| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: What do you think is the slack season in the translation industry? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:34
Member (2008)
Italian to English
In Italy, from mid-July when the weather stops being pleasantly warm and starts getting seriously hot, the brain ceases to work and you can only survive by slowing right down. This continues until mid-August when the weather always breaks and big thunderstorms arrive. But by then everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is either at the beach or in the mountains. The cities are deserted. Nobody even thinks of doing any work until the beginning of September and of course it takes time for them to produce a... See more In Italy, from mid-July when the weather stops being pleasantly warm and starts getting seriously hot, the brain ceases to work and you can only survive by slowing right down. This continues until mid-August when the weather always breaks and big thunderstorms arrive. But by then everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is either at the beach or in the mountains. The cities are deserted. Nobody even thinks of doing any work until the beginning of September and of course it takes time for them to produce anything that might require translation. So from mid-July until mid-September I never expect much work (although sometimes, the unexpected does happen).
THEN
From 24 December until 06 January (the Epiphany) there's a constant string of feast days and nobody does any work. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Freitas 
Brazil
Local time: 05:34
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| January and August | Feb 1, 2022 |
As a reflex of December and July, since we're usually paid within 30 days, and December and July are vacation months where people work less and the demand naturally falls.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 05:34
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| You have a great perception, Baran | Feb 1, 2022 |
Baran Keki wrote: Paul Dixon wrote:
The market in Brazil is in a bad situation.... I'm beginning to think that the never-ending economic crisis in Brazil has nothing to do with your financial woes...
You're absolutely right. Paul always replies to every poll like this, also in the social media groups, and he never realized that the problem is all in his methods, not in the "crisis" whatsoever. I can assure you many translators like myself are doing great, even libing in Brazil. And I have a lot more friends that think like this and very few that think like Paul.
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I have no idea. I had very little work last month (just as well, as I was recovering from a minor accident), but January 2021 was very busy. August in Greece is the holiday month, but that applies to all activities, not just translation.
I doubt that the "translation industry" - if indeed there is such a thing - has identifiable slack periods at all.
The posts by others that I've read prior to posting this seem to support the above view, as I see no consistency at all ... See more I have no idea. I had very little work last month (just as well, as I was recovering from a minor accident), but January 2021 was very busy. August in Greece is the holiday month, but that applies to all activities, not just translation.
I doubt that the "translation industry" - if indeed there is such a thing - has identifiable slack periods at all.
The posts by others that I've read prior to posting this seem to support the above view, as I see no consistency at all among the replies.
So this is a pointless question. ▲ Collapse
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 10:34
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
| October/November | Feb 2, 2022 |
My personal weakest months have always been October and November. I actually always thought this had something to do with budgets running low at the end of the year, but apparently, I was wrong about this.
There is also July, but that is my own "fault", since I usually go on vacation during that month, so cannot really count that.
| | | | | Different cultures, different customs | Feb 2, 2022 |
While Tom writes that in Italy it is too hot to work in summer, and people do not work between Christmas and the Epiphany, I can only smile with envy!
These days, I am more choosy about how much work I take on, but the offers are still there. I used to do as much work as a normal, busy month in the days up to 23 December! Denmark celebrates Christmas in the afternoon and evening of the 24th, but shops are open until midday... Then there were always hopeful clients who sent a week to... See more While Tom writes that in Italy it is too hot to work in summer, and people do not work between Christmas and the Epiphany, I can only smile with envy!
These days, I am more choosy about how much work I take on, but the offers are still there. I used to do as much work as a normal, busy month in the days up to 23 December! Denmark celebrates Christmas in the afternoon and evening of the 24th, but shops are open until midday... Then there were always hopeful clients who sent a week to ten days' work around the 21st or 22nd December, asking if I could deliver on 2 January. (or 3 January if that was the first Monday...)
In the summer, people seem to tidy up their offices and check their calendars before going on holiday - and send a lot of reports, marketing campaigns or other material for translation, which they want delivered the day the industrial holiday ends. Luckily it is a freelancer's privilege to take holidays off peak! But in the years when my husband was tied to the industrial holiday, and that was our only real chance to see family in England, I could not exercise the privilege much.
Some clients really seem to imagine that freelancers are available 24/7/365. There are some subject areas that have seasonal variations in the amount of translation work they generate, but altogether, translation is an industry that never sleeps! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Hayley Wakenshaw
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:34
Member (2018)
Dutch to English
| Apparently, it's now! | Feb 3, 2023 |
After years of working on translation in a sort of ad-hoc, part time way, then giving it up to do something else in a panic, I decided to go all-in and make translation my full-time job last summer. I did an initial marketing push, and I quickly had enough work to give me confidence that it was the right decision. That lasted from about August to the end of December. I'd done translation since 2016 and had some very satisfied clients, but with a child with special needs to care for, I'd never re... See more After years of working on translation in a sort of ad-hoc, part time way, then giving it up to do something else in a panic, I decided to go all-in and make translation my full-time job last summer. I did an initial marketing push, and I quickly had enough work to give me confidence that it was the right decision. That lasted from about August to the end of December. I'd done translation since 2016 and had some very satisfied clients, but with a child with special needs to care for, I'd never really been able to make it a 'proper job'. So I hadn't developed an awareness of how the work would ebb and flow.
It came as a bit of a shock then, when in mid-January, the work seemed to drop off a cliff. I've been averaging about €30 a day since then. If I had given up my other job to do this in January last year rather than in the summer, I would have been desperately worried because things are really, really slow.
So I'm very reassured to see that this is traditionally a slack period for translators. I think I might have to keep returning to this topic to reassure myself that it's going to be okay! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 04:34
Japanese to English
+ ...
| Slack season? | Feb 7, 2023 |
Since I work with three languages (Japanese, Chinese, Russian) in the following specialisms: technical, pharmed, legal and financial, I find myself pretty well covered. If one language or specialism doesn't pan out, another will pop up.
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