Do translators have a future?

[Magnet952]

Any translators out there? Would you advise an interested 20-something to do a translation MA in the hope of working as a freelance translator (German / French / Spanish to English) or is AI translation advancing so rapidly that you don't see much call for human translators in the future?
Thank you for any insights.

Well then we all know that the role involves interpreting at EU conferences :)

As I said, I think interpreting has a few more years to it than translation as the AI isn't good enough yet, but ask some older interpreters what they think is happening if you don't believe me.

Most of them have people skills though. The 'technical genius who can't communicate' is very much a myth. Of course, like in any other job, some will be better at it than others.

'IT' as a field is so broad, that there's nobody who is 'not suited' because there are so many different jobs! Now, if you're talking about programming, linguists may be a bit better suited than say, business graduates. But there's no need to debate this, because there's an easy way to find out. Get on the internet and try it.

Being a stakeholder/recruiter/businessy person and having a business architect husband - it's even more surprising that you'd push learning to code as opposed to doing one of your jobs. It's a waste of effort.

Hesitated to reply to this as I know you felt jumped on earlier but (MFL grad her) I know a number of people from my course (and indeed my a-level classes) who’ve gone into teaching.The ones who did it because they want to teach are doing fine, the ones who went into it because they just wanted a career using their languages are either miserable or left the profession quickly.

@Oganesson118 I just wondered if the OP or DD had thought about it. I agree you should want to do it but that applies to most jobs that take some effort. Also some schools are less demanding than others and op quotes the most popular MFLs so that’s a bonus. There’s also teaching adults. I think teaching still has a future and a decent pension.

My DD did MFL and she wouldn’t have liked teaching but she would have never considered translation either. She didn’t see MFL as her living. I see them as a vehicle - like Hstory or Classics. They are not purely vocational.

I can only speak re one of my clients who was a German translator for 20 years earning a good living doing things like technical and legal documents. His turnover and profits have nose dived in the last few years and he's now given up translating completely as he says it's just a race to the bottom when it comes to quoting for jobs etc with people offering to do it for peanuts rather than making a living (presumably desperate students or people in foreign countries with lower standards of living).

He's moved into "Ghost" writing books which is a massive change, but still uses his literacy skills, and he's even written a few books in German for the German market.

Tend to agree. My job isnt languages related.It does have a significant need for good communication skills so maybe the background helps in that respect. I did used to use my German but my job role now is totally different so I don’t interact with the German office anymore.

I’ve been a freelance translator for the past 6 years and still make a decent living but would never recommend that a 20 year old should do an MA in it. I don’t know what the future holds but I don’t think machine translation is going anywhere!

There are niche areas where human translators are still needed, e.g marketing material with a combination of text and images. The text has to stay the same length or it won’t fit with the image but different languages are more/less concise so translating it involves some rewriting. Also if there’s any slang or in-jokes the translator needs to understand both cultures, not just the two languages. DeepL can’t do that yet but I’m sure it’ll learn sooner or later.

There’s also market research analysis, where people in different countries are interviewed about their opinions and the end goal is a summary of the key trends. There are tools that can kind of do this but they’re not super accurate yet and they can miss important points. Again, it’s probably just a matter of time before they learn how to do that.

I do think machine translation will need editing by a human for a long time yet, especially texts that are going out to clients or which could have an impact if there are any mistakes. It is very good now but not 100%.

GCHQ still employ human linguists to do language work, if the OP's 20yo might be interested in that kind of thing.

The problem with this is that most freelancers are held over a barrel by translation agencies. These tend to be huge companies that have swallowed up many of the smaller, nicer agencies who were a pleasure to work with and valued the work of translators back in the day. There is constant downward pressure on rates, as well as an endless supply of newly qualified freelancers and people in countries with a lower cost of living who will work for next to nothing. These large companies care about profits above all - my experience is that they are less bothered about quality.

I work in a translation-related field, as does DH. I am staff, DH is freelance. DH’s work has nosedived the last year particularly, and now he doesn’t even make minimum wage. My work is now primarily editing AI produced scripts. A few years ago, they were terrible. Now they are really, really good. Salaries have also nosedived. The pay is the same now, or less, than 30 years ago. The translators we do employ (as staff) are all bilingual but none have MAs in translation, and they still don’t work full time on translation.

They want Russian, Persian, Arabic and Mandarin, not French and German. They used to take people with any MFL degree and train them up but not so much now.

This has made me think though, don’t the army take and train up linguists for intelligence and surveillance stuff.

I had dinner last night with a friend who is a very successful novelist. They told me they were creating a glossary of words and idoms and terms from their latest novel for the translators. I said beware, that glossary will be used to inform AI and push translators out of jobs. They looked a bit taken aback and said they had heard Ai was now involved but that their novel was full of very idiomatic language that AI wouldn't easily 'get'. I thought: hence the sudden request for a glossary. pretty sure she wasn't asked to do one last time...

Yes they do - I looked at the RAF scheme when I was a grad but I have a medical condition that would have excluded me. I think at the time it was an 8yr min service commitment? Not sure if that's still the same. I went into the CS instead, where there is the opportunity to use languages, even if not on a daily basis. FCDO is the obvious one but also Departments like Business and Trade who offer overseas postings as well.

I’m not surprised at those GCHQ languages! Threats? It’s fairly obvious.

Also, the OP said “20 something”. That’s probably not 20. So maybe a career change or post MFL degree at 22/23?

I think this is an interesting question actually. DH and I speak 5 languages apiece (some the same, some different) and had this conversation with foreign linguist friends recently. We wondered whether our children would focus on languages in the same way we had, or whether mastery of foreign languages would cease to be necessary with the advent of AI. Already tools like Google Translate mean it’s possible for the average person to communicate much more effectively with less knowledge even than 5 years ago. Surely those developments will accelerate in the next 5…Off topic slightly I know, apologies

for me language is a way to understand my heritage. I grew up speaking English (but learnt mandarin at school, as it was my 'mother tongue') so if i am lucky enough to have a child, I would teach my child my 'mother tongue' (even though my mum has always spoken english to me). Same with DH who grew up speaking German to his grandparents.

We do know a freelance translator (european language) who earns far below minimum wage despite having 30 years experience! In addition as many people are bilingual, it doesn't give you any edge in the job market, and DH & I have both worked in non English speaking work settings (where our knowledge of the language was essential). Those jobs were not particularly well paid relative to other jobs which required similar skills set.

if a freelance translator is dependent on state pension in her old age and hence has to translate to make up the difference, what would be a solution?!

Get another job with a decent pension!

she is over 60. So not really possible. She is mortgage free though. Divorced as well. has one adult daughter at home who does earn a bit but not enough to contribute to bills.

Is there anything she can branch into.

BSL isn't just about signing it also relies on facial expressions as well. For example the simple question "how are you today?" changes depending on the facial expression (as the voice changes to reflect the context of the question to a hearing person). Even when using apps such as "Sign Live" it can be difficult to understand the what's being meant if the visuals don't align exactly to the signing. IMO, AI still has a way to go until it can capture those visuals properly IYSWIM.

@ginger2026 Didnt realise she was over 60 already. That will limit careers. Why not think about such issues earlier? Anyone can work! I would evaluate skills and see what’s possible, if there’s limited work for translators it’s difficult. My other thought is why isn’t DD pulling her weight?