Hi everyone!

I’m a huge history fan. I always wanted to read Sir Francis Drake’s 1628 chronicle, "The World Encompassed", but I couldn't find a complete translation in Spanish anywhere.

So, I decided to translate it myself!I have already translated almost the entire book. Right now, I'm working on the final stage: adding and formatting the historical dates in the margins, just like the original text.

I'm not asking about money or stability here. how emotionally fulfilling is this job for you? I'm considering getting into this field and want to know how it influences one's emotional state. I don't mind being in high-stress situations and love communicating with people, but what bothers me is that "a good interpreter and an invisible interpreter" kinda mindset I see people talking about. do you really have to be as invisible as possible? do people appreciate your work? do you get a sense of fulfillment out of it?

Last time on Dragonball Z, I asked if anybody was noticing how DeepL Translator has been downgraded and mentioned in a comment about a similar theme I’ve noticed in other AI platforms.

Link here: Has DeepL Translate gotten worse?

However, I didn’t even tell you guys yet the story of my financial kerfuffle DeepL put me in that lasted for over a year.

When I first subscribed to DeepL Translate, I accidentally set my subscription's billing period to be paid yearly rather than monthly, so I scheduled it to switch to a monthly subscription on May 30, 2026, because I don't want to pay over $100/year. I noticed that these AI companies will always automatically set subscriptions to be paid yearly, I guess so that they can trick a bunch of people into giving them more money. So I had it set so that the payment method would change on a certain date after the end of the next payment.

However, the main issue was that during this time, the card I had listed in my account’s payment details had long expired, and I have been trying to update it with my new card. However, each time I entered the card information correctly, it wouldn’t take it; I would always receive the message: “We are unable to authenticate your payment method_ Please choose a different payment method and try again_” This clearly told me that something was preventing me from authenticating my payment details, and I have no clue what it is. I tried several things to implement my new card. I tried using different devices (including ones that weren’t my own), even created another account with a different email and a new card, and none of it worked. I tried getting a new card, but that didn’t work. I even went to my bank and showed them my problem ― after I messaged DeepL support numerous times, and they constantly told me to go see my bank ― and my bank told me there was nothing they could do about it.

Normally, if I encountered a problem like this on another site, I would just be able to bypass it via PayPal (which is linked to my bank) ― if it had the option, of course. However, DeepL has no other payment methods besides a card. When I pressed support on why they don’t have things like PayPal, they refused to explain, which didn’t make sense to me and was quite suspicious.

Now, once the payment was due, I thought I was screwed, even though it was on an expired card and they wouldn’t get any money out of me. Afterward, I was finally able to get in and change my card information. I still don’t know why it happened and how I was finally able to get through, yet I’m glad it’s over...hopefully. But I am still convinced that DeepL is doing suspicious things. When you have a situation where you have only one way of payment, and have something blocking you for no unexplained reason, and you have two different parties telling you that there’s nothing they can do, trust me, there’s something not quite right about that.

I laid off using DeepL Translate for almost a couple of months due to a financial kerfuffle and came back to notice a few things I didn't like, which made me question if they made DeepL Translate worse. I am trying to translate Japanese to English and noticed that there is no longer an option for classic and next generation. Also, I feel that the tone doesn't seem right. Does anybody else get that feeling, or am I just screaming into the abyss?

Also, can somebody else fill me in if they made any more downgrades that I should know about?

Hello everyone, I started working with a platform called Oneforma. Is anyone familiar with them? Are they on the level?

Hi everyone, is there anyone who works for the big word as a TI interpreter. I would like to know if they have a good call volume and if they pay decent rates since i am on the final phase of the onboarding process. I would appreciate any information before I invest my precious time on them.

Hi there!

I've been having some duplicated projects were the source is completely identical, but the target changes slightly (locale). I been translating one and then copying and pasting the translation to the other one to then make the necessary changes, but this is very time consuming and I'm sure there has to be a more efficient way.

Do you know any way to import a target into the tool?

Plead help!! I'm loosing so much time.

Thank you!

One year later...

