AI and the future of freelance translating – a perspective

 

Freelance translators, like many other professionals, see dark clouds. The media feeds stories on the ever-improving ability of AI to translate. Strangers innocently ask why anybody needs translators anymore. Customers and income decrease month to month. It is all quite depressing but not necessarily a full or accurate picture in the long term. On the contrary, paid translation needs are actually expanding. Moreover, the market niches that AI is destroying have been in decline for over a decade due to technological changes. In practice, AI changes the translation business but not only does it not eliminate freelance business but can even provide an opportunity to expand. It is reasonable to be cautiously optimistic despite all the apparent omens.

In terms of current trends for language service providers, which includes both agencies and freelancers, the future seems quite optimistic. Based on the total volume of the worldwide agencies, demand for linguistic services continues to increase steadily. Experts predict that the value of these services will increase approximately 28% from 2024 to 2027 to around 90 billion USD. World trade and the needs of international commerce will continue to feed the demand. To be fair, international agencies are taking a lion’s share of business with freelancers struggling with downward pressure on their rates. B2B business, without agencies, requires more marketing effort, skill and confidence, which many freelancers lack. Yet, in practice, there is a steady demand for translators.

It is important to note that translation technology, which includes but is not limited to AI, shapes which niches will remain and even expand and which ones will decline and disappear. For ten years, machine translation of all types has automated the translation process. Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) and translation memory began defining the work process over 15 years ago. Machine translation, most notably Google Translation, has made simple translation accessible and free to the average person for almost 20 years. More specialized translation memories, in particular neural translation in recent years, make it possible to effectively translate large masses of specialized legal and other material in a short time. There is less and less work available for a general translator because of the plethora of no-cost and sufficiently effective alternatives. By contrast, these machine translations, including AI, struggle to produce effective results when the message goes beyond mere understanding but requires precision or a human touch.  Some fields suffering from a lack of proficient human translators include medical, marketing, legal and technical translation. Furthermore, the need for official certification of government documents for court and bureaucratic purposes creates a steady market for certified translators of all types. Specialists can find lucrative niches.

The various language technologies have changed the whole panorama of translation in terms of methods and tasks. The use of CAT tools is a requirement for many projects and has significantly increased productivity and shaped its rates. Machine translation serves as a basis for many initial drafts, either in terms of suggestions or complete translation. AI can instantly produce a large-scale translation, albeit of highly uneven quality. Thus, the translator’s work may involve editing machine translation, actual translation or both. Clearly, not every freelancer wishes to be involved in editing but those that accept it and do it efficiently and effectively are in demand. By contrast, those freelancers that completely reject technology find their market shrinking. The name of the game is constant adaptation.

Thus, it is clear that translation is not only not a dying profession but instead one with a future. Technology will shape its future, as it has done in its past and present. Specialized and flexible translators can find an opportunity to make a living. The most difficult period is the transition during which the advantages and limitations of each new digital tool emerge and define the market. AI is not the end of human translators just as Google Translate and its cousins were not. They merely shaped the profession. It is most probable that for the foreseeable future human translators will continue to handle those tasks where it is important to fully convey the meaning of one language in another language and where approximation is not sufficient as well as ensure that machine translation does not create unnecessary or even dangerous mistranslations. Many current AI uses will return to human translation as issues arise from AI translation.  I am cautiously optimistic about the future of translation despite AI.

Online conference success – a perfect small package

 

Last week, I participated in an online conference presented by ILETA (International Legal English Trainers’ Academy) and organized by Sofia Parastatidou. Curiously, it was the best online conference I have ever attended precisely because it was organized so differently from an in-person conference. The factors that contributed to its success were the limited but highly coherent content, the small number of participants and its short but flexible schedule. In practice, the conference left the impression of having physically attended without all the logistics.

In general, online conferences, however economical and convenient they may be, suffer from issues of downtime, lack of intimacy and mental fatigue. As most online conferences have only one track and try to reach the largest potential audience, many of the lectures are irrelevant to a certain percentage of the participants. In a physical conference, this dead time is ideal for networking but online conferences do not offer such opportunities. A more serious issue is that the audience in larger remote conferences is literally a sea of faces. It is very clumsy to interact with other participants during the conference. As many cultures consider efficiency and timeliness virtues, the host keeps the schedule moving more or less on time, leaving very little time for open discussions while everybody is present. The consequence is a large quantity of intellectual material but very few connections.

In this conference, the lectures related to a narrow topic, specifically legal language, and, most importantly, complemented and supplemented each other. Each lecturer went into depth on an aspect mentioned by a previous presenter, thus creating a complete picture. For example, I spoke about the rules of Plain English in legal writing while Anna Sobota and Anna Setkowicz-Ryszka, respectively, analysed its actual implementation using statistical methods and showed how the difference between how attorneys and linguists view proper legal language. The presentations built on each other.

This online conference highlighted the strength of distance learning. It would have been completely impractical to bring together all of the participants as each of us lived in a different country. Thus, Zoom allowed all of us to participate. More importantly, given the relatively small number of persons involved, everybody could easily see each other's faces, ask questions, make comments and have their say. There was more than enough airtime for everybody. Clearly, less is more in online events.

