Interesting book review (Googled: The End of the World as We Know It) in the Economist this week about Google's tendency to disrupt industries other than its own, traditional one of online search.
One industry -- unfortunately not mentioned in the article -- is online translation. Google's service features a minimalist interface and is particular easy to use. If you don't like the translation it spews out, you can always contribute your own in the hope that, if everybody does the same, then eventually what we'll have on our hands is a reliable universal machine translator.
In my opinion, this does not spell the death of the translation industry; rather, it heralds the demise of "information-only" translation services. It's no secret that rates charged for translation are falling sharply. Place the blame where you want to.*
Out of the ashes, I believe, rises what is sometimes known as "premium translation". This is not a shabby excuse to charge customers more because we believe "we're worth it" (although many translators in this category actually are; and moreover, all we want in the current troubled times is to hold our prices steady). It is first and foremost a response saying "enough is enough". From my standpoint, it means that I want to continue offering writing services, whether sourced from a translation or from a communication brief, that are sensitive to the customer's image and compliant with their business.* Constantly falling prices will result, one day, in it being more lucrative to "take out people's trash" (to use Christine Durban's phrase) than to study translation for five years and then accumulate several years of in-house experience in order to operate as a freelance translator. When I called in an electrician to make some changes to my new (home) office, I didn't try to talk him down on price. Price wasn't the issue: the issue was having a safe, reliable electrical installation.
With the right "connections" (in the building trade), I could have got someone round to do it illegally. If price was all I was worried about, then fine. But I would run the risk of melting wires and electrical fires. (After all, one-quarter of fires in the home have an electrical origin.)
So, there will always be someone out there who is cheaper. But "premium" means not only a better quality text generally but also a service aligned to the customer's needs and deadlines.
For the translators out there, make your choice: you can be a "machine" or a "person", with all the enhancements the latter can bring to a customer's business.
* In translating investment research, a thorough knowledge of the underlying concepts is essential to avoid sending people scurrying the direction opposite to that desired by the original author.
