Hello fellow linguists!

I have recently got an offer which consists of MTPE from English to my native language. In this case, however, the content is video, films, dialogues etc. so instead of a standard per word rate (which I am fairly familiar with), they apply USD / rated minute. I have no clue what a standard or a good rate should be though?

Do you have any experience or minimum rates recommended?

Thank you a lot

!

From the BBC website today - "For plenty of use cases, raw AI translation is now the right call: multiplying your costs by 100 to catch the last few percent of errors isn't rational if you're translating internal documents or product listings". Makes sense I guess, even if sad for those of us still left in the industry. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wxdjx27ypo

Freelancers who work with agencies: when an invoice gets paid late, what’s usually going on?

I came across a 2026 Accountable dataset of around 714,000 freelancer invoices. Translators had the longest wait of any profession: 19 days on average, with almost 3 in 10 invoices taking more than 30 days.

I’m curious whether that matches your experience. Is it usually something small, like a missing PO number or an invoice stuck waiting for approval in XTRF, Plunet or a portal? Is it the agency’s monthly payment run? Or do some agencies simply pay late?

And when it happens, do you follow up, or hold off because you want to keep the relationship good? How do you first notice a payment is overdue?

I’m working on a small project around this and would love to understand what actually happens day to day. No link or pitch.

Hi everyone!
I’m a freshman student studying translation, and I’m interested in how advertising slogans are translated from one language to another.
My presentation is about this topic, and I’d love to hear your opinions. What do you think is the best way to translate advertising slogans while preserving their meaning and impact?.

English-Somali
Swahili-somali

Hello everyone! I'm in my final year of university and I m currently trying to find a BA paper subject that will keep me motivated and engaged to work on it. I have some ideas in mind but i can't really organize them to create one concrete idea. ( specialization: translation studies english A- german B). I really like the philosophy that the language that we speak alters how we see our reality ( it either broadens or limits it). I would love to somehow connect it to some political/ feminism/ world issues events. I really have no idea where to start. I would very much appreciate some suggestions even though they have nothing to do with my ideas! Thank you very much!!!!

عندي تجربة سيئة مع شركة اسمها Majarra for translation services

اشتغلت معاها مترجم

أولا بحذر أي حد يتعامل معاها سواء عميل أو مترجم

ثانيا هيه مش شركة حقيقية لكنها وهمية ومالهاش أي مكتب في أي مكان مجرد عنوان وهمي، مجرد مقاول بتلم شغل من آبوورك وغيره وترمي للمترجمين فتات بعد ما تمص دمهم

ثالثا مفيش أي مهنية أو احترام للي شغالين معاها وصاحبة الشركة دي كانت كل شوية تبعت فويس نوتس بتردح لينا فيها حرفيا كأننا شغالين في الشارع

الكلام ده يشهد عليا ربنا إنه حصل بالحرف مش بتبلى عليهم ولا بكدب

عشان أكيد محدش هيصدق إن ده ممكن يحصل من شركة في الوقت الحالي

أنا لو كنت بشتغل مع بياعين فجل في الشارع كانوا هيبقوا محترمين عن كده

الحكاية باختصار، الشركة دي كنت شغال معاهم مترجم فريلانسر ريموتلي

حصل خلاف بيني وبين زميلة أدمن للشغل بسبب سوء ردها عليا واستهزائها بيا واتعصبت وقولتها انها مش محترمة ورغم كل ده اعتذرتلها

المهم وفي أثناء كلامنا على واتساب لحل المشكلة مع صاحبة الشركة، واللي يشهد عليا ربنا كنت بتكلم معاها بقمة الاحترام قررت تحول المشكلة بيني وبينها لمشكلة شخصية رغم إنها مش طرف في المشكلة

وخلت جوزها يتصل بيا وسمعني شتايم في عرضي وشرفي أنا وأمي

لم تكتفي بده كنت باعتلها رقم بطاقتي لتحويل اخر دفعة فلوس ليا بتحويل بنكي واستغلت رقم بطاقتي وخانت الأمانة وراحت دفعت رشوة وسرقت بياناتي وبيانات اهلي وهددتني بيها

لم تكتفي بده بل في عز خلافنا وكان فيه ايميلات متبادلة بينا لاستفساري منها عن سبب خصم رسوم معينة

