Some translators refuse to do Machine translation postediting (MTPE). Some say they will never be replaced by the machine.
It depends on the field you work in. Or on who your clients are.
Machine translation and Artificial Intelligence are here to stay, don’t be fooled. And the people who worked hard to get it and the companies who paid to get it and to make it a “selling point” for the clients (my end clients) are not going to go back to pay moi the same as before.
So, unless I do work more with my clients who don’t use MTPE (i.e. Publishing Houses), or find direct clients who prefer to go to an experienced and specialized translator, there are a few lines of action that I can follow.
Specifically the one I’m going to talk about today is advisable for all freelancers working for huge Language service providers (LSP) that drive rates down even more after having implemented their MTPE a few years ago.
The only weapons that we have to fight against this are:
-not taking the ridiculous offers
-not accepting MTPE jobs, like some lucky translators claim to do
-negotiate, negotiate, negotiate
But today I have proven that we “linguists”, as the LSP likes to call us, have the power to make the LSP raise their initial offer by 100% by:
-bidding 3 times higher (they did not even use their present calculation algorithm, much worse)
-not accepting their counter (and telling them what MTPE involves for me)
So the scenario was they offered UDS 75 (about 6000 words between new/MT and fuzzies!!).
I negotiate to 245. They say 180. Still nobody was taking so they finally modify the original budget to 150 (together with my bid, which is now untouchable, cannot cancel or modify, just accept). Also, they extended the deadline till Monday (Thursday today).
At least I am glad nobody took it at 75. Finally people are learning. And they got a little message. This has been over the course of a morning. It’s 15:34 and the USD 150 offer remains there.
I could have taken 180, but I am not taking that one. Gotta put your foot down once in a while. And do other stuff rather than slave over the keyboard for them.
May we have the strength to keep losing our time but doing small things like these.
Yes, "Still nobody was taking", but that never happens nowadays. There is always someone chirping in and offering it for even less.
ReplyDeleteI know! Tell me about it. Only really, this time still nobody. That is my whole point when some "star" translators say they will never be replaced. No, you won't, you will be editing for peanuts or just find another career path. :)
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