Translators’ earnings are very poorly reported in mainstream sources, so this article will pull together a variety of sources that report legal translators’ compensation to shine some light on the matter. The data reveals an extremely wide gap in compensation for translators, with different linguistic skill levels accounting for much of the gap. Many lower-paid translators are actually unable to hold a conversation in their foreign language, whereas the best-paid have a near native skill in their foreign language in addition to strong legal knowledge.
Survey Data
Since I am mostly knowledgeable about Chinese<>English translation, which is a major language pair, I looked at salary survey data for legal translators in this pair around the world. At the very high end, ATA surveys show an average pay of about $160,000 per year for executive level translators, usually leaders at major LSPs or founders. In the US government, according to salary databases, I’ve also found that their top interpreters and national security translators earning similar amounts.
Below are typical certified freelance translators and agency owners, earning around $65,000 after 3-4 years’ experience to reach that level. Less premium agencies like the NSA, which nonetheless require professional-level language ability, are also placed around this level. ATA-certified translators make about the same no matter where they live, and quite a few are in China, earning around $50,000 per year. AIIC interpreters based in China also report earnings around these levels.
The statistics from the ATA report indicate a plateau effect for freelance translators within the first several years. A plausible reason for this could be the lack of professional collaboration between translators, thus dragging down efficiency across the profession.
Statistics in China are much harder to come by, but I’ve asked around and done some informal surveying. Of the many hard-working translators recommended by elite law firms in China for high stakes legal matters, who are considered expert-level, most earn up to 30,000 RMB per month, or about $45,000 per year. General translators at those firms seem to command around 10,000 RMB per month, or about $16,000 per year. Below this, I can find a large pool of general translators making about 6,000 RMB per month, or about $10,000 per year, and compensation for interpreters is comparable.
Across the legal translation profession, I can find an enormous difference in earnings between different tiers of translators who are all nonetheless doing the same job, and there is roughly a 15x difference between the top and bottom tiers.
What Accounts for the Large Range of Salaries?
Rather than factors like location, skill explains the very wide discrepancy in compensation for Chinese<>English legal translators, and the fundamental economics likely extend to other language pairs as well. While not a scientific study, over the years I have evaluated and tested the abilities of translators at varying compensation levels. Language proficiency is relatively easy to measure and evaluate and can tell you a lot about the translators. I was able to match up language proficiency levels at US federal and private market practitioner levels using the ACTFL and ILR scales:
$150,000: Distinguished (ILR4, CIA)
$60,000: Superior (ILR3, NSA)
$20,000: Advanced High (ILR2+, FBI)
$10,000: Intermediate High (ILR1+)
This, however, doesn’t get into executive compensation which, as in most professions, can reach into the millions.
Based on the ILR scale, the $60,000 compensation level is the minimum necessary to be professionally proficient, and is what the NSA lists as required. For its part, the US FBI has part-time contractor linguists doing relatively simple work and goes as low as ILR2+, but a key reason for the lower standard is the shortage of qualified candidates. Only a minority of applicants even pass as ILR2+ in federal interviews. The ATA’s certification program also targets the ILR3 level specifically, but the actual standard seems closer to 3+. In the United States market, competency levels below this should be the exception and not the rule.
It’s worth noting briefly that many professions follow a similar pattern on compensation. For example, engineers in India and China make a fraction of what their colleagues in the United States do, even those who went to the same schools.
In the local market in China, the situation generally seems to be that virtually no professionals have reached the “Superior” (ILR3) proficiency level. This is not totally unexpected, since there are a miniscule number of native English speakers in China and access to foreign media is tightly restricted. Secondly, the local market for translation services doesn’t reward higher skill or proficiency; in fact, there are many stories of clients attacking high quality, native English translations. Chinglish, which is something that can be generated by algorithm, has been a gold standard, resulting in Google Translate dominating China’s translation markets.
A significant consequence of the Advanced High/Intermediate High language proficiency levels among translators is that translations into English are generally highly distorted, and translations from English typically misunderstand the message being conveyed. Indeed, this is also what the language proficiency standards describe for professionals at these levels.
In the economy, a natural consequence of low language proficiency is that the value created by translators will be greatly held back by low skill. This was put prominently on display in the 2010s, when a number of Chinese tech titans attempted to launch overseas, but confusing and incoherent English in their materials created a poor user experience. China law firms also recognize the lack of value, because lawyers generally express reluctance about hiring professional translators to do anything but very low-stakes work. A leading reason seems to be that translators are unwilling to learn about the subject matters they are translating for, thus not inspiring much confidence in their collaborators.
Why the Lack of Motivation To Be Skilled?
Based on the above surveys, highly skilled translators earn far more than their lower-skilled counterparts. There is a phenomenon in China where many translators are unwilling to work for foreign clients because they lack the English skills to communicate effectively. Not only are they unwilling to learn those skills, but they are also unwilling to even use them.
One explanation for the lack of motivation is that most translation work is not really translation, but localization or adapting foreign products for the Chinese market. Accuracy is less important in localization, and deliberately re-adapting and changing content from the original can get better results for end users since the end goal is to have a functional and coherent product. For example, consider the huge number of video games localized for the Chinese market. Users care about fun and functional coherency rather than whether there is a match with the original. So, creativity matters a lot more here.
Video game localization is a very popular direction for translation students in China, despite its relatively low pay and skill level. In fields like finance, law, or patents, mistranslation can cause confusion and discoordination, thus high language skill is needed. “Fun” topics like television, movies, and video games require much less technical skill and are also very creative subjects. At the same time, translators complain about low pay and working conditions.
For translators, the implication is that you can make a choice between working in either an easy “fun” field or a difficult “technical” field. Compensation in difficult fields, which are very knowledge-intensive, will also require putting in a lot of hard work to develop skill. Overall, what a translator gets out of their career depends on what they put into it.