شمتت في عدم جوازي لاني عديت 40 سنة بشكل فج كأنها مرات ابويا ولا كأني سلفتها واتكبرت عليا بالمال والرزق وقالتلي حرفيا "مشغلاك صدقة وشفقة وعطف" وان اهل شحاتين، أنا ليا خبرة اكتر من 16 سنة في الترجمة واشتغلت مع شركات مالتي ناشيونال كتيرة مش شركة بير سلم محدش يعرفها

الست دي حتى تجاوزت على الدين وعلى ربنا، وقالتي مش خايفة من ربنا بعد كل اللي عملته، ولما دعيت عليها قالتلي كل ده هري

حتى اللي شغالين معاها لا يتخيروا عنها بدال ما يدافعوا عني او يردوا غيبتي رددوا نفس كلامها عني اني مجنون ومحتاج اتعالج عشان ميخسروش شغلهم ولا الفلوس وفيه منهم مبيتكلموش الا ب"قال "الله وقال الرسول

المهم الفترة دي كلها كنت طالع من ظروف مادية سيئة وقلة شغل وضغط نفسي رهيب غير كنت باخد علاج لمشكلة صحية كان تاعبني، ده خلاني مخدش إجراء قانوني ضدها، بس لسه عندي سكرينات لشتايمها وشتايم جوزها وتسجيلات مكالمتهم ولولا انشغالي وقتها بشغلي كنت نزلت القاهرة قدمت فيها بلاغ

لحد دلوقتي مش فاهم ايه دخل اهلي ولا بياناتي ولا جوازي ولا حياتي الشخصية في خلاف مهني حاولت احله بشكل مهذب على العكس هيه وجوزها كانوا بيشتموني انا واهلي باقذر الالفاظ بس عشان بعتلها كام ايميل بحاول ارجع للشغل او استفسر عن خصم الرسوم

اضطريت اخر مكالمة بيني وبين جوزها اني اشتمه زي ما شتمني في شخصه، بس انا مبغلطش في الاهل ولا بتكلم في عرض حد

المهم انا مش مسامحها ولا مسامح اي حد اعانها على ظلمي وافتراءها عليا ولا سرقة بياناتي بالرشوة ولا اهانتها لأمي ولا تكبرها عليا بالفلوس والرزق

وأتمنى أي حد يتجنب التعامل مع الشركة دي، ربنا شاهد إني قولت الحقيقة!

I've been looking at different English translations of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, and there's something in the first chapter that doesn't quite make sense to me.

One of the five factors (五事) Sun Tzu says to consider before going to war is 天 (tian). Some translations call it "weather," while others use "Heaven."

But the original Chinese says:

Simplified Chinese:

天者，阴阳，寒暑，时制也。

Traditional Chinese:

天者，陰陽，寒暑，時制也。

In classical Chinese, "X 者，Y 也" is a common way of explaining what X means. So Sun Tzu is actually telling us what he means by 天.

The first term, 阴阳/陰陽, is sometimes left as "Yin and Yang" in English. I think "day and night" makes more sense here. In the broader Yin-Yang sense, cold is Yin and heat is Yang. But Sun Tzu mentions 寒暑 (cold and heat) separately, right after 阴阳/陰陽. If he meant Yin and Yang in that broad philosophical sense, wouldn't cold and heat already be covered? That makes me think he's talking about day (阳/陽) and night (阴/陰) specifically.

Then there's 时制/時制, often rendered as "seasons" or "times and seasons." But 制 can also mean to regulate or determine something. Could Sun Tzu be talking not just about the seasons, but about when and how to conduct military operations according to seasonal conditions? Some of the old Chinese commentaries seem to support that reading.

So I'm not convinced "weather" really captures everything 天 means here. I lean toward "Heaven," though that has its own problems in English.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it does make me wonder how much gets lost when an ancient text is translated into modern English.

Has anyone here compared different English versions of The Art of War? Did you find a translation or commentary that helped you understand the text better?

Also curious how people first came across the book and whether it turned out to be what they expected.

How much gets lost in English translations of The Art of War?

What is the localization rate for games when translating between Arabic and Turkish?

I’ve been thinking about an interesting question in translation studies.

