Translation Trends 2014 survey insights
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Here it is, the overview of results from our translation trends survey. Over the last few weeks we talked to hundreds of translators and asked them how they see their work and business trends. We wanted to know what the pressing issues in the industry are to you, what views translators hold towards data protection, pricing and online services. The results of our Translation Trends 2014 survey confirms how diverse the translation industry is and how different the needs in various areas are. We are happy about the numerous responses to our curiosity and want to thank those who took time to leave us some personal remarks, especially. Here are a few key takeaways from the survey.
In part 1 of our survey, we asked about your work
One of the more interesting findings was that over 70 percent of respondents told us they worked on 2-4 jobs per week simultaneously.
How many customers/projects do you handle simultaneously?
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80% of all surveyed said they were currently looking for jobs
Are you currently looking for new customers?
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While freelancing, over 60% said they also worked for LSPs.
Are you (regularly) working for LSPs/Translation companies (employed or freelance)?
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Over 70% have had problems with getting paid before. that's quite a signal.
Do you experience problems with payments or payment reliability of customers?
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By far the most widely used online channel among translators is LinkedIn, followed by others.
Which of these websites do you use professionally?
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Confidentiality is quite an issue for most jobs among those surveyed.
How many of your projects are strictly confidental?
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In part 2 we discovered views on the translation industry
Less than 30 % found existing CAT tools easy to use.
Please rate the usability of existing CAT tools that you know
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Over 80 percent would at least consider using an online-based solution for CAT.
Would you use a web-based CAT tool?
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Over 80 percent were somewhat or very worried about low prices in the industry.
How worried are you about low translation rates or price dumping in the translation industry?
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Similarly, data protection and privacy on the internet is a huge issue
How worried are you about data protection and privacy on the web?
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Not just that, identity theft is a large headache for most translators we surveyed. Reports of data theft are abundant, and while statistically they may be negligent, it is enough for people to rightfully worry about who they share information with.
Are you worried about identity theft
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Conclusion
We felt that some tendencies confirmed our earlier conversations with many of you. Also, some of the free answers that were provided (and some additional questions) helped us greatly in understanding how - especially freelance - translators work and deal with current challenges. Please feel free to comment. As we are building more translator oriented features also for Lingohub, we will take these aspects into account, and we hope to show you some of the results of all this thinking earlier next year. We will follow up with another survey next year. We're looking forward to continuing the debate together with you, hit us up on Twitter and feel free to share the survey.