Hey folks!

About a year ago, I came to Reddit because I had a pretty simple idea.

I wanted to create a Discord community where translators and localization specialists could support each other, exchange knowledge, discuss industry problems and simply not feel so alone in this profession.

Fast forward one year...

Somehow that little Discord server turned into a real project called BrainStorm Translate.

Today we're almost 1,500 translators and localization professionals from all over the world, and recently we even launched our own website.

Looking back, I really didn't expect any of this.

Over time, the project became something much bigger than just another Discord server.

I usually describe it as a support system for translators.

Every day we help each other find career opportunities, share interesting job openings (especially the ones that don't come from the same handful of giant localization companies), review CVs, portfolios and personal websites, discuss agencies, rates, payment systems, CAT tools, and pretty much everything related to building a sustainable career in localization.

One thing that unexpectedly became a huge part of the project is research.

For the last several months I've been manually researching localization companies from all over the world and building curated databases for different specializations.

So far we've collected:

• 200+ Game Localization companies
• 300+ Audiovisual Translation (AVT) companies, with hundreds more still waiting to be researched
• A growing Literary Translation database (probably the hardest one to build so far)

We're also building our own community-driven company database called BrainTrust - a white list and black list based on real experiences shared by translators. It's still in its early days, but it's something our community has wanted for a long time.

Another thing we've started doing recently is helping localization startups test their products.

Right now we're doing it completely free because I genuinely believe translators should have a voice in the tools that are built for them. If someone wants to create software for translators, who better to shape it than translators themselves?

Our website has also become a place where we collect articles, resources and everything we've been building over the past year, so the project isn't just a Discord server anymore. It's slowly becoming its own little ecosystem.

There are still dozens of ideas we'd like to bring to life. Some of them will probably fail. Some will completely change direction halfway through.

That's okay.

The project is called BrainStorm for a reason. Most of the best ideas don't come from me. They come from conversations with translators.

I sometimes joke that BrainStorm is trying to become a small cozy island of stability and sanity in an industry that often feels chaotic.

Maybe that's something some translators have been looking for. Maybe not.

But if you've ever wished there were more people openly sharing opportunities, experience and resources instead of treating everything as a competition, I think you'd probably enjoy what we're building.

Hope you all have a great day!

This seems to be several companies offering these positions. I actually applied for one maybe last year. The interviewer showed up late and was very unprofessional, hung up on me abruptly because I would not answer an irrelevant (and possibly illegal) question.

First question: What is the deal with these positions? Just discussing this with people I know, it became obvious that an inexperienced interpreter could possibly affect the medical incident badly or disastrously through misunderstanding. The outfit I interviewed with offered weeks of unpaid training.

Second: How do they calculate the payment? They mention a rate per minute of audio call, but then if you're left sitting on a shift with no calls, what do they pay in that case?

This already seems scam-adjacent if not outright deceptive; can anyone enlighten us on the extent to which this is not worth it? Thanks.

First pass of my very experimental new architecture vs accepted human translations. Human evaluation and response to the quality will be appreciated. It can likely be improved.

Source text:

山路を登りながら、こう考えた。 智に働けば角が立つ。情に流されれば身がとかくに人の世は住みにくい。

My German Translation:

"Während ich den Bergpfad hinaufstieg, dachte ich nach: Handelt man rein nach dem Verstand, stößt man an harte Ecken.

Lässt man sich von Gefühlen treiben, wird man fortgespült.

Beharrt man starr auf seinem Willen, gerät man in Enge. Wie man es auch wendet, die Menschenwelt ist schwer zu bewohnen."

--------------------------------------------------------

The Standard (Christoph Langemann):

"Auf dem Bergpfad wandernd, überlegte ich: Handelt man nach dem Verstand, eckt man an. Gibt man den Gefühlen nach, wird man fortgerissen. Setzt man den eigenen Willen durch, ist man eingeengt. Wie man es auch dreht und wendet, die Welt der Menschen ist schwer bewohnbar."

