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How much does a translator earn?


Translators live and breathe their jobs, they work extra hours and weekends and holidays and most of the time people do not understand that fact and take for granted the job done by these professionals, when they decide to say translators don't work that much because most of them work from home.

For this reason and also because it's almost August and vacations are coming and with them a dry period for many of the translators I know, including me, I've decided to do a little search online and check how much does a translator earn per month and per year. Funny fact?! They seem to earn pretty much the same throughout the world.

According to the Brazilian website Guia da Carreira the average salary of a Brazilian translator is R$ 2.275 per month, which can increase or decrease between R$ 1.169 and R$ 4.300, depending of several factors, including period of the year.


ATA and Payscale.com both mention that a full-time translator in USA earns about 65000 US Dollars per year, which is, more or less, 59000€/year. Both agree, however, that this also depends on the fields, years of career and language skills, most freelancers seem to be female (according to Payscale.com) and the most part are extremely satisfied with the profession.


In ATA's survey three out of four respondents had achieved either a master’s degree (44%) or a bachelor’s degree (32%). One-fifth reported having a degree in translation, while 12% reported having a degree in interpreting. One-third reported having a non-degree certificate in translation, while 27% reported having a non-degree certificate in interpreting. Other credentials reported include court certification (5%), passing the State Department exam (9%), and passing the UN exam (1%).


If we take all this into account and connect the dots with the website prospects.ac.uk which informs that translators’ average daily output is 2,000 - 3,000 words and that the work involves intense concentration and pressure to submit translations on deadlines, we realize that maybe the average of the salary mentioned corresponds to the stress the job brings along.


In your opinion, do translators actually earn the amounts stated or not?! What is your experience?!

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