Make 2026 the year you get back in the translation game – 17 February 2026 (AI Mastery for Translators Insights)

NAVIGATING THE PARADIGM SHIFT

Make 2026 the year you get back in the translation game

If translation work dropped from a direct client last year, you might be able to get that back in 2026.

They used to have work for you. Don’t you think they’re probably just sending it through ChatGPT now?

If so, they might not be happy with what they’re getting. They might miss working with you. They remember you did good work; they just can’t justify the cost.

What can you do about it? Go beg for the work back at half price? … No, that disrespects your value. And it won’t work anyway.

Then how do you compete against free?

But you’re not competing against free. You’re competing against mediocre and free; that’s your angle.

The GAIT workflow is robust. You can use it for full-human translation. But did you know you can also use it to deliver better MTPE than your clients can get elsewhere? And believe it or not, you can even provide better raw MT, too! (see next article for that).

Try this…. Offer your client a monthly retainer at about the amount they used to spend with you, and give them bundled options:

Then tell them to send you everything they’ve got; you’ll take it all, at whatever service level they need for that content.

You can even help them assess what level is right for each content piece. (Pro tip: Make this a paid consulting service.)

Oh, and don’t drop your hourly rate. It’s already low enough.

Maybe you’re reluctant to adjust your rates like that. But you’re getting something in return: guaranteed monthly income. That’s not nothing.

Besides, if you practice the GAIT workflow the right way, you can deliver better work faster… probably, 30% faster on most content.

And think about…. Once you raise your value to them like this, you can start finding more to give. More content to translate than ever before… Language consulting, multi-lingual content creation, marketing, copywriting… This could snowball…

Sound risky? Then you don’t have to offer this to everyone. Offer it just one client at a time… And, of course, it’s only for clients willing to go on retainer. Everyone else still pays full price.

Maybe it’s worth a shot, no?

I think the world is starting to get tired of ChatGPT slop…. 2026 could be the year you get back in the game!

Comments? Questions? Post them on my LinkedIn post that suggests this.

EFFECTIVE PROMPTING

Raw MT with the GAIT workflow?

I mentioned above that you can charge real money for raw MT.

That’s because you can make your raw MT better than anybody else’s.

How? The same way you can deliver better work with the GAIT workflow on full human translation, by:

1. getting out in front of the AI with a robust anchor prompt and
2. taking command with a little opportunistic iteration.

Here’s what to do:

First, go ahead and human-translate that first “gold standard” content from the project, say, 20-30 segments or so, along with a short glossary of key terms (or just pull it from the TM if it’s good and relevant).

Next, put those into your anchor prompt, along with some stylistic instructions.

Then, start the process of sending content through the AI using this anchor prompt.

Don’t check the translation word for word. But keep your eye on a cycle or two of output. If any odd target-language terminology choices or stylistic issues pop out at you, fix them and update the anchor prompt.

Once you’ve gotten the low-hanging fruit fixed, turn up the gas… Crank the translation out with the anchor prompt at full throttle…. 20,000 words an hour easy… Maybe 30,000…. Watch that your CPU doesn’t overheat.

What does the client get for this?

A good (not perfect!) translation in context, following style and terminology guidelines, generally consistent from beginning to end… Formatted exactly like the source…. with data confidentiality.

Even if your client can do it “free” in ChatGPT, they’ll take four times as long and do much worse work. DeepL can’t touch this either.

Charge the client a $25-50 workflow setup fee (call it something really fancy!) and then a quarter to a half cent per word thereafter.

If you can’t make $60-100/hour at this, then you’re doing something wrong.

This is why upskilling on AI as a translator is critical for your career. Do this first, and you’ll superpower all of your follow-up efforts, including your marketing. Maybe you won’t even have to do marketing.

COTRANSLATORAI TIP

New video on getting started quickly with CotranslatorAI

Lately, we’ve been making a Herculean effort to help you get faster and better results with CotranslatorAI.

For a full rundown on all the resources available now (both free and paid), check out this short video:

What else can we do to deliver more value? Email me to let me know.

Steven (for the CotranslatorAI team)

Steven S. Bammel, PhD

Korean-to-English Translator
Co-Creator of CotranslatorAI

PS: You’re not going to be able to do the retainer thing if you can’t do the GAIT workflow. And nothing’s better than CotranslatorAI for that. Learn more and try out the free 15-day trial and training.