Successfully Managing a One-Person Translation Department “One Linguist, Many Masters to Serve”
Wednesday, 1 July, 10.15 – 11.15 a.m.
Language units in the (N)MT/GenAI era are shrinking and linguists with a classical translation degree are becoming scarcer as there is a shift towards language technologists rather than out-and-out translators. In-house positions still enjoy “safe haven” status compared with freelancer life, although conditions are changing rapidly. As a wave of translators retire, full-time positions are also being rationalised to fractional ones, or translation reduced to one component in a broader remit. In small- to medium-sized institutions, in-house responsibility for language services may fall on a single linguist.
In times of uncertainty, austerity, efficiency and economy drives, translation may seem a “quick win” for cost savings. Translators require clear strategies towards decision-makers to sell translation’s added value as a required outcome and to counter management’s view of it merely being an expense. Translators need to communicate this in a way that management understands. The post-Covid “new work” era of hybrid and remote working and knock-on effects following the Great Resignation wave have also impacted translator visibility.
Amid the unrelenting advance of GenAI and its notorious deceptive fluency, tech bros and IT consultants talk non-linguists into believing that “translation has been solved.” Language services now face IT-led procurement decisions over tools and have no guaranteed place at the decision-making table. Despite all these challenges, strategies still exist for in-house translators, as experts in the lead, to thrive rather than survive – even when ploughing a lone furrow.
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