| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Poll: Do you earn more than 2000 EUR net/month as a linguist? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Michael Harris 
Germany
Local time: 08:20
Member (2006)
German to English
Baran Keki wrote:
Where is the dude who said he broke the 100K record at the height of Covid? He was translating from Russian if memory serves...
propaganda to fool us probably.
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 08:20
Member (2006)
German to English
Christopher Schröder wrote: Wilsonn Perez Reyes wrote:
Is it true that Dylan J Hartmann's story is possible for anyone here on Proz?
Break it down. $100k is $2k a week. 20,000 words at 10 cents. Very doable if you can be arsed. Makes more sense to me to stop at half or two-thirds of that and have a life.
I did earn a substantial amount in 2008 and regretted it because I had to pay 45% tax on it.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| You find into some slow and glowing countryside yourself escaping | Mar 27 |
Baran Keki wrote:
But can you imagine the opportunity these guys have? They can actually double that 100K income by launching a super online mastermind empowerment course titled "Empower your translation business in the age of AI: How to make 100K a year out of human translation". I know I would!
I think he already has gone down a slightly different path.
If you're successful in this kind of work, you realize soon enough that the key issue is that the business model doesn't scale. That is, to earn more money you have to work harder, and it's pretty linear. If you're clever with your tools and your workflow you can shift the odds in your favor but that process delivers efficiency gains of 5% or 10% a year, at best. You can't double your money without more or less doubling your hours.
The response of some people to this problem is to branch out into the translation seminar/course/book business, because particularly for books and courses, little incremental effort is required. The other common route is basically to start a small agency, which is what many successful translators appear to have done. (The usual caveat: we have no stats.)
I'm guessing that Dylan has hit the scalability wall, and has been wondering how he can get round it. He seems to have opted for something closer to an agency than the super online mastermind empowerment course.
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Remember, we don't generate jobs, they are generated for us. We only translate them (but that is a totally different subject).
I readily agree that the balance between supply and demand is important, in any free-ish market, at any time, any place in the world. I have never made an exception for translation.
Nevertheless, I bet you will find that there are people in Dylan's language pair who are not doing anything like as well as him, and yet it is the same pair. The same goes for JA-EN, and I'm sure there are people in DE-EN who are also making stacks of money. Outcomes vary. Some people are more effective in certain tasks, for whatever reason, for appreciable spans of time. Maybe over the long term they cannot maintain that competitive advantage but then, as Keynes very nearly said, in the long term we are all retired.
Christopher Schröder wrote:
(As it happens, though, Dylan's most recent contributions were about regaining a life!)
I'm feeling that way myself after the past 26 days...
On the subject of focusing on what is important, here's something I first read when I myself was at school and pondering a life of work stretching out ahead of me. I wonder what my 16-year old self would have thought of the me of today. He'd probably be aghast.
Regards,
Dan
Note to the Hurrying Man
All day I sit here doing nothing but
watching how at daybreak
birds fly out and return no fatter
when it’s over. Yet hurrying about this room
you would have me do something similar;
would have me make myself a place
in that sad traffic you call a world.
Don’t hurry me into it; offer
no excuses, no apologies.
Until their brains snap open
I have no love for those who rush
about its mad business;
put their children on a starting line and push
into Christ knows what madness.
You will not listen.
“Work at life!” you scream,
and working I see you rushing everywhere,
so fast most times you ignore
two quarters of your half a world.
If all slow things are useless
and take no active part in nor justify your ignorance
that’s fine; but why bother screaming after me?
Afraid perhaps to come to where I’ve stopped
in case you find
into some slow and glowing countryside
yourself escaping.
Screams measure and keep up the distance between us:
Be quieter –
I really do need to escape;
take the route you might take
if ever this hurrying is over.
Brian Patten
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| I wouldn't be happy either | Mar 28 |
Michael Harris wrote:
I did earn a substantial amount in 2008 and regretted it because I had to pay 45% tax on it.
And yet there are people out there who don't believe the tax affects behavior!
I know that if I had busted a gut trying to increase revenues and the increase shifted me to a higher tax band with a horrendous marginal rate (something the UK tax regime is notorious for), I'd be thinking very hard about reducing my level of effort the next fiscal year.
Dan
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Dan Lucas wrote: Michael Harris wrote:
I did earn a substantial amount in 2008 and regretted it because I had to pay 45% tax on it. And yet there are people out there who don't believe the tax affects behavior! I know that if I had busted a gut trying to increase revenues and the increase shifted me to a higher tax band with a horrendous marginal rate (something the UK tax regime is notorious for), I'd be thinking very hard about reducing my level of effort the next fiscal year. Dan
40% is hardly horrendous. And it goes to good causes.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| I wish I still had your trusting innocence | Mar 28 |
Christopher Schröder wrote:
40% is hardly horrendous. And it goes to good causes.
I don't believe there is persuasive evidence to support such sweeping statements. I believe there is tremendous waste in anything government does simply because there is very little accountability and effectively no hypothecation. No, 40% is not a high level, I agree on that, but taxation as a percentage of GDP is at its highest since the post-war period, and that is a problem.
The other problem is that there are certain features of the UK tax system that result in some people facing tremendously high levels of marginal taxation, as high as 80% if I remember correctly. Perceptions of higher taxes arising from higher earnings are damaging, as Michael's post shows. (Actually, it seems that the most recent budget has implemented some measures to mitigate that, which is surprising but welcome.)
