A bag of peanuts is more expensive than the per-word rates practiced in the translation market A presentation by Rafa Lombardino © 2012

Don't get me wrong―I love a bargain. That is why if I had to buy peanuts in bulk I'd go to Amazon.com and have a box of Planters Salted Peanuts sent to my house. Can you believe it: 48 bags, 1 oz each, for only $15.99? That's a helluva deal for $0.33 per ounce! However, I unfortunately wouldn't be able to afford this delicious snack if I accepted a few proposals that have been reaching my inbox lately...

Sorry, where are my manners? I should introduce myself. My name is Rafa Lombardino and I'm a full-time professional translator who has been working in the industry since 1997.   A few years ago I got together with some colleagues and we created a small network, so we could work on multilingual projects and offer clients not only quality, but also consistency. Basically, one or two of us are assigned to a client, according to the language combinations required. That way, we can always provide the same level of service throughout our years of collaboration.

But, why am I saying all this? Well, I guess I just wanted to explain the difference between (a) a small group of like-minded translators who decided to join forces and work together in a responsible fashion and (b) the hundreds of translation agencies out there that have been established by business people who have no idea what translations are all about.   Project managers and salespeople have joined the translation bandwagon because the business model is hot right now. They work their marketing magic on clients, get the account and create a bidding war among translators who eagerly want to get their next project to pay the bills. That's how agencies have been riding the wave to make huge profits. Simple, isn't it?

Best Rates   As a professional translator, you have probably heard about the expression “best rates.” Whenever I see an agency asking us to submit a copy of our resume and indicate our “best rates,” I can't help but wonder, “Best rates for whom?” Wanna know my best rate ever? One dollar a word! Wouldn't that be wonderful? I'd be more than happy to work for that rate and, after an eight-hour day, make about $3,000. That would be over $700k a year, give or take.   Well, that's not what agencies mean, is it? No, “best rates” in their concept is the closest possible to $0 you can get.

“Sorry, you charge $0.10? That's way out of our budget… We're looking for something closer to $0.02. Can you do that?”

There are translators out there who can certainly do that, otherwise all these translation agencies would have gone belly up. Now, my question is, how much experience, education, and quality can you get for your 2 cents? I know, I know, there is the old debate about the economy and cost of living. If you live in a “rich” country, you have more expenses than people living in a “not-so-rich” country. Baloney!   Have you been keeping up with the news lately? Everybody is going through tough times, including the U.S., Germany, France, Ireland, Spain, and Italy.   From my own experience, last time I went to visit my parents in Brazil―a booming economy whose GDP is currently 6th in the world, in front of the U.K.―I was actually shocked by how much prices had increased since my previous vacation three years earlier. And I mean anything from rent all the way to clothes and food.

Okay, I agree that each one of us is responsible for our own budget, so you're the best person to say if you can pay your bills while charging $0.02 a word. Still, a lot of variables go into that:   Do you live by yourself or share expenses with a roommate / spouse? Are you going to school or still trying to pay your college loan? Do you have children or elderly relatives who depend on you financially? Do you rent or own? And if you have a mortgage, did you (re)finance your house before the real estate crisis or are you underwater?

Other technical aspects come into play as well:   How many hours a day are you able to dedicate to your translation business? How many words can you translate per hour? Does your hourly output include proofreading, or would you need extra time to review your work? Do you hire a colleague to proofread your translations? What are your expenses with a home office, internet, supplies, computer hardware and software, association dues, subscriptions, conferences, and other continuing education efforts?

After fifteen years in the business, I can safely say that $0.02 per word would not be enough for me to pay my bills either in California, where I currently live, or in São Paulo, where I come from. Unless I worked 24/7...

It's a Jungle Out There…   How can translation agencies possibly explain their predatory practices? Lately, their excuse is that the economy is tough and clients aren't willing to pay more for translation services.   However, how many of you have read several financial articles about some very well-known translation agencies that are reporting record-breaking figures each quarter? What about all those mergers and acquisitions, or those substantial investments into new technology that will revolutionize the translation world (i.e. end the need for human translators)?   The reason they've been so successful is that they charge premium prices from end clients, convincing them that working with a large agency is the best way to streamline the multilingual process.

