Topic: news 6 Lucrative Job Alternatives to Teaching in China

The role of "translator" is usually that of any independent service provider, with all the attendant hassles - not least of which is payment collection. Independent lawyers in the US spend large amounts of time trying to collect fees, and the same is true of independent translators, except usually they're trying to collect far less money and without the threat of legal action (unless they've got a friendly lawyer they can call on - otherwise they may run into some serious $$$).

It is a "high input - low rewards" profession compared to many other jobs, in that there may be a *huge* amount of education upfront that might be better applied to a different profession - for chasing jobs that may not pay all that well. I know high school grads who make more than the 130 RMB/hour quoted in the article, doing far less demanding work. Also, experience gained as a translator usually 'translates' very poorly into other jobs.

Translators are usually not given much (if any) recognition. Often potential employers (especially the less sophisticated ones) use ethnicity as a hiring factor, reasoning that a Chinese (or Hispanic or ... depending on the source and target languages) will provide better translations than someone who doesn't look or sound the part. Beyond this, there is a general consensus in the monoglot world that the service provided is pretty much interchangeable.

There has been for years the additional threat of MT ('machine translation'). Although it's difficult to take MT seriously the fact remains that it's now a widely available free crutch (thanks to internet-based services) and most of the world is perfectly happy relying on the output.

Advantages include some flexibility in working hours and conditions, low start-up costs if you already have the skills, and being able to provide online services (freedom of location). However, if you're bidding for employment, owing to the available competition pool, you're generally back to those 80-130 RMB/hour rates, with a strong emphasis on the "80." There are professional accrediting organizations (ATA and NAJIT in the US, to cite two examples) which may provide assessments and related credibility.

The upshot is, there are far better and more rewarding careers out there than translator. There are even some that may allow you to use your language skills (though good luck getting additional $$ for those).
Of the alternatives listed I'd suggest hotel management is probably the cushiest career (least hassle/best opportunities to interact pleasantly with people for most money) although the article doesn't point out it may require some formal education (hotel management/ hospitality and/or business).