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Poll: What motivates you most in your trade?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 22, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What motivates you most in your trade?".

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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:45
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other May 22, 2017

Art is nice, but being a starving translator isn't any nicer than being a starving artist. However, although money is of the utmost importance in the world we live in, it will never shake off its grubby associations with corruption and dishonesty.

I wish they wouldn't post questions like this. Must be a slow day in the bullpen.


 
Platon Danilov
Platon Danilov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 16:45
English to Russian
+ ...
Yeap! May 22, 2017

Money is the best motivator ever

While I cannot call myself a mammonish nor a great fan of money concept, mankind has not invented a better equivalent for efforts vs opportunities.


 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:45
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Money May 22, 2017

of course, this is my job, I need to work ... But money made doing what I like (translating) on (mostly) my own terms (as a freelancer).

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:45
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other - more than one May 22, 2017

- First, the money, of course.
- It's also very motivating to feel that I have been useful to clients, that my work matters to them. Given my age, my ego soars every time a nice big job comes in.
- Learning about subjects that interest me.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:45
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other May 22, 2017

I'm not as motivated about making money as I used to be when I had to support my family. Nowadays, what motivates me is just (trying) to do a really good job and the acknowledgement from my clients that they appreciate my work. I have a very inquiring mind and I love learning new things and I always get a kick out of it. I also like the idea of waking up every morning never knowing exactly what each new job will bring.

 
Tanami
Tanami  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 17:45
English to Russian
+ ...
Money May 22, 2017

The results are quite predictable.

 
writeaway
writeaway  Identity Verified
French to English
+ ...
Money May 22, 2017

I translate to live, I don't live to translate. I suppose that would be different if I were receiving a juicy civil service pension and translation jobs were just the cherry on the cake.

 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:45
English to Spanish
+ ...
What I do is not a trade May 22, 2017

Then again, someone around here might say it's just semantics. That's another reason I'm a translator, not them.

 
Catherine De Crignis
Catherine De Crignis  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 15:45
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
€ £ $ May 22, 2017

writeaway wrote:

I translate to live, I don't live to translate. I suppose that would be different if I were receiving a juicy civil service pension and translation jobs were just the cherry on the cake.


Quite!


 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:45
French to English
Other May 22, 2017

It's kind of an addiction, and in a weird way, a form of escapism.

 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:45
French to English
I enjoy it May 22, 2017

I have been doing this for over 20 years and I know I am not in it for the money. Wishful thinking!
I enjoy it but it has been serving the purpose of more or less keeping me ticking over (and the family) towards a professional reconversion. The advantage of translation is that I do generally enjoy it, I can (more or less) arrange my own working hours around study (= I can chose to study late at night/early in the morning or totranslates late at night/early in the morning). I am basically
... See more
I have been doing this for over 20 years and I know I am not in it for the money. Wishful thinking!
I enjoy it but it has been serving the purpose of more or less keeping me ticking over (and the family) towards a professional reconversion. The advantage of translation is that I do generally enjoy it, I can (more or less) arrange my own working hours around study (= I can chose to study late at night/early in the morning or totranslates late at night/early in the morning). I am basically always doing one or the other.

One year from now I hope to be qualified as a clinical neuropsychologist, again something I really enjoy and will be tanslating for the icing on the cake! The conversion was motivated by my "fed-upness" of bad payers (private clients) and slow payers (agencies) and the lousy rates (most) agencies offer. One way or the other, the money aspect of it really started to detract from the enjoyment of the act of translating. It was time to shift the balance to something else and I have no regrets.


[Edited at 2017-05-22 13:43 GMT]

[Edited at 2017-05-22 13:43 GMT]
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Ilan Rubin (X)
Ilan Rubin (X)  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 17:45
Russian to English
Altruism May 22, 2017

The thought that I'm making a meaningful contribution to society 😁

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 11:45
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Money vs. Independence May 22, 2017

Money is the most frequent answer, and it sounds obvious. However, money is what motivates you in every commercial activity, not specifically in translation. I believe the question is what motivates you most in your trade, as compared to other trades, i.e., why choose translations?
In that case, independence is my answer.


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Contrafreeloading May 22, 2017

Except cats, almost all mammals (including humans) are subject to contrafreeloading.

Yet sometimes I prefer to be as a cat)


 
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Poll: What motivates you most in your trade?






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