On the other hand, they convince translators that the budget is too tight and there's no way they can pay more than half (sometimes a quarter!) of what you charge.   As you all know, we can't name names, right? But we can still mention incidents to spread the word and let beginner or more fortunate colleagues know what most of us are experiencing when dealing with agencies.   So, here's the first of three translation tales I'd like to share with you today.

Agency ABC sends a blast message to their mail list for a given language pair. First of all, they apologize for the mass email, but they're desperately in need of a team of translators to make this high-profile client happy. After you scroll down what seems to be an endless laundry list of demands, you get to what really matters: 500 pages of hard-copy contracts and legal paperwork in Portuguese that have been converted into a large PDF document, whose appearance MUST mirror the original (a lot of formatting from scratch, 'cause character-recognition programs haven't been able to produce a usable text version). The estimated 100,000 words (?!) need to be translated into English within 5 days.   “That's a great opportunity and very easy work! Let me know how much you can take as soon as possible! We offer $0.04 / word.”

What is wrong with this picture? “Everything!” you might say.   First of all, since when have clients started to “offer” to pay a certain price? Next time you need to see a doctor or a lawyer, tell them you're only willing to pay them $15 for the one-hour visit. Or call a plumber and tell him to fix your sink for $15, no supplies included!   Not only are we dealing with a salesperson who probably doesn't speak more than one language (sometimes badly), but who also believes themselves to be qualified enough to tell you how to do your job. Remember, it's "a great opportunity and very easy work!”

What could possibly qualify it as “easy work” according to this detailed description? It would never be a simple half-hour job that's done in a jiffy. Instead, it is something that will demand that you skip a couple of decent meals and forget about going to bed that night just so you can work for 40 hours straight (translation + proofreading) and meet the deadline for your 10,000 words for $400?

I'll actually have to pass on this “great opportunity!” Call me crazy, but I don't work under such conditions. I'm running a serious business, one whose main goal is to provide quality services while complying with decent labor laws. If I were a millionaire, maybe I could do some charity, but I still have bills to pay. Besides, I can't skip meals and convince myself sleeping is overrated. Contrary to what people may think, translators are humans who need food, rest, bathroom breaks and at least one warm shower a day. Most of us also have a family and a house to take care of, you know?

That's Way Over Our Budget!   Because I know how to stand my ground, there was a time I reached a nice agreement with a client. Unfortunately, it ended up turning sour, so here's our Translation Tale # 2:   Dear Jane Doe,   Upon looking through the slide presentation you need translated from English into Portuguese, here's what we can do for you: I'll translate these 1,500 words myself and ask my colleague to proofread it, so you can have it back within two business days. Our total price is $275. Feel free to send us a PO and we'll get to work right away!

This client in particular usually sends out mass emails like the one in Translation Tale # 1 above, so it was much to my surprise that they actually accepted my offer. After receiving the PO and letting my colleague know when I'd be sending her the material for final review, I rolled up my sleeves and got right to it.   Two days after the task had been completed and the project manager had received the file, along with our company invoice, I received a very disturbing message, similar to the one below. Feel free to read it as if you were the annoying boss from the movie “Office Space”. Click here if you somehow missed this classic from 1999.   Hi Rafa,   I'm actually going to have to ask you to go ahead and send me another invoice, mmkay? You see, our payment to you would be out of our budget, you know? You are asking for more than $0.18 / word... Yeah... We can only pay $0.10, mmkay?

What?! After the project is signed, sealed and delivered you think you can come back to me and tell me you'll be changing the price you agreed with in the first place? No way!   Well, what can you do in a situation like that? I took a deep breath and wrote the most professional letter I could think of, letting them know that we don't negotiate invoices after services have been rendered. I guess this salesperson in particular isn't used to dealing with professionals, because she didn’t know what to do and decided to forward my message to her supervisor, who basically told her that if she failed to deal with the situation (i.e. me), the difference would come out of her commission.