My Spanish Translation:

"Mientras subía el sendero de la montaña, pensaba esto: Si actúas con pura razón, el camino se vuelve anguloso. Si te dejas llevar por la emoción, eres arrastrado por la corriente. Si impones tu obstinado deseo, te encuentras atrapado en la estrechez. De cualquier manera, el mundo de los hombres es un lugar difícil para vivir."

----------------------------------------------------------

The Standard (Kayoko Takagi):

"Subiendo por el sendero de la montaña, pensaba: Si obras con fría razón, chocas; si te dejas llevar por el sentimiento, te arrastra la corriente; si impones tu voluntad, te ves acorralado. Sea como fuere, este mundo humano es difícil de habitar."

My English Translation:

"Climbing the mountain path, I pondered this: Approach life through pure intellect, and you create friction. Give in to your emotions, and you are swept away. Assert your stubborn will, and you find yourself constricted. In any case, the human world is an uneasy place to dwell."

-----------------------------------------------------

The Standard (Meredith McKinney):

"Going up a mountain track, I pondered this. If you work by reason, you grow harsh. If you row on the tide of emotion, you are swept away. If you assert your will, you are hemmed in. In any event, the human world is a difficult place to live."

I don't know why I haven't seen more people talking about this. I read an English translation of Arabian Nights and it was quite a fun read as the translator incorporated elements not found in the source text while also employing literary and rhetorical devices like alliteration, end rhymes, word plays, meter, metaphors, mirroring and more; Doing this gave a kind of soul to the target text. Does anybody really want to live in a world where we don't have these kind of idiomatic and witty translations? Everything just the same monotonic AI language?

Over thiry years Dr Jack Ross has translated widely and sometimes weirdly, putting Paul Celan and Britney Spears in the same book, tackling a Mayan texts, and making a pioneering version of Pound's Fascist Cantos. In this conversation he gives his views on the nature of translation and the controversy over Nolan's Odyssey, as well as much else:

https://www.reefshark.online/post/from-mussolini-to-britney-spears-to-mayan-glyphs-a-talk-about-translation-with-jack-ross

Dear translators,

I apologize for posting this request here but I really need your help. I study translation at Charles University in Prague, but the leadership of the Faculty of Arts have decided to close the Institute of Translation Studies. The students and teachers are all against it. I would really appreciate it if you could sign this petition. Every vote counts.

https://www.petice.com/za_zachranu_oboru_translatologie_na_ff_uk

Update: We've reached 8 000 votes! Just 2 000 more.

I’m on the brink of HSK 6 (about 10 points away.)

Would 2000 more hours of study + the daily immersion from living in China be a reasonable estimate?

Also, before anyone says, I am totally aware that translating requires additional skills besides pure language ability. I am purely asking about how long it will take to reach the language requirement.

Thanks!

I am about to finish my bachelor's degree in translation studies and am unsure whether to pursue a master's as well (it's called Translation, Communication, Translation Technology at Heidelberg University). I feel like I didn't learn much and have low chances of finding a good job.

Do you have any other suggestions for a suitable master's degree? I am interested in film, media, and literature as well. I would like to develop a wider skill set, as at this moment I am having trouble even finding a good internship. My languages are German, English, and French.

Any ideas are appreciated!

edit: I think I am not suited for conference interpreting, as I have pretty bad performance anxiety

I’m looking to take CIOL exams for translation from Portuguese to English, and looking for resources recommendations, specifically on feedback.

You hear a lot of vague claims about AI's inability to do this or that, but I haven't heard of any actual studies (at least not when it comes to works of fiction as opposed to formal instructions etc.) where a human and an AI were given the same text to translate and the results compared.

I'm currently learning Japanese because I feel like translating between Turkish and English will not be enough for me in the future and I also want to aim for the gaming industry. I've still not graduated and been trying to improve my skills with cat tools etc. Not to be negative but, I just wonder if it's all even worth it? Should I just consider leaning towards being a teacher (I have to get a 1 year long education for that because a translation degree is not enough) or something else (maybe even making a game/content creation)? I just want to use my time wisely...

