ProZ.com Translation Forums

AI for translators and interpreters | Should MTPE Rates Be 3× Higher Than Full Human Translation Rates?

Robbie Jia — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:45:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Should MTPE Rates Be 3× Higher Than Full Human Translation Rates?
Poster: Robbie Jia

The translation industry is facing a difficult reality: translation volumes are declining, while rates continue to fall.

Nowadays, much of the work available on the market consists of machine translation post-editing (MTPE) rather than full human translation. In many cases, MTPE is paid at only one-third or even less of the rate for normal human translation. As a result, many translators have already chosen to reject MTPE work.

I would therefore like to propose that, as an industry, we reconsider how MTPE is priced.

In my opinion, MTPE should be charged at three times the rate of a full human translation. The reason is simple: [b]when we perform MTPE, we are not only completing the translation task; we are also providing high-quality human feedback that helps AI and machine translation systems improve[/b].

[b]The faster AI learns from human translators, the faster human translators may be replaced. Accepting poorly paid MTPE work may therefore mean digging a hole for our own profession[/b].

For example, if:
English → target language (full human translation): USD 0.08 per English word
then:
English → target language (MTPE): USD 0.24 per English word

I also believe that MTPE should be charged based on the full source-word count, without any discount rate.

Interestingly, I have noticed that ProZ seems to be sounding the alarm as well. When setting a rate on ProZ, the platform automatically indicates how far below the standard the proposed rate is.

AI for translators and interpreters | Weird Outcomes | Translations?

James McVay — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 02:40:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Weird Outcomes
Poster: James McVay
Post title: Translations?

[quote]Li-Hsiang Hsu wrote:

The watermark has no physical or digital-object existence. There are no extra characters, no hidden Unicode, no metadata fields, no special bits hidden in the file. What exists is only a chosen statistical pattern of the token/word sequence. The only evidence of the watermark is that those words "happen" to match the secret rule more often than pure random results.

[Edited at 2026-08-14 15:11 GMT] [/quote]

I wonder if this technique will work with an AI translation. AIs have much less leeway in selecting words and phrases when translating. I’ve tested numerous translations done by ChatGPT and Claude with AI detectors like GPTzero and Grammarly. They’ve always said the text was 100% written by a human.

I’m sure the AI detectors will be modified to look for the telltale pattern once the technique is deployed, so I’ll run another test. It’ll be interesting to see the result.

Translation Project / Vendor Management | Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | Pricing policy

Nikolaus Weimann — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:22:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Nikolaus Weimann
Post title: Pricing policy

The trend I observe is that prices paid by outsourcers are falling even within a given company and for exactly the same type of job. The price levels tend to get so low that translators living outside developing countries can no longer live on the prices proposed. For instance Synergium in Lithuania recently dropped the price for text revisions from 20 to 17 Euro per hour and the trend is that the price still falls further by linking it to unrealistic output requirements like reviewing and rewriting 500 words of text per hour. The current situation makes me angry.

Translation Project / Vendor Management | Outsourcing policy by place of residence

Nikolaus Weimann — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:17:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Outsourcing policy by place of residence
Poster: Nikolaus Weimann

Can someone explain me why outsourcers recently started to require that freelance translators are resident in a particular countriy to handle their jobs? In some cases they even require that the translator lives in a country other than one having the target language of the translation as national language such as a translator for German living in the USA?
What is the idea behind that recruitment policy?

Chinese | “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong") | 打破小朋友对“龙”的模糊认知

hj58 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:28:00 +0000

Forum: Chinese
Topic: “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong")
Poster: hj58
Post title: 打破小朋友对“龙”的模糊认知

佛山大学暑期龙舟主题非遗研学课堂打破小朋友对“龙”的模糊认知
[url removed]

原标题：
百千万工程，红筑湾区青年队：妙笔绘龙舟，非遗润童心
佛大人文学院，2026年8月5日

　　端午龙舟声声震水乡，非遗文脉代代润童心。暑期课堂第二日，延续昨日水乡非遗学习，我们解锁龙舟文化课程。课堂品读水乡英雄故事，探秘龙舟非遗底蕴；通过船桨彩绘、集体互动，带领孩子们体悟同舟共济、奋勇争先的协作精神。

1，闯关学习，一站式读懂中西龙文化差异

　　本次龙舟主题非遗研学课堂以趣味闯关为主线，层层递进解锁龙文化知识，打破小朋友对“龙”的模糊认知，清晰区分中国龙 loong 与西方龙 dragon，在互动问答、双语科普中建立文化自信。