And that was when the salesperson committed the biggest sin in the internet age: She hit the Reply All button.   Not only did she send me the message that was actually intended for me (in which she stated that her supervisor hadn't signed off on our invoice,) but she also forwarded the entire conversation she had with her supervisor since I had delivered the translated document and they had realized that they had made a few mistakes as far as calculating their profit margin. It just makes me wonder if they got an F in Math when they were in high school...

Quality Translators Need Not Apply   Here's the third and last Translation Tale I wanted to share with you. This one is close to my heart, maybe because it's the most recent one. Then again, it deals with an issue that is far more important than sleazy salespeople trying to nickel and dime you. This situation calls attention to poor quality translations. So, here it goes:   We have 8 videos, 36 minutes total, and we need you to subtitle them in Spanish. Can you do it for the usual $2 per minute, for a total $72?   We certainly can! My Spanish colleague had been working on short ads for that same agency for the past year. Some had been web commercials, others were institutional videos.   The $2 per minute rate had actually been sufficient so far, considering the little amount of text involved in this kind of audiovisual projects. They always have some nice images, some background music and there isn't enough of a word count to impact our rate per word.

But, wait a second! These videos were actually 36 minutes of solid talking, a how-to video series for a big technology company. There was actually a total of 4,750 words that needed translation. No way we can work on that for $72! That means $0.015 per word. In other words, my colleague would need to translate 22 words to afford 1 ounce of peanuts and 1,066 to buy that whole box from Amazon! Worse yet, my colleague (with a Master's Degree in Computer Science and an ATA certification) would be making approximately $6 per hour IF she kept a high output. That's not just less than minimum wage, it's an insult!   I kindly explained the situation to the project manager and asked her to send us a new PO before we could move on with the project. Here's her reply:

This is so disappointing! Why did you agree to work on it in the first place? Now I'm going to have to look for someone else.   All I could read in that message was:   “How come you're not allowing me to exploit your company?”

Kindness was out the window. Still, I totally agreed with her:   I'm sorry, it is disappointing indeed...   We’ve been working together for a few years and I certainly didn't expect it from a company like yours. According to our previous experience, $2 per minute was okay, but applying the same arrangement to this kind of material is just out of the question.   Also, I noticed the same videos have already been subtitled in other languages. I can read Portuguese, so I couldn't help but check what kind of services you’re getting for a similar deal. I have to say, it's far from professional… The way I see it, the only one getting hurt here is your client, who has no idea about the poor services you're providing them.

Wanna know what happened then? Her supervisor, a senior project manager I had been working with since 2006 I believe, actually emailed me back. What she said to me was completely unexpected and outrageous:   Rafa, I completely agree with all you're saying. You see, we've tried to convince the client to increase their budget, but they're tough... Besides, they said they didn't need a professional translator, just someone who can speak the language from the target market to provide a rough subtitle for their videos.

Deep breath, everybody… Yes, that is what I heard from someone high up on a large translation agency. No, these were not some home-made videos that were put together in hurry. These were actually very elaborate how-to videos, with engineers from a tech company explaining their latest products and services. They had a nice studio, a touch screen, a tight script and everything you can think of that spells out PROFESSIONALISM.   I actually refuse to believe that such a company would rather grab anyone out on the street to subtitle their latest production, instead of selecting a top-notch Spanish translator with an advanced technical degree (such as my trusted colleague who has been partnering with me since 2004...)

Is There a Light at the End of the Tunnel?   I say, “Yes!” You cannot lose hope. But the more I see these salespeople telling clients that machine translation is good enough or that anyone who's bilingual can do a half-decent translation job, the bleaker the future of our profession seems to get.   Next time you read something that was badly translated, don't just vent about it on your blog, Twitter feed or Facebook page. Here’s what we all should do: Take a stand and contact the company responsible for the product. Let them know how much the bad translation affected you as a consumer. Educate them and speak their language, explaining how a bad translation will hurt them in the pocket!

