| Vom Thema belegte Seiten: < [1 2 3] | Professional vs. Unprofessional ways to get work Initiator des Themas: geogroup
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Lingua 5B 
Bosnien und Herzegowina
Local time: 04:00
Mitglied (2009)
Englisch > Kroatisch
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| They are aware, they just don't care.... | Sep 5, 2014 |
Erik Freitag wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
I say "well done" to the email author, although I wouldn't even waste my keyboard on trying to educate them, they are aware of all this already.
I'm not sure: If they were aware of all this, they wouldn't have started this thread. At least they should be now. Good job.
If they cared for translators, they would:
1. organize their business differently so translators and their wellbeing are taken into account
2. wouldn't be opening threads like this one
| | | | Thayenga
Deutschland
Local time: 04:00
Mitglied (2009)
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
| Replaceable "goods"? | Sep 6, 2014 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Erik Freitag wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
I say "well done" to the email author, although I wouldn't even waste my keyboard on trying to educate them, they are aware of all this already.
I'm not sure: If they were aware of all this, they wouldn't have started this thread. At least they should be now. Good job.
If they cared for translators, they would:
1. organize their business differently so translators and their wellbeing are taken into account
2. wouldn't be opening threads like this one
I agree with all of my colleagues that the tone of the email was rather harsh. However, perhaps the translator was left without any other way of communicating his/her points to someone who was/is apparently unable (or just unwilling) to "listen".
A good, professional agency values its translator, respects them, as professional translators value and respect their clients.
Unfortunately, there a certain agencies who consider "their" translators to be easily exchangeable. If a translator doesn't hush (yes, like a dog), then they drop him or her and move on to the next one. This is quite easy to do when that agency focusses solely on profits, while quality, loyalty, reliability are only shadowy aspects of their "busniness" relationships.
It is not possible to tell what all has happened prior to that email, but it can quite safely be assumed that it takes a lot, a whole lot for a professional language service provider to vent in such a unprofessional (though understandable) way.
This business should be based on mutual respect... and it usually is. Fortunately!
| | | | B D Finch
Frankreich
Local time: 04:00
Französisch > Englisch
+ ...
| It's not just the tone that is wrong | Sep 6, 2014 |
I agree with the poster from Geogroup that a communication like that demonstrates the writer's lack of professionalism. It is not just that the tone is aggressive and rude. A translator is a professional writer and, therefore, should know how to write a letter or email. The valid points that this writer wanted to get across could have been made effectively with in a far shorter form. As they are not a native speaker of English and translate into German, a certain lack of writing skills in Englis... See more I agree with the poster from Geogroup that a communication like that demonstrates the writer's lack of professionalism. It is not just that the tone is aggressive and rude. A translator is a professional writer and, therefore, should know how to write a letter or email. The valid points that this writer wanted to get across could have been made effectively with in a far shorter form. As they are not a native speaker of English and translate into German, a certain lack of writing skills in English should not be a problem. However, the verbosity and convoluted way the points are expressed leads me to suspect that their writing skills in German may not be all that the writer cracks them up to be. They also do not show respect for the fact that their prospective clients are busy people who will appreciate a communication that makes its points clearly and concisely, as well as politely.
BDF ▲ Collapse
| | | | Bernhard Sulzer
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 22:00
Englisch > Deutsch
+ ...
B D Finch wrote:
I agree with the poster from Geogroup that a communication like that demonstrates the writer's lack of professionalism. It is not just that the tone is aggressive and rude. A translator is a professional writer and, therefore, should know how to write a letter or email. ...
BDF
While it seems right to agree with your comments about tone and style, I find the original poster's tone and the content of his/her suggestion also not quite appropriate or let's say somewhat aimed at a certain group of individuals:
geogroup wrote:
I thought this might help new translators out there that are looking for work and sending out emails to corporations or agencies looking for translation work. When you send the request expect to spend time filling out forms including NDAs and questionnaires. Have your per word rate set for translation and a breakdown based on Trados or any CAT tool you use.
I speak for myself but when someone tells me to "expect to do" something, I wouldn't call that a professional tone. Granted, this is directed to all in a more or less informal context, so I 'm not too concerned about it here. But filling out forms, incl. NDA's and questionnaires is something I don't do. When I make a contract with an outsourcer, I issue the terms and conditions, I sign them first and they are then asked nicely to co-sign them. And to tell a prospective translator to "have their per-word rate set for translation and a breakdown based on Trados or any CAT tool you use" is, IMO, not a professional request either. Sorry, but it's an example of dumbing-down the whole process of reviewing an original text to an arbitrary play with numbers and an expectation by the outsourcer of very low per-word rates. You can't just set a rate without seeing the text and you should not give discounts for words (100% matches, repetitions or similar phrasings) based on analyses by a CAT tool (= the fuzzy-word scheme). Any rates/discounts a professional quotes/gives are based on a thorough review of the original file, and that means much more than the word analysis by a CAT tool.
Geogroup indicates that their suggestions might help new translators looking for work find work. Yes, it might, but what kind of work at what conditions this leads to is quite a different story.
So while it is quite right to criticize tones and contents of certain communications, I like to a look at both sides. My 2 cents.
[Edited at 2014-09-07 01:01 GMT]
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Dan Lucas
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 03:00
Mitglied (2014)
Japanisch > Englisch
| How you say it does matter | Sep 6, 2014 |
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I speak for myself but when someone tells me to "expect to do" something, I wouldn't call that a professional tone.
Agreed, the tone is important. I was browsing UK-based translation agency sites on the internet last week. One had a button on their site for freelance translators marked "Work For Us". The next agency I landed at had a button marked "Work With Us". A small but significant difference. I registered with the second one. Ultimately it may not mean that the second agency is any better, but their people are (apparently) thinking about the subtleties of the language and that's a start.
Dan
[Edited at 2014-09-06 23:19 GMT]
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