　　课堂开篇，先带领孩子们回顾昨日学习的九江非遗童谣《数鱼花》，伴着轻快的水乡小调，带领大家沉浸式走进岭南水乡，为龙文化、龙舟文化学习铺垫浓厚地域底色。

　　正式学习从趣味谜语闯关开启，四道谜题围绕龙舟、粽子、船桨、大鼓展开，孩子们争相抢答，快速熟悉龙舟配套民俗器物，顺利进入龙文化学习主线。

　　第二关核心研学内容便是中西龙深度对比。江老师拿出形象鲜明的图示，从外形、能力、象征寓意三个维度展开拆解：西方龙本体如同巨型蜥蜴，长有蝙蝠巨翅，口吐烈焰，在故事中是囤积财宝、肆意破坏的反派；而作为我们民族图腾的中国龙身形蜿蜒似灵蛇，头顶鹿角、爪如雄鹰，依靠腾云驾雾遨游天际，掌管行云布雨，守护百姓丰收平安，象征吉祥与力量，我们皆是龙的传人。

　　课堂设置趣味看图识龙互动挑战，通过展示东西方不同的龙形象图片，引导孩子们主动辨别、区分国风神龙与西方飞龙，深化对中华龙形象的认知。同时，课堂融入特色双语教学，科普区分 loong 与 dragon 的核心词义，结合例句带读跟读，将传统文化与英语启蒙巧妙结合。层层递进的趣味闯关环节，让孩子们在沉浸式体验中全方位探索、学习中华龙文化，厚植文化底蕴。

　　……。

AI for translators and interpreters | Using AI for Word count and productivity calculation | Accurate?

James McVay — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 21:35:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Using AI for Word count and productivity calculation
Poster: James McVay
Post title: Accurate?

Which AI did you use? Based on past experience, I'm not sure I would trust an LLM AI to do a complex mathematical calculation.

AI for translators and interpreters | Copyright

James McVay — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 21:29:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Copyright
Poster: James McVay

Who owns the copyright on a translation done entirely using AI? The human who develops the prompt and uses it to generate a translation? The company that developed and deployed the AI? The individual or company that commissioned the translation?

As a corollary, who owns the copyright on a translation produced by AI and edited by a human? Does the extent of the editing matter?

If you decide to answer, please refrain from criticizing the use of AI. We get enough of that already.

AI for translators and interpreters | Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin | Because of people like you

Lingua 5B — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:34:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Because of people like you

[quote]Tatjana Kostadinovic wrote:

[quote]jyuan_us wrote:

Maybe you should continue to market your AI translation and QA tool to large LSPs, and they may buy it for a huge amount of money. You never know. [/quote]

But no reply from them. [/quote]

Large LSPs don’t exist any more, AI hype (real or illusional) has ruined them. See how tricky it gets when you realize your little AI tools carried conflict of interest risk within them all along? You didn’t eliminate translators only, you also eliminated business clients. Since your AI tools are so self-sufficient, maybe you can have one AI bot sell tools to another AI bot?

I knew right from the start by the time the full market cycle would have been over, people like you would be facing the wall.

The only active business clients now are in China, India, and some in Egypt.

So you ruined and eliminated business clients and are now asking where they are?

[Edited at 2026-08-14 21:52 GMT]

Turkish | Paypal ödemelerini nasıl alıyorsunuz? | Belki bu gelişme bir umut olabilir

ATIL KAYHAN — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:06:00 +0000

Forum: Turkish
Topic: Paypal ödemelerini nasıl alıyorsunuz?
Poster: ATIL KAYHAN
Post title: Belki bu gelişme bir umut olabilir

[url removed]

AI for translators and interpreters | Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin | No reply from them

Tatjana Kostadinovic — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:13:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin
Poster: Tatjana Kostadinovic
Post title: No reply from them

[quote]jyuan_us wrote:

Maybe you should continue to market your AI translation and QA tool to large LSPs, and they may buy it for a huge amount of money. You never know. [/quote]

But no reply from them.

Getting established | translating for Xerox | The internet

William Bowley — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:06:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: translating for Xerox
Poster: William Bowley
Post title: The internet

[quote]Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Apparently, your eye for detail is not that sharp. There’s a typo in studiied, but MA in Writing for Performance is correct (the typo is yours)… :???:

P.S. These things happen to the best of us... [/quote]

Now there's always a chance that you're intentionally being obtuse, but in case you're being serious, you might have seen:

"Profile last updated: 17:43"

Some 5 hours after my post!

Part of me was expecting your type of response, though maybe hoping for a more mature one. Then again, there's always the possibility that you're being serious, which raises all sorts of other questions!

