Thanks !

Derek,

I think you've answered the question I posted in August. Thank you

"The real secret of being a freelance translator is not to need the money, i.e. have an alternative income, or at least think and act like somebody who does not need the money.

The alternative is to face the agencies, begging bowl in hand and grumbling about the ones who leave only 2 cents instead of the usual 5 cents"

 I am glad to oblige, Diane - but I don't feel at all good about it.

The plain truth is that we are in a dying trade. The only way to keep the machines at bay is to be cheaper than the machines. I bet that if the average human translation word rate had been 15 - 20 US cents/word these last few years then MT research would have been even further advanced than it is. 

I read a comment recently by an interpreter. She wrote that the time was already past when it was possible to make a good living by translating, the best way to compensate was to work as an interpreter - the machines had not entered that field yet on any large scale. I bet that it won't be long though, just wait until the next big technological hardware breakthrough makes the PC-based interpreter machine economically possible and that will be the end of them, too.

You need only look at the advances being made in robotic surgery to see what can be done already. We are doomed!

The British writer, Noel Coward, had a hit song back in the 1940's that went like this:

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter on the stage
The profession is overcrowded
The struggle’s pretty tough
And admitting the fact she’s burning to act
That isn’t quite enough
She’s a nice girl and though her teeth are fairly good
She’s not the type I ever would be eager to engage
I repeat, Mrs. Worthington, sweet Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter on the stage

Somebody might be able to adapt that to convey the message: Don't set your daughter on a translator career, Mrs. Worthington, the profession is overcrowded, the struggle's pretty tough, and admitting that she's burning to translate, that isn't quite enough!