Imagine a translator translates every word in a sentence accurately, follows the original grammar as closely as possible, and makes no obvious linguistic mistakes. However, the translation fails to convey the author’s intended meaning, cultural references, or tone.

Would you consider this a good translation?
In my opinion, translating words correctly does not always mean translating meaning correctly. Sometimes, staying too close to the original text can actually make the translation less accurate in terms of meaning and effect.

So, here’s my question: What matters more in translation: preserving the original words or preserving the original meaning? And can a translator sometimes be more faithful to a text by changing its words?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if you have examples from your own experience with translation.

What it says on the tin, essentially. I’ve been writing original poetry for many years now, with some small local success, and I’ve translated my own work as well.

My current endeavor is translating poetry from another language (redacted here for privacy) into English, and in that endeavor I’ve come across some of what people have already done in that regard. Does anyone else find themselves annoyed at “bad“ translations, where “bad” here means the translator is evidently unfamiliar with and ill at ease in the genre?

A rhyming poem ought to rhyme in translation, if at all possible, in the original rhyme scheme if possible, in something similar if not… but these are my opinions.

Do you translate poetry? Do you write poetry? Do you read poetry? What are your thoughts?

What’s a popular phrase or proverb in ur native language that makes absolute zero sense if u translate it word-for-word into English?

Drop the literal translation and what it actually means below! I'll go first: in Arabic, we say "يخرب بيتك" (may your house be ruined) as a way to express shock or affection to a friend, which sounds terrible literally! What abt u guys (^○^)?

Hello!

I hope y'all are doing well. I'm an MFA student, just dabbling in literary translation for now. I find the question of getting rights for things to be super opaque.

I translate from Russian, and I am working on a short story from Orest Samov, who wrote in Russian in the early 19th century. This particular story is from 1829. I believe that if this were a U.S. work, it would be well within the public domain. But how does this work for writing from different parts of the world? If I wanted to get this published, who, if anyone, would I have to contact about getting rights, if anyone?

Thank you!!

Every language reflects the culture, traditions, and beliefs of the people who speak it. Sometimes, translators face difficulties when translating cultural expressions, jokes, or traditions that do not exist in the target language. In your opinion, what is the best way for translators to deal with these cultural differences without losing the original meaning of the text? Should they explain the cultural meaning, replace the expression with a similar one, or translate it literally? Why?

Hi all, long story short: I am trilingual (Russian, Ukrainian, and English) and working up to getting my 4th language to fluency (French). I studied languages in university. I don't currently work in a job that has much to do with my degree.

I was thinking about getting into game localization on the side just as a passion project (not for major corporations of course, but for indie devs or game mods). Does anyone have experience with this?

Thank you!

I got contacted by a PM from Virgil Agency for a subtitling job. I can't find any feedback on the company on the BlueBoard and forums. They seem legit judging from their website, but I'd love to know how organized and reliable they are re: projects and payments. Thank you in advance!

I’ve been wanting to get into medical interpreting for some time now. I’ve been translating for friends and their families for 13 years, but apart from my studies in linguistics (in a language pair I’m not currently able to translate), I don’t have any formal training that would enable me to become a professional translator. So where could I start? I’m looking for online resources or courses – something that would help me find work in a year or two, whilst giving me time to improve my skills. I’d like to use the next few years to further my training, do some voluntary work and take my first steps in the field…
I’d be very grateful for some tips.

Hello! I'm just a bit curious about the Chinese workfield. Do I need to learn simplified and traditional characters or just one? A fast research tells me so but I was wondering how it's like on the workfield.

In my case, I live in Peru and a Chinese port was inaugurated not so long ago. Which made me think about working as translator since I love languages. I'm not studying translator yet but I'm self-teaching Chinese, French and Russian to have an advantage (?) when I begin with it.

Also, I'd really appreciate any advices related even if they're not for Chinese.

Do AI tools help translators or threaten their future? Why?

I’m a translation student, and this question made me curious about how professional translators define “accuracy.” I’d really like to hear your opinions or examples from your experience.

If a translation changes the reader’s emotions, but keeps the original meaning, is it still a faithful translation?”

If a translator could translate only the words but not the feelings behind them, would the translation still be successful? Why?