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Poll: Professionally, my outlook for the coming year is generally:
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Joao Correia
Joao Correia  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:29
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Somewhat Jan 8, 2021

Dan Lucas wrote:

Joao Correia wrote:
I expect 2021 to be miserable in professional terms and have even considered changing careers due to all three issues.

If you only earned 75 euro in five months then either you are living off your savings, or you are being supported by somebody else, or you already have another source of professional income. Which is fine. Better to do any work than go hungry, right?

If you cannot make it in translation with your current skill set and client base, there is no shame in doing a side job while you reconsider your approach, or in changing careers completely. If I needed money to feed myself and my family I'd cheerfully stack shelves at my local supermarket while I regrouped and worked out a plan for moving forward.

(Admittedly my bar for "acceptable work" may be rather low, as for three consecutive summers as a teenager I cleaned geriatric wards at my local general hospital, and these included a lot of time spent in toilets used by patients who were, in many cases, incontinent. After that, every job seemed like an upgrade.)

Regards,
Dan


Living off my savings. I have been doing this fulltime for the past 11 years, so it's not a matter of skills or clients, but rather everything in between: disloyal competition, scammers, Covid-19, bottom feeders, etc. I have even considered lowering my rates, which I already consider low enough, but fighting against 3-to-5-cents-per-word "translators" is doomed from the start. As for side-jobs (working for someone else, that is), 30-year-olders are already considered "old" to get a job here, let alone 43-year olders. I have also worked in construction, call-centres, tourism, you name it, the thing is the economy here has stopped. Anyway, complaining solves nothing. I have been working on some projects, but quite less than before since last March. Let's see what gives.


Dan Lucas
Mr. Satan (X)
writeaway
Adieu
 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:29
French to English
+ ...
Positive Jan 8, 2021

If I might add: You create your own wealth and happiness. It all comes from your head.

 
Joao Correia
Joao Correia  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:29
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Professionally, my outlook for the coming year is generally: Jan 8, 2021

Gibril Koroma wrote:

If I might add: You create your own wealth and happiness. It all comes from your head.


Refer to "happy-go-lucky" and "toxic positivity". I don't do either.


Jean Dimitriadis
 
Kazi Konki
Kazi Konki
Tanzania
Local time: 12:29
English to Swahili
+ ...
Congs Jan 9, 2021

Good for you.I count that as a motivation for us who are just starting.

 
Richard Lango
Richard Lango
Kenya
Local time: 12:29
English to Swahili
+ ...
Positive Either Way Jan 10, 2021

Whether Covid-19 continues or not (and relevant professionals tell us it is now endemic), I expect to continue working. People will need translations even in areas related to Covid-19, or Covid-21...

 
Mr. Satan (X)
Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Re: Professionally, my outlook for the coming year is generally: Jan 10, 2021

Eh, I guess it'd be more or less the same. MTs are still hilariously bad for sentences that are actually spoken by Homo sapiens for their silly little conversations. So I don't think the Transminators are going to rise and start a rebellion anytime soon.

And nobody is scared with COVID anymore these days, people will resume their routines back to normal not too long from now. Especially so since the vaccine is out now, they would forget all the health protocols like it never
... See more
Eh, I guess it'd be more or less the same. MTs are still hilariously bad for sentences that are actually spoken by Homo sapiens for their silly little conversations. So I don't think the Transminators are going to rise and start a rebellion anytime soon.

And nobody is scared with COVID anymore these days, people will resume their routines back to normal not too long from now. Especially so since the vaccine is out now, they would forget all the health protocols like it never happened. As they usually are.

Yes, I am feeling rather salty ATM.

Joao Correia wrote:

Living off my savings. I have been doing this fulltime for the past 11 years, so it's not a matter of skills or clients, but rather everything in between: disloyal competition, scammers, Covid-19, bottom feeders, etc.


I can pinpoint that issue to a certain demographic group who claim they speak a particular language while in reality they don't know a dang word about it. Now I have to double-duty my way through to live for another month.

[Edited at 2021-01-10 14:41 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-01-10 14:42 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-01-10 14:43 GMT]
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Richard Purdom
Richard Purdom  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:29
Dutch to English
+ ...
Thanks for a reminder of the real world, João Jan 12, 2021

Living in Portugal I understand exactly what you're going through João. The economy has tanked, and all those idiots complaining about tourists still haven't realised how much they're needed here to inject some cash.

Your earnings don't reflect your abilities, and you're not alone. Must make it even worse all the boasting on here from translation superstars getting 0.15 a word and saying how great things are. Unfortunately your language pair is overly competitive and lots of people
... See more
Living in Portugal I understand exactly what you're going through João. The economy has tanked, and all those idiots complaining about tourists still haven't realised how much they're needed here to inject some cash.

Your earnings don't reflect your abilities, and you're not alone. Must make it even worse all the boasting on here from translation superstars getting 0.15 a word and saying how great things are. Unfortunately your language pair is overly competitive and lots of people would do it as a sideline for 0.01 a word. I'm very concerned about Portugal's future, especially because of what I see as a culture of blaming others and inflexibility, which means the country's going to recover more slowly than others. I translate from PT to ENG and NL to ENG, and 98% of more income last year was from Dutch, so I'm lucky. I hope things turn round for you.

[Edited at 2021-01-12 17:31 GMT]
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Claudia Piersanti
 
Alina Dumitru
Alina Dumitru  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 11:29
English to Italian
+ ...
Negative Jan 15, 2021

Mine is negative cause ever since I registered to this website (and many others) I barely find a decent job. So...that's that

Adieu
 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Life sucked, but then... Jan 16, 2021

...I landed a client that is milking the covid business for all it's worth.

It helps. Cautiously optimistic now.


 
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Poll: Professionally, my outlook for the coming year is generally:






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