AI for translators and interpreters | Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin | Use AI

Tatjana Kostadinovic — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:05:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin
Poster: Tatjana Kostadinovic
Post title: Use AI

[quote]jyuan_us wrote:
Everyone has already noticed how AI affects their lives, so what? [/quote]

Must use AI.

AI for translators and interpreters | Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin | So what?

jyuan_us — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:59:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin
Poster: jyuan_us
Post title: So what?

[quote]jyuan_us wrote:

[quote]Tatjana Kostadinovic wrote:

[quote]Lieven Malaise wrote:
If you read the first page in this thread, you will see that this is not true. She addresses translators multiple times. [/quote]
After max 1 year, everyone will notice how AI affect your lives. [/quote]

Everyone has already noticed how AI affects their lives, so what? [/quote]

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | yes

Karletto666 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:38:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Karletto666
Post title: yes

Something on that note, yes.

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | ??

jyuan_us — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:11:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: jyuan_us
Post title: ??

[quote]Karletto666 wrote:

Don't you have something to do? [/quote]

Did you mean they should mind their own business?

AI for translators and interpreters | Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin | Duplicated post

jyuan_us — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:06:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Why We Built Our Own AI Translation Tool Instead of Using a CAT Tool Plugin
Poster: jyuan_us
Post title: Duplicated post

Deleted

[Edited at 2026-08-14 19:01 GMT]

French | Traduire Homère et Ovide

Philippe Boucry — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:24:00 +0000

Forum: French
Topic: Traduire Homère et Ovide
Poster: Philippe Boucry

« D'Homère à Ovide, l'Odyssée des textes anciens jusqu'à notre époque »

[url removed]

Chinese | “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong") | China Daily: Things you need to know about Chinese dragon

ysun — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:26:00 +0000

Forum: Chinese
Topic: “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong")
Poster: ysun
Post title: China Daily: Things you need to know about Chinese dragon

[b]Things you need to know about Chinese dragon[/b]
China Daily 2024-02-09
[url removed]

[b]说几点语言学问题[/b]
Oct 5, 2025
[url removed] #3091664
[quote]hj58 wrote:

Chinese dragon 不过是“中国恶魔”而已，……。[/quote]
莫乱改！连那“心爱的土琵琶”都不能乱改！

AI for translators and interpreters | Novel idea

Michele Fauble — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:07:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Novel idea
Poster: Michele Fauble

When a translator does a translation job (human labor), they are taxed on their earnings. Not the case when the job is done by AI (machine labor).

“Tax policy must stop disincentivizing human labor over machine labor. Because only human labor is taxed, the scale is tipped toward substitution. A consumption tax on A.I. tokens may flip this script.

Tokens are the units of data an A.I. model reads, processes and generates. When companies use enterprise versions of A.I. models, they must pay for each token. The price of a token is the closest thing to a wage paid for machine labor.”

[url removed]

[Edited at 2026-08-14 16:22 GMT]

Chinese | “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong") | 中国日报文章：Year of the Dragon

ysun — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:48:00 +0000

Forum: Chinese
Topic: “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong")
Poster: ysun
Post title: 中国日报文章：Year of the Dragon

[quote]hj58 wrote:

面子是个好东西啊，千万不能丢。

现在连中国日报也把龙“拼写”为 loong 了，哈哈！可喜可贺！ [/quote]

无可奈何 loong 逝去！节哀顺变！

[b]Year of the Dragon[/b]
China Daily | Updated: 2024-02-05
[url removed]
[quote]It is a little late now to change the Chinese character long to "loong" to avoid the negative connotations of the word "dragon". The connotations of the dragon have changed. [/quote]

[img] [url removed] [/img]

Chinese | “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong") | 最好再去复习一下语音学基本概念

ysun — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:23:00 +0000

Forum: Chinese
Topic: “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong")
Poster: ysun
Post title: 最好再去复习一下语音学基本概念

[quote]hj58 wrote:

好好好，对对对，牛牛牛，电影《欢迎来龙餐馆》不是“译”龙为 loong，而是“拼写”为 loong。

面子是个好东西啊，千万不能丢。

现在连中国日报也把龙“拼写”为 loong 了，哈哈！可喜可贺！

功夫被拼写为 Kungfu，点心被拼写为 dim sum，coca cola 被拼写为“可口可乐”，chocolate 被拼写为“巧克力”。

那家高级翻译学院以后应该改为“高级拼写学院”了。

[/quote]
[b]至今仍未搞清语音学这些基本概念的正是你自己[/b]
May 1, 2026
[url removed] #3109822

[url removed] #3109819

Chinese | “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong") | 该把老皇历扔掉了

ysun — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:10:00 +0000

Forum: Chinese
Topic: “龙”的英文应该翻译成 Loong - 转发 (A Chinese Teacher Suggests that "Dragon" should be written as "Loong")
Poster: ysun
Post title: 该把老皇历扔掉了

