ARGENTINE TRANSLATORS: 2023 STATUS
Rosario Traducciones developed the 7th survey on the status of the translation industry in Argentina. Translators and project managers were asked about client scenarios, interests, knowledge, and expectations.
This annual survey identifies key industry indicators and findings that may help decision-making.
The survey participants live in Argentina, mainly in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santa Fe. They are between 21 and 30 years old (19%), 31 and 40 years old (23%), 41 and 50 years old (31%), 51 and 60 years old (17%), 61 and 70 years old (7%) and over 70 years old (2%).
This article summarizes translators' input.
Translators Profile
The translators who participated in the survey were 86% women and 14% men. Fifty-four percent give little importance to their professional profile on social media, 31% quite a lot, and 9% much importance. In contrast, 6% do not see this communication channel as relevant.
As for their professional qualifications, 90% are translators, 2% are linguists, 2% are engineers, and 2% are teachers. On the other hand, 4% have additional unspecified basic training.
Sixty-four percent have worked in the translation industry for over ten years, 27% for less than five years, and 9% between 5 and 10 years.
Most Frequent Language Pairs and Subjects
The most frequent language pair of Argentine translators is English - Spanish (91%).
The survey shows that some professionals work with more than one language pair. The remaining language pairs are listed below:
● Portuguese - Spanish, 9%
● Italian - Spanish, 4%
● French - Spanish, 5%
● German - Spanish, 2%
The top 5 most frequently translated subjects are: medicine (51%), technology (35%), legal (32%), marketing (32%), and education (31%)
Other translated subjects include:
● Technical, 27%
● Software, 26%
● Human Resources, 20%
● Tourism, 14%
● Financial, 14%
● Literature, 14%
● Audiovisual, 12%
● Social Sciences, 12%
● E-commerce, 9%
● Engineering, 8%
● Entertainment, 8%
● Tools, 7%
● International Relations, 5%
The Volume of Work and Prospects
As for the volume of daily words translated, Argentine professionals can process the following:
● Less than 500 words, 14%
● 500-1000 words, 13%
● 1000-1500 words, 13%
● 1500-2000 words, 20%
● 2000-2500 words, 25%
● More than 2500 words, 16%
On the other hand, 68% do editing tasks.
As for the volume of daily words edited, Argentine professionals can process the following:
● Up to 3000 words, 38%
● 3000-5000 words, 39%
● 5000-8000 words, 20%
● More than 8000 words, 3%
On the other hand, 70% have already done post-editing tasks, and their daily volume of work is:
● Up to 5000 words, 63%
● 5000-8000 words, 28%
● 7000-10000 words, 8%
● More than 10000 words, 1%
Sixty-five percent of translators who have not yet done this type of task are willing to do it in the future.
About these two aspects, there has been an increase compared to the sixth edition of the survey both in the percentage of translators who have done post-editing tasks and translators who are willing to do it in the future.
The survey also asked participants if they had performed any interpretation tasks. In this case, 28% confirmed having interpreted, and 29% of translators who have not provided interpretation services are considering it since new technologies allow them to do so remotely.
Based on their client portfolio, for 48% of translators, the work increased over the last three years; it remained the same for 32% and dropped for the remaining 20%.
Regarding expectations for the next three years, work will increase for 49% of translators, remain the same for 35%, and drop for 15%.
Technology Impact on the Industry
For Argentine translators, the impact of technology on the industry is related to the following:
● Enabling the use of tools, 59%
● Improving MT quality, 60%
● Making tools more efficient, 61%
● Developing more robust tools, 33%
● Improving knowledge management, 27%
● Increasing reuse, 30%
● Facilitating integration, 27%
● Improving customer support, 20%
● Improving the cost of acquisitions (licenses, maintenance, training, others), 19%
● Offering tools in more languages, 16%
Regarding Artificial Intelligence, 66% see it as another tool with advantages and disadvantages. On the other hand, 15% believe that AI may be an ally; 12% see it as a threat, while 2% remain neutral.
Tools and Training
The translation and editing tools most frequently used are:
● Trados Studio, 91%
● MemoQ, 66%
● Xbench, 68%
● Memsource, 49%
● Wordfast, 43%
● XTRF, 8%
● MateCat, 8%
● Catalyst, 3%
● Lit, 3%
The translation and editing tools most preferred by translators are:
● Trados Studio, 76%
● Xbench, 53%
● MemoQ, 45%
● Memsource, 33%
● Wordfast, 23%
● MateCat, 6%
● XTRF, 3%
● Lilt, 2%
The translation and editing tools they would like to receive more training on are:
● Wordfast, 36 %
● MemoQ, 33 %
● Memsource, 21 %
● Catalyst, 30%
● XTRF, 25 %
● MateCat, 28 %
● Trados Studio, 17 %
● Lilt, 23%
● Xbench, 14%
The subjects they would like to receive training in are:
● Quality assurance, 38%
● Translation tools, 48%
● Spanish language normative, 37%
● Machine translation/post-editing, 39%
● Audiovisual translation, 33%
● Marketing for translators, 36%
● Project management, 29%
● Transcreation, 27%
● Financial self-management, 30%
● Time management, 25%.
Client Portfolio
Sixty-three percent of survey participants work with local companies or agencies; 49% work with overseas agencies; 43% have local end clients; and 23% work with overseas end clients. The data show that some translators work for local and foreign clients.
The survey asked translators what they value the most when working for a translation agency or company. What matters most to translators is the rate (4), followed by timely payments (3.1) and long-term work (2.9), and, lastly, the volume of work (2.9), followed by deadline flexibility (2.1). Participants could rate each from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest score.
Other considerations include having a good relationship with project managers (3.8), ongoing communication (3.6), receiving feedback on completed work (2.8), teamwork (2.6), and knowing the company and the project manager with whom they are working (2.2).
Also included was the possibility of performing a test translation of up to 300 words before starting a job, to which 86% responded that they would be willing to do so.
As for the payment method, 91% stated they receive wire transfers, 40% collect via PayPal, 26% in cash, and 0.5% by check.
Regarding the type of work, 89% work as freelancers, 1% as employees, and 10% under both contract types.
To conclude the survey, participants were asked whether they belonged to a professional association. Fifty percent are members of professional associations, and 50% are not.
Note: *In some questions, participants could choose multiple options. For this reason, in some cases, the total percentage may exceed 100%.