The more people start doing it―not only us, the language professionals―the better the quality will be and the more respect we will get as professionals. Large translation agencies are losing sight of what ethics means. Will we just sit around and complain about low rates or, worse, point fingers at colleagues who charge a little less than we do?   No, we should tell clients what's going on right under their noses: they're paying premium price for substandard services. Maybe that will help them understand why their numbers are so bad in foreign markets.   Uneducated companies make uneducated decisions and take their consumers for granted. As translation professionals, we're here to help them communicate with foreign stakeholders effectively and achieve their own business goals. That way, everybody will be happy with the results.

Don’t forget… Join the No Peanuts! movement too!

Thank you for watching!

the per-word rates practiced in the translation market A bag of peanuts is more expensive than A presentation by Rafa Lombardino © 2012

I love a bargain! Peanuts in bulk: 1 box = $15.99 Total 48 bags Each bag has 1 oz $0.33 / oz Rafa Lombardino © 2012

LET ME INTRODUCE MYSELF Name: Rafa Lombardino Profession: Translator & Instructor Company: Word Awareness Experience: 15 years Credentials: American Translators Association (ATA, EN>PT) University of California, San Diego Extension (EN/ES), where I teach “Tools & Technology in Translation” Contact: Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATORS, UNITE! Translators work together to provide quality services, the responsible way Agencies are established by business people who don’t know what translations are all about Rafa Lombardino © 2012

BEST RATES For translators: a good rate that can allow us to make a living For agencies: as close as possible to $0, so we can make a profit! Rafa Lombardino © 2012

BEST RATES “Sorry, you charge $0.10? That's way out of our budget… We're looking for something closer to $0.02. Can you do that?” Rafa Lombardino © 2012

MY TWO CENTS How much experience, education, and quality can you get for your 2 cents? Rich vs. Not-so-rich countries? Touch economic environment worldwide Powerhouses (U.S.) are facing the same problems driving prices up in booming economies (Brazil) Rafa Lombardino © 2012

MY TWO CENTS Social aspects of your income: Do you live by yourself or share expenses with a roommate / spouse? Are you going to school or still trying to pay your college loan? Do you have children or elderly relatives who depend on you financially? Do you rent or own? And if you have a mortgage, did you (re)finance your house before the real estate crisis or are you under water? Rafa Lombardino © 2012

MY TWO CENTS Technical aspects of your income: How many hours a day are you able to dedicate to your translation business? How many words can you translate per hour? Does your hourly output include proofreading, or would you need extra time to review your work? Do you hire a colleague to proofread your translations? What are your expenses with a home office, internet, supplies, computer hardware and software, association dues, subscriptions, conferences, and other continuing education efforts? Rafa Lombardino © 2012

MY TWO CENTS After 15 years in the business, I can safely say that $0.02 per word would not be enough for me to pay my bills either in California, where I currently live, or in São Paulo, where I come from. Unless I worked 24/7... Rafa Lombardino © 2012

It's a Jungle Out There… How do translation agencies explain their predatory practices? “The economy is tough and clients aren't willing to pay more for translation services” And how do they explain their record-breaking figures each quarter? Rafa Lombardino © 2012

It's a Jungle Out There… How do translation agencies succeed with their predatory practices? “The budget is too tight!” Their profit margins increase while they’re paying you ½ or ¼ of what you charge Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 1 Message blast from Agency ABC: Sorry for the mass email... 500 pages in 5 days 100,000 words to be divided among many Huge list of demands you MUST follow Great opportunity you can’t miss! Very easy work! Rafa Lombardino © 2012 We offer you $0.04 / word!

TRANSLATION TALE # 1 Wait a sec… What?! Clients don’t set the rates, just ask your doctor, lawyer, plumber… Project Manager are rarely translators themselves, so how do they know how much work goes into it? Rafa Lombardino © 2012 “It’s easy!” Says who?

TRANSLATION TALE # 1 If you accepted 10,000 words: Keeping an average output of 350 words / hour You’d need 28 hours to finish the translation Plus another 12 to read everything all over again and improve on your first draft That’s 40 hours straight for $400 Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Labor laws, anybody?

