The Five Year Itch

Most of the translators I know do not plan to translate for the rest of their professional lives. It is surprising, of course: most translators leave the profession within five years of entering it. Many plan their departure ahead of time, developing the skills or receiving the education necessary to make their move. The rest just get out, for a host of reasons.

The departing translators head in generally the same directions. Some move on to start translation agencies or language consulting firms, some become technical writers or authors, some become interpreters, some enter academia as linguists or literature professors, and some few head off on other paths (naturally, there are many other paths, but the above careers were mentioned much more frequently than any others).

They also depart for basically the same reasons. Lack of long-term job security, frequently low pay for the value of the work they are doing, no benefits (which becomes more important as people grow older and have families), and little job satisfaction. Every industry benefits from having seasoned professionals, but the translation profession almost seems to prevent people from staying in for very long. Although I do know translators who have been in the industry for over twenty years, most of them have moved back and forth from in-house to free-lance as well as back and forth among the countries where their languages are used.

This is not to say that every translator moves on or that someone contemplating this profession should not enter it. First, the relatively high turn-over rate is good for those trying to get in. Second, the industry needs as many competent and responsible professionals it can get, so the more the merrier. Third, there are few professional careers in the world in which you do the exact same thing for five years. In most corporations, you get regular promotions, moving up the ladder and working towards greater responsibility, income and security. Translators don’t have that in their profession, so perhaps they are just creating it for themselves by moving on to a related field within five years or so.