| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Freelance Boomerang Thread poster: Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
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Dear colleagues,
I just got the following email:
"Today I'm looking for highly skilled translators specialized in any field. I was checking your profile and I thought you would be perfect for our us.
Would you be willing to collaborate? If so, can you confirm your price per word and language pairs?
Additionally, we're introducing a new collaboration scheme, called "Freelance Boomerang".
It basically work (sic) like this: next time you get a translation... See more Dear colleagues,
I just got the following email:
"Today I'm looking for highly skilled translators specialized in any field. I was checking your profile and I thought you would be perfect for our us.
Would you be willing to collaborate? If so, can you confirm your price per word and language pairs?
Additionally, we're introducing a new collaboration scheme, called "Freelance Boomerang".
It basically work (sic) like this: next time you get a translation job, you can offer your client to translate the same text into any other language for the same price. At that point you will contact us, we will find a professional ready to take this job and you will earn his/her 15%."
Sounds fishy to me, but maybe I'm old-fashioned...
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:27 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I got the same, Beatriz. I just replied on my fees.
He insisted on the boomerang issue. I said I was not interested. Period.
| | | | | Something has got lost in translation. | Feb 5, 2016 |
It doesn't make sense to me. What does "you will earn his/her 15%" mean?
| | | | | They offer 15 % if we find customers for them | Feb 5, 2016 |
They want translators to get customers for them, e. g. I have a direct customer for whom I do a translation from French to German and I ask him if he'd also be interested in French to Japanese or another language. If he says yes, I contact the agency and get 15 %. That's how I understand it.
They do get the details of my customer though...
Not to do, but not forbidden to trie (as an agency I mean)...
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| The boomerang | Feb 5, 2016 |
So the boomerang means the agency only makes you work if you find work in other languages combinations for them.
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that's why they insisted with Walter.
I wonder if these people actually have work to offer.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:42
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro wrote:
Dear colleagues,
I just got the following email:
"Today I'm looking for highly skilled translators specialized in any field. I was checking your profile and I thought you would be perfect for our us.
Would you be willing to collaborate? If so, can you confirm your price per word and language pairs?
Additionally, we're introducing a new collaboration scheme, called "Freelance Boomerang".
It basically work (sic) like this: next time you get a translation job, you can offer your client to translate the same text into any other language for the same price. At that point you will contact us, we will find a professional ready to take this job and you will earn his/her 15%."
Sounds fishy to me, but maybe I'm old-fashioned...
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:27 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:29 GMT]
I would be suspicious of the bad English and would start checking out this company before replying. I would also, hopefully, be busy enough with other work to not particularly care much about this offer. I'd be more interested in just investigating it as a probable scam.
I am always suspicious when someone I don't know writes to me in a flattering way, and who makes mistakes with their English.
[Edited at 2016-02-05 22:13 GMT]
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule |
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Sounds like a new scam then.
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Beatriz Ramírez de Haro wrote:
I wonder if these people actually have work to offer.
All signs point to "No."
| | | | Laura Kingdon 
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:42
Member (2015)
French to English
+ ...
| Sounds scammy... | Feb 6, 2016 |
It seems to me that asking translators to give the contact details and rates of their clients to this agency is a pretty good way to get all the info the agency needs to subsequently contact the client and offer a lower rate. It would be an effective way to poach clients.
Even if they don't do that, I would never recommend another translator/agency to a client unless I were quite sure of that translator's/agency's competence. Otherwise, if I make a recommendation and the client is u... See more It seems to me that asking translators to give the contact details and rates of their clients to this agency is a pretty good way to get all the info the agency needs to subsequently contact the client and offer a lower rate. It would be an effective way to poach clients.
Even if they don't do that, I would never recommend another translator/agency to a client unless I were quite sure of that translator's/agency's competence. Otherwise, if I make a recommendation and the client is unsatisfied with the other translator's/agency's work, it makes me look bad, too.
Basically, I wouldn't touch it with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Gad Kohenov
Israel
Local time: 02:42
English to Hebrew
+ ...
his name is also phony. His English sounds "Chinglish".
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Beatriz Ramírez de Haro wrote:
Dear colleagues,
I just got the following email:
"Today I'm looking for highly skilled translators specialized in any field. I was checking your profile and I thought you would be perfect for our us.
Would you be willing to collaborate? If so, can you confirm your price per word and language pairs?
Additionally, we're introducing a new collaboration scheme, called "Freelance Boomerang".
It basically work (sic) like this: next time you get a translation job, you can offer your client to translate the same text into any other language for the same price. At that point you will contact us, we will find a professional ready to take this job and you will earn his/her 15%."
Sounds fishy to me, but maybe I'm old-fashioned...
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:27 GMT]
[Edited at 2016-02-05 21:29 GMT]
I do not reply email, which does not mention my name.
Why?
1) "Dear colleagues" implies that this letter is mass email, sent using mass mailing application.
2) Mass mailing method implies spam.
3) "Spam" implies the men behind the screen getting your email not from you. For example, they bought your information on online black market.
4) "Dear colleagues", instead of your name, also implies that the email is not for you.
5) If you reply such email, you will be looked down and your bargaining position will be low.
Freelance translator should apply this rule:
Only reply emails mentioning your name inside.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:42
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Very, very fishy | Feb 6, 2016 |
Why would you want to
a) disclose who your clients are to competitors so they can poach them?
b) run the very real risk of losing your client by pushing them towards a company you've only just heard of, that might make a catastrophic mess of their texts, just for a little cash-in-hand?
15% of what? The first job only, which may well amount to peanuts? How will you know how much the translator (or MT post-editor, quite likely) is being paid?
I can't see any ... See more Why would you want to
a) disclose who your clients are to competitors so they can poach them?
b) run the very real risk of losing your client by pushing them towards a company you've only just heard of, that might make a catastrophic mess of their texts, just for a little cash-in-hand?
15% of what? The first job only, which may well amount to peanuts? How will you know how much the translator (or MT post-editor, quite likely) is being paid?
I can't see any way at all for a serious translator to gain more than a little one-off tip out of this. But I can see tremendous possibilities for serious loss of clients and reputation. ▲ Collapse
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Hi Dani, the "Dear colleagues" bit is mine (his email is inside inverted commas).
He does address me by my name and he introduces himself as the "Principal" of a Japan-based provider of translation and localization services.
I'm not sure that I am allowed to give te details here.
[Edited at 2016-02-06 09:39 GMT]
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