether for good or ill depends on your point of view.

Oh I don't think MT is all bad. In fact for basic regulatory documents, I'd rather a machine translated segment than a badly-translated 90% match from a human translator.

Like all markets, the translation sector will adjust, but it must be tough if you are in a heavily MT-affected sector and your translation work pays the bills.

Absolutely.

I havent read the full thread but I'm a translator and work is fine. I'm in the EU.

What I would like to know is how Brexit affects agencies working with UK based translators. We know now that VAT has suddenly become an issue with people working with goods. What about services?

If you're a UK based translator who generally works with agencies based in the EU, is this going to be a problem?

But yeah other than that point I dont think Brexit has any impact whatsoever unless you were working for the institutions before.

Translating into English is about ensuring clients access as many people as possible because English is the current lingua franca - nothing to do with the EU or Brexit.

Many thanks for the reply Mistigri, which is quite reassuring.

I speak Spanish to a high B1 level and it would take me at least 4-5 years studying Spanish and time spent in Spain to raise my proficiency to translation level (and Brexit will make it more difficult for me to spend time on the continent). Fortunately I have already lived in Germany for several years as a teenager.

I'm therefore considering developing specialisation and knowledge of other industries (legal/financial and IT) as opposed to concentrating on other languages.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but any more advice also welcome. If multiple language pairs is really the only way to go in making a full-time living, I'd definitely reconsider studying Spanish alongside German at university.

It’s not the only way at all. A high paying speciality is much more important.

Two language pairs are nice to have (esp in the early stages of your career), but a well-chosen speciality is absolutely essential.

Bear in mind that anything can be a speciality. Are used to know a guy who played tennis as an amateur to a high-level, he had absolutely cornered the market in tennis translations and was minting it.