Most challenging/lucrative field of expertise?
Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 11:55
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
May 22, 2018

What according to your experience is the most challenging field of translation and if it is paid accordingly?
I believe it is finance. The terminology is quite special and big business pays well. But probably soon MT will take over in most cases.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:55
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Legal May 22, 2018

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

What according to your experience is the most challenging field of translation and if it is paid accordingly?
I believe it is finance. The terminology is quite special and big business pays well. But probably soon MT will take over in most cases.



Legal
Medical

I don't believe MT can be relied to to produce 100% accurate translations.

[Edited at 2018-05-22 17:12 GMT]


 
writeaway
writeaway  Identity Verified
French to English
+ ...
Financial and medical May 22, 2018

Imo, legal has been blown out of lucrative waters because a majority of people on Proz seem to feel they are able to translate anything related to "legal" (including those attempting to translate between 2 foreign languages) and the jobs now go to those offering the lowest rates. At least when no one cares about the end result.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Finance May 22, 2018

Investment management in particular. They just have no concept of what things cost and/or just don’t care.


As for challenging, well, any field I don’t do.

[Edited at 2018-05-22 19:57 GMT]


 
Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:55
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
Menus May 22, 2018

Restaurant menus are an absolute nightmare. Although usually short, the time and effort required are huge compared to the size (and remuneration).

Luckily, not many restaurants hire professional translators. They tend to do it themselves, often with hilarious results.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:55
French to English
They do care very much! May 23, 2018

Chris S wrote:

Investment management in particular. They just have no concept of what things cost and/or just don’t care.


As for challenging, well, any field I don’t do.

[Edited at 2018-05-22 19:57 GMT]


The Finance department always know exactly how much money is available and they always make sure they keep enough for themselves and their own needs.

Of the translations that I do, the most challenging are the ones that are the most beautifully written. I have to make sure my translation is every bit as beautiful. It's a challenge I love rising to.


 
Georgie Scott
Georgie Scott  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:55
French to English
+ ...
Poetry, literature and song lyrics May 23, 2018

All really badly paid.

I recently watched that awful Biggie Smalls biopic "Notorious" with some French people who were very disappointed that the dubbed version doesn't even include subtitles of his raps...

Comedy is also extremely challenging, finance has nothing on Rick and Morty.


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
efforts + knowledge + responsibility == reward May 23, 2018

The higher responsibility, the more challenging and lucrative it is, whereas so-called 'economy' often appears very costy and bites right in the ass.

As for the literature translation, it involves too much while mostly they pay very little--even royalties won't help.


 
finnword1
finnword1
United States
Local time: 05:55
English to Finnish
+ ...
legal May 23, 2018

Legal text can be tough, as lawyers commonly use centuries old terminology and phrases. It gets real bad if their grandfathers and great grandfathers had also been lawyers and gotten away with it. One attorney in New York was even reprimanded by the judge because he was "praying for damages".

 
Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 11:55
English to Russian
Restaurant menus are quite challenging (not a lucrative field of expertise, though) May 23, 2018

Daniel Frisano wrote:

Restaurant menus are an absolute nightmare. Although usually short, the time and effort required are huge compared to the size (and remuneration).



+1 Did a couple of menus years ago. I wouldn't like an idea of doing it again, as I am still not 100% confident I chose the correct Russian equivalents for each and every type of fish featured on one of those menus.


 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:55
German to English
Fish can be a problem May 23, 2018

Vladimir Pochinov wrote:
I am still not 100% confident I chose the correct Russian equivalents for each and every type of fish featured on one of those menus.


A good way to start an argument among translators is to discuss different species of fish.


 
Lian Pang
Lian Pang  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 10:55
Member (2018)
English to Chinese
+ ...
True May 23, 2018

writeaway wrote:

Imo, legal has been blown out of lucrative waters because a majority of people on Proz seem to feel they are able to translate anything related to "legal" (including those attempting to translate between 2 foreign languages) and the jobs now go to those offering the lowest rates. At least when no one cares about the end result.


I've recently been approached by some proofreading requests of legal notices, privacy statement etc. The quality of the translation is just terrible. The most horrifying case is a bad google translation + post editing product. Completely unproofreadable.

Right now i think the most challenging but yet the best paid field is medical.


 


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