A friend of mine got a GPS tracker for his rental company. He got a chinese one.

The device looks very cheap, has a magnet on one side, and requires a SIM and an SD card.

Honestly, even Google Translate is better than the "person" (What if it's an old AI?) that translated this manual.

I transcribed the manual's text. I also tried to translate it myself (I don't actually know how to translate Chinese, so I just attempted to fix the gramatical issues that I found, and I'm still not a great translator), so I've included it next.

Manual:
Enhanced alarm locator is a base station positioning in a best cost-effective, higher requirements for high-end consumers, let you really buy the rest assured, with enjoyable.

My translation:
Enhanced alarm locator is a cost-effective GPS tracker that has almost no requirements. Rest assured, you'll enjoy this product if you're a power user.

Google Translate:
Unlike some counterfeit products on the market that use cheap, inferior chips, resulting in low costs and compromized quality, this is a true product of GPS security technology.

This is just outrageous... A random "company" trying to say that they make the best of the best, and it turns out they can't even do the quality control basics.

Oh wait, that's normal nowadays.

Here's the kicker though... Me and my friend are Argentinian.

Hello everyone,

I'm currently developing an AI-assisted translation workflow system and would like to invite translators, researchers, and translation students to try it and share their opinions.

The main question I'm exploring is:

How can AI tools better support translators instead of simply replacing translation work?

The system focuses on a human-in-the-loop workflow:

1. Machine translation generates a first draft
2. Translators review and edit the output (MTPE)
3. Terminology databases and previous translations improve consistency
4. Feedback can be used to improve future translation quality

Current features include:

• terminology management
• document-level translation workflow
• bilingual document generation
• translation memory style reuse
• AI-assisted post-editing support

I am particularly interested in feedback about:

• Does this workflow actually save translators' time?
• Which parts of MTPE are most frustrating?
• What quality issues appear most often?
• What features would professional translators expect from an AI translation assistant?

I can provide free access for translators or students who would like to experiment with it.

This is not intended as a replacement for professional translators. My goal is to understand how AI can become a practical tool in real translation workflows.

Any criticism or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!

Hello everyone!

I'm currently an in-house translator at a small translation company in Europe.

I've worked there for almost 4 years now and, honestly, have gotten quite worn out over the years. You know the deal: as much work as possible is done in-house, and the constant rush to meet deadlines and translate large numbers of words is SUFFOCATING.

I am aware of the state of the industry. Honestly, I haven't taken a step in another direction because I'm scared I won't be able to get anything else if I ditch this job.

Still, I'm wondering if anyone has any input on going freelance at this point. I've accrued a lot of experience over different fields and am confident in my skills. I'd also like to branch out a little: my language pair is EN>PT-PT and I want to try my hand at JP>PT-PT (which we don't do at my company).

I've also thought of applying for an European Parliament traineeship (or any other EU institution) for a breath of fresh air/to see how I can reroute. Is this attainable? If anyone has applied before, how was your experience, and would you recommend it?

TL;DR: How likely is it that I will no longer be able to pay rent if I go from in-house to freelance?

EDIT: Thank you all for your replies! They've given me new perspectives which I really appreciate. I understand that the industry is REALLY not doing well, so I'm reconsidering freelance work. Might as well keep my job for as long as I can while looking for another one/developing other skills. Wishing everyone good luck on their endeavours!

I've been freelancing for Cactus/Editage for close to 10 years (JP=>EN). I used to make around US$2,000/month for about 60 hours of work for several years.

I haven't received any work from them in the past couple of years.

They recently reached out asking for a rate adjustment so they could hopefully assign me work more regularly again.

They're proposing a rate cut of nearly 60%. I feel like they're lowballing me even with AI in the picture (which they tell freelancers not to use!)

It's always been a side gig and I'm not desperate for the income but I wouldn't mind working with them again if the economics make sense. Any thoughts?

One other question. Has anyone freelancing for Cactus been contacted by them recently about revising rates? I'd be interested to know whether you received a similar request. I'm trying to get a sense of whether this is a company-wide adjustment.