Income development of Finnish translators has stalled near poverty line

Kaijamari Sivill

Tarja Roinila

print this

Translators of foreign literature into Finnish have expressed their concern over the weak income development and the somewhat bleak future prospects of the entire profession.
      Translating literature into Finnish does not provide an adequate livelihood for those doing the translations.
      Many small publishing houses - although not all of them - pay the translators poorly, and fail to appreciate their craftsmanship.
      The worst-paying publishing firm’s translators do not earn enough to rise above the poverty line, even when fully employed.
     
”How, then, can one expect the quality of translations to remain high?” asks the Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters (SKTL) chairwoman Kaijamari Sivill, who received the 2005 Mikael Agricola Award for her Finnish translation of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s novel The Way the Crow Flies.
      Sivill points out that the poor economic situation is manifested in the everyday life of translators as general frustration. “Many experienced and acknowledged Finnish translators are now considering venturing into other fields in hopes of a better subsistence.”
     
According to an SKTL salary enquiry, the average compensation of translators took a turn downwards last year.
      In the past ten years, the translation fees have only risen on average as much as the cost-of-living index.
      According to Sivill, the SKTL has discussed the situation with the publishing companies. In principle the reactions have been positive and constructive, but no concrete improvements to the situation are in the offing.
      “Often the publishers hint that the entire publishing of translated literature will become impossible if the expenses rise from the present level.”
     
In the editorial of the literary criticism website Kiiltomato.net, translator Tarja Roinila points out the Finnish translators' hopeless financial situation.
      According to Roinila, by working 40 hours a week a translator finds it difficult to earn even a thousand euros per month. In Roinila’s view, translators’ compensations should be doubled or even trebled, if they were to match in any way the professional skills required by the job.
      Publishing Director Minna Castrén of Otava Publishing Company emphasises that the publishing business is not an isolated field separate from the general economic development. “The financial crisis is reflected everywhere.”
      “In many publishing projects the translation fee is the largest single expense item. The translator gets his or her fee regardless of whether the book sells or not. The publisher bears the risk.”
      The eternal question is to what extent the income development of translators is the government’s business - for instance in the form of cultural grants-in-aid - and not just that of the publishers.
     
Fiction in translation is published more or less just as much as domestic literature.
      In recent years, the sales figures in Finland for domestic and translated foreign literature have risen by about five per cent.
      The sales of foreign-language books, in turn, have gone down by nearly fifteen per cent.


Links:
  The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters

Helsingin Sanomat