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Poll: Have you ever thought of giving up on translation?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Sep 14, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever thought of giving up on translation?".

This poll was originally submitted by Maksym Mirzabaiev. View the poll results »



 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 15:33
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Sep 14, 2018

Things have gone well for me and I’ve never thought of giving up a profession I really like, even when I was starting out and I had just a single excellent client: a Belgian translation agency who gave me regular work (circa 150 pages every month) very well paid and on time until suddenly for no fault of mine their contract was cancelled and I found myself with no work at all! It was quite a blow and a hard lesson, but the fact is that I'm still here alive and kicking…

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:33
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Sep 14, 2018

I like what I do, and it pays my rent.

Edward Potter
Ricki Farn
Mónica Algazi
Michael Harris
Paul van Zijll
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Mario Freitas
 
Amir Arzani
Amir Arzani
Iran
Local time: 19:03
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Yes, but Sep 14, 2018

Yes, I do burn out quite quickly even though I'm still young. However, there aren't that many job opportunities in Iran to begin with and I'm already good at what I do so might as well stick around until it becomes unbearable. Still, I am pursuing other lines of work (Programming, Video Editing) so that I can diversify my options further down the line.

Natalia Pedrosa
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 16:33
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Sep 14, 2018

It is the best thing that ever happened to me.


Well, among a couple of other things

[Edited at 2018-09-14 10:11 GMT]


Ricki Farn
Paul van Zijll
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Mario Freitas
Gibril Koroma
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:33
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other: not really Sep 14, 2018

I'm past "retirement" age and can't give it up. Besides the money, when I get a job I enjoy (like the one I'm doing now), stopping just isn't an option. On the other hand, I do need more time to complete my work. I can't be rushed anymore. So I'm turning down jobs with crazy deadlines, tricky formatting, PDFs that I can't see to read, and topics that don't interest me as much, even if they are in my areas of expertise.

Ricki Farn
Jessica Noyes
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Mario Freitas
 
Edward Potter
Edward Potter  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:33
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I like it Sep 14, 2018

neilmac wrote:

I like what I do, and it pays my rent.


That says it all. It is a very nice job that brings in enough, and even more sometimes.


Michael Harris
Mario Freitas
Gibril Koroma
 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:33
Czech to French
+ ...
Oh, yes Sep 14, 2018

First time some years ago, when things were going badly for me. Now I am OK and could retire, but it seems easier to go on than to explain why I won't. When will I retire? When a job is boring (like just now!) or a client difficult, it feels like in the next 5 minutes.

Natalia Pedrosa
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Of course Sep 14, 2018

Barely a day passes without me wondering why I didn't become a forex trader, prime minister, professional snowboarder, mathematical genius, gigolo, doctor/vet, international assassin, plumber, whatever.

Ricardo Suin
Francesca Ventura
Gianluca Marras
Christine Andersen
 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 16:33
English to Italian
YES and NO Sep 14, 2018

Yes when I realized that any freelance job in Italy is a nightmare,
No when I thought that I love this job, and anyway no other in-house position would be ok for me (briefly: After such a long time as a freelancer, I don't think I could work in an office)


Amir Arzani
Debora d'Amato (X)
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
a magic circle Sep 14, 2018

I already work as an interpreter, only part-time as a translator.

Working with people == good communication skills == good contacts == good biz.
The more contacts, the better the skills, the more flourishing is the biz.

Working with papers...

Alas, translators are working mostly with documents. Not a wonder even a decent specialist is often but a poor businessman, because he has too little exp in dealing with people and running the biz prope
... See more
I already work as an interpreter, only part-time as a translator.

Working with people == good communication skills == good contacts == good biz.
The more contacts, the better the skills, the more flourishing is the biz.

Working with papers...

Alas, translators are working mostly with documents. Not a wonder even a decent specialist is often but a poor businessman, because he has too little exp in dealing with people and running the biz properly, let alone few contacts...
Collapse


Natalia Pedrosa
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:33
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Never! Sep 14, 2018

I worked for 20 years in other areas and took just too long to dedicate myself entirely to translating. Now that I have finally done that, I shall never give it up. I have proven to myself that the other areas are all a lot worse.

Gibril Koroma
Ricki Farn
Elaine Ruby
Jennifer Forbes
 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:33
French to English
+ ...
Never Sep 14, 2018

So far so good.

 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 16:33
English to German
Follow your dream Sep 14, 2018

Chris S wrote:

Barely a day passes without me wondering why I didn't become a forex trader, prime minister, professional snowboarder, mathematical genius, gigolo, doctor/vet, international assassin, plumber, whatever.


Go ahead, you're still young!

(Me - no, I would never think of giving up translation, it's the only thing I want to do. Apart from maybe following sunrays on the flokati, but the competition from kitties is too fierce.)


Mario Freitas
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 16:33
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
It took me long enough to get here... Sep 14, 2018

But never mind, I did.

The fact that in principle I can drop it any day - or after the next deadline... keeps me watching out for the next job!

Even today, when some Norwegian journalist tried to explain how she wanted me to write English... Fair enough, she had written an exciting, carefully structured piece in Norwegian, so I tried to catch the style in English, and the result did not look as if it had come from a school textbook. I don't use semicolons the same way a
... See more
But never mind, I did.

The fact that in principle I can drop it any day - or after the next deadline... keeps me watching out for the next job!

Even today, when some Norwegian journalist tried to explain how she wanted me to write English... Fair enough, she had written an exciting, carefully structured piece in Norwegian, so I tried to catch the style in English, and the result did not look as if it had come from a school textbook. I don't use semicolons the same way as the Norwegians, either.

To be fair, some of her suggestions were fine, but I certainly stuck to my guns with a lot of my text, and found a third option in some places to humour her.

Who would expect a mere native to have any ideas about writing English?

One day I'll decide I am too old for this game, but I'm fully booked all next week!
Collapse


Mario Freitas
Amir Arzani
Klára Kalamár
 
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Poll: Have you ever thought of giving up on translation?






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