The strangest aspect, surprisingly positive, was the lack of a firm time structure. The host ran it on Italian time, meaning she let discussions continue until they died a natural death. Thus, we had the opportunity to discuss issues raised in the presentation before going on to the next segment. The “price” was that there were only a limited number of lectures in the day-and-a-half long conference. However, the benefit is that it is far easier to retain the content. As an analogy, seeing one museum in a day is memorable while visiting three museums in a day creates a muddled picture.  Again, less was more.

In summary, the ILETA conference virtually felt like an in-person conference. It provided both content and interaction, feeling like a conversation in a cozy salon rather than a distant event. The keys were highly focused content, similarly engaged persons and flexibility. It was a perfect day, showcasing the potential of a properly organized online conference.

Selective non-genius – Differentiating the art from the person

 

Last week, I attended a lecture by the journalist Uri Misgav on the subject of the songs of Mati Caspi, an Israeli musician, singer, arranger, and producer responsible for over 1000 songs over several decades. I am familiar with his songs as are most people in Israel but was less than enthusiastic about this lecture because I find his performances unexciting at best because of his persona on stage. Specifically, he looks and acts like a dead fish. In his case, I find it difficult to ignore the person and fully appreciate his work. However, in many art forms, fans can and do ignore the person beyond the work. They are able to relate to the art form and ignore the character of the artist behind it even when the character is particularly loathsome in some ways.

Many gifted writers were unpleasant people. Dostoevsky was a virulent anti-antisemite and misanthrope in general. While those characteristics may have had a positive role in creating his literary characters, I would not have wanted to meet him (nor the other way around, I assume). Leo (not Alexei) Tolstoy, for all his literary and philosophical heights, abandoned his wife and eight children so he could consider more mystic thoughts. George Simenon, the creator of amazing Jules Maigret detective stories, told his wife in the middle of the German occupation that if she did not like him sleeping with the maid, she could go to the Germans and complain. How charming and sensitive! Many Académie française writers, notably Louis-Ferdinand Céline, were fervent Nazis and virulent antisemites. In the UK, Rudyard Kipling was an unapologetic supporter of colonialism long after its warts had begun to show. Yet, it is possible to read the books of these writers with undiminished pleasure and ignore their political views, possibly because we do not actually see the person.

Artists in other media have also shown a mean streak. Among the musicians with a spoiled reputation (at least among some people) is Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame due to his anti-Israel and antisemitic calls and political action. In Israel, a certain famous singer is infamous for alleged aggression against women and those critics that dare raise those allegations in public. Some actors also exceed the bounds of acceptable behavior. Many French are not thrilled by Gérard Depardieu leaving France for Russia to avoid French tax, not to mention his alleged sexual offenses. In the United States, Charlton Heston may have starred in some famous movies but he was also president of the National Rifle Association, whose agenda is not exactly mainstream. Personally, I find it difficult to separate the person from the art in these cases, again possibly due to the artist's actual presence on a stage.

The saying is that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. Maybe the way to heaven is filled with sharp pebbles. Depending on the level of clash between the audience and the artist as well as the genre of art, many people can overlook the unpleasant aspects of a creator and focus on the result itself. In other cases, the leakage or linkage is too strong to ignore, significantly reducing the greatness of that artist in some way. Ultimately, each person chooses to focus narrowly on the genius or include the whole character.

Simple marketing methods for reluctant freelancers

 

Most freelancers enjoy their craft but are less enthusiastic about what they need to do to make a living from it. One of these necessary evils is marketing. As in most chores, nobody argues the necessity of doing it in theory but everybody hopes that it will get done without their intervention. The reality is that it is impossible to have a successful freelance business without some type of marketing. Here are five simple marketing techniques that involve little effort, time and personal exposure. In other words, it is possible to mark a check on this item in the to-do list without great personal investment and see some results.

1.       Let your friends and, more importantly, the service people you use know what your profession is and the type of projects you do. Your accountant, insurance agent and hairdresser/barber, to name just a few, are your best marketing partners. They are constantly meeting people and provide great referrals.

2.      Set up a website or a LinkedIn profile. The first may require a small investment of time and money but the latter is simple and free and takes minutes. Make it easy for potential customers to glean more information about you and find your contact information. Most people are not willing to make any great effort to find you. Don’t lose business by playing hard to get.

3.      Set up a business page on Facebook or other media. You can and should keep your personal life out of it. Instead, showcase your business in terms of skill and achievement. Enlist your children to help you if they are the appropriate age. It is a great bonding exercise.

4.      Sign up for any relevant list or application for selling your services or goods. Define a relevant geographical range and join. If participation involves some payment, it is often worth it for a year as they tend not to remove your name after you stop paying.

5.      Whenever possible, participate in discussions involving issues within your expertise, written or oral, whichever you are more comfortable with. You don’t have to and often should not “sell” your business. Instead, publicize your expertise by suggesting practical solutions. You are branding yourself.

None of these actions requires standing up in front of people and talking about how wonderful you are. Aside from a website, none of them involves serious costs, if any. They don’t have to be perfect in the beginning as it is simple to change the content and language. There is no need to consult a tech expert. As the advert for the Lake Wobegon’s celebrated Powder Milk Biscuits said, keeping it simple can “give shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.”