[quote]hj58 wrote:

…

　　并且列出了六篇原始报道（Article reference）：

　　1. Dragons take over cultural event in Zhejiang. chinaservicesinfo.com. 2024
　　2. Exploring the mystique of the 'loong'. chinadaily.com.cn. 2024
　　3. Hong Kong balloon artist breaks record for longest loong. chinadaily.com.cn. 2024
　　4. Cultural items increasingly tailored to attract youth. chinadaily.com.cn. 2024
　　5. Chinese culture is 'an untapped resource' -- British graphic designer. chinadaily.com.cn. 2024
　　6. Enduring tales with contrasting characteristics. chinadaily.com.cn. 2024

　　该网站目前收入的 loong 词条只有 loong 和 loong dance 两个。

（黄佶，2026年8月14日）
[/quote]
你不觉得上述这些文章都已是过了时的老皇历吗？该扔掉了！

不妨看看 China Daily 刚出炉不久的新鲜报道：

Hongshan jade [b]dragon[/b], Liangzhu deity figure
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2026-08-12
[url removed]

[b]俱往矣，别老惦记着“曾所向披靡”[/b]
Mar 31, 2026
[url removed] #3107798

[img] [url removed] [/img]

AI for translators and interpreters | Weird Outcomes | Not based on Unicode character patterns

Li-Hsiang Hsu — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:09:00 +0000

Forum: AI for translators and interpreters
Topic: Weird Outcomes
Poster: Li-Hsiang Hsu
Post title: Not based on Unicode character patterns

This watermarking has no digital existence. It is a pure statistical pattern which works by biasing word generation:

AI generates text one token at a time by sampling from a probability distribution over the vocabulary. Watermarking modifies that sampling process by combining a secret key with the previous tokens generated. This sampling then partitions the words to be generated into green (preferred) and red (discouraged) lists. The model is slightly biased to favor green-list words. The bias is very small, and the green/red partition is still random and changes with the context, such that the overall output remains close to normal.

The watermark has no physical or digital-object existence. There are no extra characters, no hidden Unicode, no metadata fields, no special bits hidden in the file. What exists is only a chosen statistical pattern of the token/word sequence. The only evidence of the watermark is that those words "happen" to match the secret rule more often than pure random results.

If you change enough words (or their order), the statistical match disappears and the watermark is gone. That means the only way to remove the watermark is by rather aggressive reediting.

[Edited at 2026-08-14 15:11 GMT]

Getting established | translating for Xerox | @William

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:05:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: translating for Xerox
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: @William

Apparently, your eye for detail is not that sharp. There’s a typo in studiied, but MA in Writing for Performance is correct (the typo is yours)… :???:

P.S. These things happen to the best of us...

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | Well..

Karletto666 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:41:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Karletto666
Post title: Well..

Don't you have something to do?

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | So you didn't actually translate anything

Zea_Mays — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:07:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: So you didn't actually translate anything

[quote]
Karletto666 wrote:
The client should also realize why i am that cheap. By low-balling the hell out of my contestants
[/quote]
If they had read what's on your profile, the collection of errors in just a few lines in English and Italian should already have told them.
In German there's that saying - keeping the ball low (den Ball flach halten). In a professional context with many native English and Italian speakers, it may be wise not to brag about your 'achievements'.
Be also aware that you are liable for what you deliver. Even more if you've thrown the whole source copy into a free machine translation or AI tool.

[Bearbeitet am 2026-08-14 14:15 GMT]

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | Proz

Lieven Malaise — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:57:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Lieven Malaise
Post title: Proz

[quote]Karletto666 wrote:
The client should also realize why i am that cheap. By low-balling the hell out of my contestants i come first many times. Pochi soldi, pocha musica. [/quote]

Perhaps you should apply for the 2 "interesting" 6$-8$ per hour "opportunities" I received this afternoon through Proz. I wouldn't wait too long.

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | Well...

Karletto666 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:39:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Karletto666
Post title: Well...

The client should also realize why i am that cheap. By low-balling the hell out of my contestants i come first many times. Pochi soldi, pocha musica.

ProZ.com technical support | number of quotes | seriousness

Zea_Mays — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:28:00 +0000

Forum: ProZ.com technical support
Topic: number of quotes
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: seriousness

Well, there is that little thing called professionalism.
Machine translation may work for non-profits (though I doubt it, given the often very sensitive or complex nature of topics) or for private use, but it certainly doesn't if you want to be taken seriously as a professional. It's only a matter of time before a client realizes what they are actually getting.