Regards,
Dan
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Christopher Schröder wrote:
40% is hardly horrendous. And it goes to good causes.
...may be questionable, but (in Germany) you can reduce your taxes accordingly if you donate a portion of your taxes due to charitable organizations that you care about.
| | | | | I was thinking the same thing | Mar 28 |
Without judging anyone who is making less money, I'm just sincerely baffled.
These people must be living in low-cost-of-living areas, or translating as a kind of hobby or side hustle. Otherwise, I do not understand it.
I live in Madrid, which is expensive, but it's not London or Paris. The average rent for an apartment is 2,300 Euros (!) A tank of gas costs 90 euros. Dinner out, around 50 euros/person. ETC.
Making that kind of money, I don't see how people can live.
Baran Keki wrote:
If the results of this poll are to be believed, more than half of the voters earn less than 2k a month. That's very interesting. I wonder where they (that is those who are not students, 'housewives' or pensioners, but are full-time stay-at-home translators) live and why they keep at this apparently thankless profession. Is 'playing with words' really worth it?
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| It depends what you get for your (tax) money | Mar 28 |
Paying 40% is not bad if you get things like high-quality schools, affordable college educations for your kids, public safety, good infrastructure and, above all, medical care.
Many European countries have high tax burdens but generous government services
The US, where I'm from, has lower tax burdens and often meager government services (no affordable colleges, no public medicine) :/ I don't like the model. It's a disgrace that we have millions of people without medic... See more Paying 40% is not bad if you get things like high-quality schools, affordable college educations for your kids, public safety, good infrastructure and, above all, medical care.
Many European countries have high tax burdens but generous government services
The US, where I'm from, has lower tax burdens and often meager government services (no affordable colleges, no public medicine) :/ I don't like the model. It's a disgrace that we have millions of people without medical coverage.
Spain has a moderate tax burden, and a good public health system, public universities, public safety, etc. The big failing in Madrid: the entire upper class and upper-middle class sends their kids to private schools, as the publics are mediocre, at best. It's terrible.
Dan Lucas wrote: Christopher Schröder wrote:
40% is hardly horrendous. And it goes to good causes. I don't believe there is persuasive evidence to support such sweeping statements. I believe there is tremendous waste in anything government does simply because there is very little accountability and effectively no hypothecation. No, 40% is not a high level, I agree on that, but taxation as a percentage of GDP is at its highest since the post-war period, and that is a problem. The other problem is that there are certain features of the UK tax system that result in some people facing tremendously high levels of marginal taxation, as high as 80% if I remember correctly. Perceptions of higher taxes arising from higher earnings are damaging, as Michael's post shows. (Actually, it seems that the most recent budget has implemented some measures to mitigate that, which is surprising but welcome.) Regards, Dan ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Justin Peterson wrote:
Making that kind of money, I don't see how people can live.
As Baran says, they are probably not dependent on the income they get from translation, for whatever reason.
It would probably be better for everybody else if these marginal suppliers they just exited the market, but they are free to not do so.
Dan
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 08:20
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| what are 2000 EUR worth? | Mar 28 |
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=India
2000 eur equal to 179.844,06 rupees (today).
From that page:
Summary of cost of living in India:
A family of four estimated monthly costs are 1,099.1€ (99,183.6₹) without rent.
A single person estimated monthly costs are 320.0€ (28,876.1₹) without rent.
Cost of living in India is, on average, 67.0% lower than in France.
Rent in India is, on average, 73.7% lower than in France.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 09:20
Member
English to Turkish
Justin Peterson wrote:
Spain has a moderate tax burden, and a good public health system, public universities, public safety, etc.
I remember chatting with a Spanish PM living in the UK who said she would've had to pay 3 times more in taxes in Spain than in the UK, and that's why she never considered returning to Spain.
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 09:20
Member
English to Turkish
Dan Lucas wrote:
As Baran says, they are probably not dependent on the income they get from translation, for whatever reason.
I meant those who are full-time translators earning less than 2k a month, not the students working for pocket money or the 'musicians' looking to put their English to work, if that makes sense 
| | | | | Really? Three times more? | Mar 28 |
Taxes are three times higher in Spain than in the UK? I'm not an expert, but find that hard to believe
Baran Keki wrote: Justin Peterson wrote:
Spain has a moderate tax burden, and a good public health system, public universities, public safety, etc. I remember chatting with a Spanish PM living in the UK who said she would've had to pay 3 times more in taxes in Spain than in the UK, and that's why she never considered returning to Spain.
| | | | | Wow ... that's an eye-opener | Mar 28 |
Yes, Europe + USA is not the world, of course
But I do see a lot of translators on here from Europe/USA
2000/month may go a long way in India, but in Paris you'd have to live in a closet :/
Zea_Mays wrote: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=India 2000 eur equal to 179.844,06 rupees (today). From that page:
Summary of cost of living in India:
A family of four estimated monthly costs are 1,099.1€ (99,183.6₹) without rent.
A single person estimated monthly costs are 320.0€ (28,876.1₹) without rent.
Cost of living in India is, on average, 67.0% lower than in France.
Rent in India is, on average, 73.7% lower than in France.
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