Don't Feed the Monkeys!

Due to the prevalence of low-cost translations providers, we often hear the phrase “If you pay peanuts you get monkeys”. While it is true that such providers tend to pay well below the rate a professional translator would accept, and turn out work well below the quality a professional would expect, I can’t help thinking that the translation profession has, to a certain extent, only itself to blame. In other words “Don’t Feed the Monkeys”. Let me explain why.

The basic law of supply and demand means that there will always be someone willing to do translations on the cheap. This will always be in the form of “translators” with no credentials or training who are looking for a quick buck, students, people who are “doing a bit of translation on the side” while they look for a “proper job”, people who live in countries where the cost of living is considerably lower than in Europe or North America etc.

One solution is simply not to accept this type of work. Ask for decent rates and look for clients who appreciate translation as a profession. Personally I feel that a professional job deserves a professional wage, after all I haven’t spent years at university for nothing. I haven’t invested time and money into my business just for fun. In short, I expect to be paid for my professional service.

In reality it isn’t that easy and that’s why I think part of the problem is actually caused by the translation industry per se. A fundamental problem is that the profession is largely dominated by translation agencies who rely on freelancers. That allows agencies to pick the “best” translators, which is logical because that produces the best results and generates the greatest income. In doing so however, agencies tend to wash their hands of any responsibility for the development of the profession.

Unlike accountancy, for example, the translation profession does not involve a defined career path such as in-house mentoring and training leading to a recognised, professional qualifications. Until agencies see their role as something more than “language service providers” there will always be a core group of agencies looking for a cheap fix.

The issue though is rooted in the nature of the profession. A new translator can cope with sending out hundreds of CVs to agencies who never bother to reply, with endless requests to complete test translations or application forms, with agencies who want 5 years translation experience or even with an NGO who wants volunteer translators to have 2 years translation experience as long as they can afford to do so. The problem is that entry into the profession is so difficult and drawn out  that some new translators have no alternative but to accept peanuts!

The translation profession needs to accept that it itself passively encourages low-price agencies to operate because it makes it so difficult for new translators to break into the profession often leaving them no alternative but to earn peanuts. If you’re going to feed the monkeys peanuts, is it any surprise that they’ll eat them?