TRANSLATION TALE # 1 Something you might not know… Translators are human too and we need Food Rest Bathroom breaks Warm shower Most of us have a social life too! Family and friends House to take care of Leisure time Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 2 After a great round of negotiations, let’s get to work! Dear Jane Doe,  Upon looking through the slide presentation you need translated from English into Portuguese, here's what we can do for you: I'll translate these 1,500 words myself and ask my colleague to proofread it, so you can have it back within two business days. Our total price is $275. Feel free to send us a PO and we'll get to work right away. Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 2 “That’s way over our budget!” Hi Rafa, I'm actually going to have to ask you to go ahead and send me another invoice, mmkay? You see, our payment to you would be out of our budget, you know? You are asking for more than $0.18 / word... Yeah... We can only pay $0.10, okay? Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Pause this presentation and click the image to watch a movie clip if somehow you missed this classic from 1999 DISCLAIMER: Beware of bad impression

TRANSLATION TALE # 2 What?! You negotiate the project You get a PO and work on the assignment You deliver it on time and assure quality You await your payment Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Clients can’t ask to renegotiate prices after the job is done!

TRANSLATION TALE # 2 Oops… The sin of the internet age: The salesperson hit the Reply All button! The translation agency’s inside discussion was disclosed to me! They were charging $0.32 / word from the end client Our rate was $0.18 / word (translation + proofreading) Their profit margin was $0.14 / word! Rafa Lombardino © 2012 We aren’t responsible for how a salesperson’s mistake can affect an agency’s profit margin!

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Same project description, different characteristics We have 8 videos, 36 minutes total, and we need you to subtitle them in Spanish. Can you do it for the usual $2 per minute, for a total $72? Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Wait a second! These were actually 36 minutes of solid talking, a how-to video series for a big technology company. There was actually a total of 4,750 words that needed translation. No way we can work on that for $72! That means $0.015 per word. My colleague would need to translate 32 words to afford 1 ounce of peanuts and 1,066 to buy that whole box from Amazon! Worse yet, it would be about $6 per hour if my colleague kept a high output. That's less than minimum wage! Rafa Lombardino © 2012 It’s an insult!

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Deeply sorry for the inconvenience This is so disappointing! Why did you agree to work on it in the first place? Now I'm going to have to look for someone else. “How come you're not allowing me to exploit your company?” Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Kindness was out the window I'm sorry, it is disappointing indeed... We’ve been working together for a few years and I certainly didn't expect it from a company like yours. According to our previous experience, $2 per minute was okay, but applying the same arrangement to this kind of material is just out of the question.   Also, I noticed the same videos have already been subtitled in other languages. I can read Portuguese, so I couldn't help but check what kind of services you’re getting for a similar deal. I have to say, it's far from professional… The way I see it, the only one getting hurt here is your client, who has no idea about the poor services you're providing them. Rafa Lombardino © 2012

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Qualified translators need not apply Rafa, I completely agree with all you're saying. You see, we've tried to convince the client to increase their budget, but they're tough... Besides, they said they didn't need a professional translator, just someone who can speak the language from the target market to provide a rough subtitle for their videos. Rafa Lombardino © 2012 What?! Gibberish is now acceptable as a foreign language? Pause this presentation and click the image for a hilarious video

TRANSLATION TALE # 3 Bad quality? No problem! Client is a big tech company Video is a great production Engineers explaining new products …but subtitles in foreign languages don’t need to make sense? Rafa Lombardino © 2012

Light at the end of the tunnel? Don’t lose hope, fight back! Next time you spot a bad translation: Vent about it on your blog, Twitter feed or Facebook page AND contact the company responsible for it to make them aware of the blunder! Educate clients and speak their language: “a bad translation will hurt you in the pocket!” Rafa Lombardino © 2012

Light at the end of the tunnel? Agencies are losing sight of ethics Tell clients what’s going on: Large companies are paying a premium price when entering into contracts with agencies Unethical agencies are organizing a bidding war to find the cheapest labor out there Bad translation = Bad communication Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Uneducated companies make uneducated decisions!

Don’t forget… Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Join the No Peanuts! movement too!

THANK YOU for watching! Rafa Lombardino © 2012 Contact: