How happy are translators with their studies?

EDUCATION SATISFACTION HOW HAPPY ARE TRANSLATORS WITH THEIR STUDIES? A study on perceived education quality among professional linguists Information sourced from Henter y Asociados | www.henter.co The translation industry is one of the few that were not heavily So how is it that young translators often struggle to find work as in- house linguists or get positioned as freelancers, although the demand for linguistic services is quite high in comparison with other industries? Why do so many complain that they don't have enough clients or that they can't make a living off the few jobs they get? affected by recessions in the last 7 years. According to the Common Sense Advisory, the translation industry had an estimated worth of $33.5 billion in 2012. WE HAVE ASKED TRANSLATORS DEMOGRAPHIC WORK EDUCATION DATA RELATED SATISFACTION QUESTIONS We asked for the We wanted to know their We asked how happy the participants actually were with their studies. Here, the participant's country of birth, country of residence (as we working languages, specializations and if they irrently working as language professionals or linguists only had to mark if they agreed/didn't agree/were indifferent, and wer expected that due to our profession many may live abroad), gender, not, what they earned, and if they considered that to be then in a last section had year of birth, native language and education. enough compared to other wages in the country they space for comments about what they personally liked/ live in. disliked about their studies. WE WERE ABLE TO COLLECT 155 ANSWERS TO OUR SURVEY 70% 26% For 26%, English was their native language 70% of the participants were female THE MOST COMMON SPECIALIZATIONS WERE: Technical/Engineering 14% Medical/ Pharma 13% Literature/ Art 13% Marketing 13% Legal/ Patents 11% Business/ Finance 10% U Science 8% 48% said they worked as freelance translators/proofreaders and 13% said they worked as freelance translators and interpreters. 11% said they worked as employed translators and 9% said they Only a few worked in a job that wasn’t related to their studies at all, e.g. as a dancer or bank clerk, and some combined their work as freelancers with other jobs like library assistant, auxiliary nurse, etc. worked as freelance translators and teachers. EARNINGS MANY TRANSLATORS ARE AT RISK OF POVERTY IN THE EU 27% said they earned less than 1000 EUR a month and 36% said they earned between 1000 and 2000 EUR. In most European countries this is below the average monthly income, and in many it would actually be below the poverty threshold. This is a combined 63% of all participants. Only 8% said they earned 2000-3000 EUR gross, which corresponds to an average income in many European countries. Only 16% earned more than that. 46% said that what they earned was not enough to live in their respective country. EDUCATION SATISFACTION 50% 37% 37% said that the subjects taught were related to real-life 50% of participants would say that their studies have prepared them for their current job market needs 14% 39% 14% said they had acquired 39% learned how to use CAT skills to run a business/work tools during their studies as a freelancer 54% 31% 54% said that, all in all, they 31% said they would change most of the subjects they had were happy with their university education WHAT DID PEOPLE SAY? "I would lessen the theoretical part and focus more on practice." "Prospective translators should be taught business/entrepreneurship knowledge" "The lecturers should be able to provide more real-world advice on how to get work afterwards (either as a freelancer or otherwise); on the different careers available afterwards." "Ideally it would have been useful to have had some training in business skills." "I would suggest working more on the possible ways to make the initial contact with a publishing house (CV, letters, how to pitch a book etc.)." "I'd add a course Introduction to marketing/accounting for freelance translators." "The opportunity to undertake a work placement in the translation industry would have been invaluable." "I also underestimated the importance of CAT tools in the industry. In the future, technology should probably play a bigger role in training."