Poll: As the year comes to an end, how would you describe your work experience this year? De persoon die dit onderwerp heeft geplaatst: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "As the year comes to an end, how would you describe your work experience this year?".
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| | | | Lieven Malaise
België
Local time: 07:51
Lid 2020
Frans naar Nederlands
+ ...
2024 will be at least my third best year ever. There's also still a good possibility that it will become my second best year ever, but that will depend on the work I will receive in the second half of December, my schedule until over half December already being as full as it can possibly be.
I've still had a lot of conventional translation assignments, but I think it's safe to say that this result wouldn't have been possible if I would still stubbornly refuse to accept MTPE assignme... See more 2024 will be at least my third best year ever. There's also still a good possibility that it will become my second best year ever, but that will depend on the work I will receive in the second half of December, my schedule until over half December already being as full as it can possibly be.
I've still had a lot of conventional translation assignments, but I think it's safe to say that this result wouldn't have been possible if I would still stubbornly refuse to accept MTPE assignments. I'm pretty sure that for the large majority of translators into Dutch holding on to conventional translation only is a lost cause.
As far as the forcecasts for 2025 are concerned: I dare say nothing, except that nothing is certain, as always. Economically things don't look too bad in Belgium, but that doesn't apply to France and Germany, 2 important European markets. Once again things will be tense, like every year the past 20 years. The inevitable life of a freelancer: you never know how things will go. ▲ Collapse
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It was a quiet year with probably as much rest as work, but I am not complaining because I have behind me a good lot of excellent years…
| | | | Dan Lucas 
Verenigd Koninkrijk
Local time: 06:51
Lid 2014
Japans naar Engels
In volume terms 2024/2025 has been a good twelve months (the company's fiscal year runs to the end of February) although not up to the levels of the very strong 2023/2024. Volume is down slightly, but the greater problem is that sterling has strengthened against the Japanese yen by about 10%, so for the same volume translated I generate 10% less revenue. I have been running to stand still, in effect.
The past few weeks have been quiet, but I do have bookings for January so I guess t... See more In volume terms 2024/2025 has been a good twelve months (the company's fiscal year runs to the end of February) although not up to the levels of the very strong 2023/2024. Volume is down slightly, but the greater problem is that sterling has strengthened against the Japanese yen by about 10%, so for the same volume translated I generate 10% less revenue. I have been running to stand still, in effect.
The past few weeks have been quiet, but I do have bookings for January so I guess things are not too bad.
Regards,
Dan ▲ Collapse
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| | Chris Spurgin
Verenigd Koninkrijk
Local time: 06:51
Lid 2016
Russisch naar Engels
+ ...
| Much to be thankful for | Dec 9 |
Could be my best year since 2021.
The annoying thing was having quite a few big projects cancelled.
I won new clients, new skills and learned more about myself - in a good way.
One area of concern is economic policy. I don't see much pro-growth policy being touted by politicians. Also I know a couple of agencies have gone under, and I have had to chase some about payment.
Wishing you all a successful 2025.
[Edited at 2024-12-09 09:13 GMT... See more Could be my best year since 2021.
The annoying thing was having quite a few big projects cancelled.
I won new clients, new skills and learned more about myself - in a good way.
One area of concern is economic policy. I don't see much pro-growth policy being touted by politicians. Also I know a couple of agencies have gone under, and I have had to chase some about payment.
Wishing you all a successful 2025.
[Edited at 2024-12-09 09:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
Verenigd Koninkrijk
Local time: 06:51
Lid 2014
Japans naar Engels
| It's not looking good | Dec 9 |
Chris Spurgin wrote:
One area of concern is economic policy. I don't see much pro-growth policy being touted by politicians. Also I know a couple of agencies have gone under, and I have had to chase some about payment.
Glad to hear that 2024 has been a good one. Clients struggling and going under is one of my concerns for 2025. Additional financial burdens levied on both individuals and companies are going to make life harder. There might be an argument for higher taxes in some circumstances, but there really are no free lunches. I wish politicians were honest about the negative impacts: people and companies are going to react to higher expenses by trying to cut what costs they can, and that can very easily lead to a downward spiral.
Ultimately economic growth is what drives prosperity, and a country cannot tax its way to higher growth. This is particularly relevant when tax as a percentage of GDP is already at its highest level for many, many decades and people (and companies) are already struggling with the cost of living (or doing business).
If the level of services provided by the government improves noticeably as a result of the higher taxes then maybe it will all be worthwhile. People might find their daily lives are measurably better due to better services, and that makes them more confident about the future, perhaps.
What I suspect will actually happen is that the additional money extracted from the populace disappears without any significant improvement in the services supplied, and we can't do anything about it, because governments are generally not accountable. If a company provides a service and I don't like it then I can just use another company. I can't do that with services over which the government has a monopoly.
Fortunately, as translators it is usually possible for us to take advantage of global markets and thus it may be possible, to some extent, to mitigate the consequences of poor economic policy in a single country. But I am worried about 2025 even though calendar 2024 was not a bad year for me. One major item on my to-do list for the end of the year is to look again at where I can cut costs both as an individual and as a business.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italië
Local time: 07:51
Engels naar Duits
+ ...
Dan Lucas wrote:
... the greater problem is that sterling has strengthened against the Japanese yen by about 10%, so for the same volume translated I generate 10% less revenue. I have been running to stand still, in effect.
Add in the cumulative high inflation rates of the last 5 years, and you get an additional loss of 20-30% if you haven't raised your rates accordingly over that period. Where I live, it's around 25% since 2019 (most of it since 2022), which means that 100x purchasing power from 2019 is now just 75x.
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