I am quoting on translation work but I think I must be confused. Thread poster: Gerald Juliani
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Gerald Juliani 
United States
Local time: 12:01
English to Spanish
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I have been reviewing and quoting on various Spanish to English translation jobs as a member of Proz and I am not sure what to make of job postings that post a deadline for quoting, and then a deadline for delivery of work the very next day, and the job is 40,000 words, 100,000 words....what am I missing? How do they expect a translator to get that amount of work done in such a short period of time, even with software help?
Please fill me in.
| | | | Jun LI
China
Local time: 00:01
English to Chinese
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| nordiste
France
Local time: 18:01
English to French
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| 50 translators @ 2000 words = 100 000 words / day | Sep 26, 2014 |
I asked once in a similar situation and the PM answered that they hire more than one translator. (I declined.)
| | | | | Parallel processing, artificial intelligence or classified research | Sep 26, 2014 |
Gerald Juliani wrote:
...delivery of work the very next day, and the job is 40,000 words, 100,000 words....what am I missing?
The customer is made aware that the translation will not be reviewed.
The agency hires 20-50 translators, have them sign a "hold-harmless" contract, pieces translations together and sends to the customer.
Quality, consistency and relevance is ensured at all times during the process.
The alternative is machine translation.
Not sure which one yields the best results, though.
Although I can't prove it, I have also heard about genetically modified superhumans being tested in tunnels of the Nevada desert - or was it Gobi? -, who are trained to translate between 5 and 25kwords/hour.
Philippe
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Linda Li
United States
Local time: 11:01
English to Chinese
| Not the Gobi | Sep 26, 2014 |
Philippe Etienne wrote: Gerald Juliani wrote:
...delivery of work the very next day, and the job is 40,000 words, 100,000 words....what am I missing? The customer is made aware that the translation will not be reviewed. The agency hires 20-50 translators, have them sign a "hold-harmless" contract, pieces translations together and sends to the customer. Quality, consistency and relevance is ensured at all times during the process. The alternative is machine translation. Not sure which one yields the best results, though. Although I can't prove it, I have also heard about genetically modified superhumans being tested in tunnels of the Nevada desert - or was it Gobi? -, who are trained to translate between 5 and 25kwords/hour. Philippe
Not the Gobi, I traveled there last week.
[Edited at 2014-09-26 06:40 GMT]
| | | | Gerald Juliani
United States
Local time: 12:01
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Am I skeptical or stubborn? | Sep 26, 2014 |
Thanks all for feedback. I like the super human translator theory the most. I find it hard to believe that quality can be maintained without proper review and editing, much less if the document is poorly written and needs some amount of interpretation in order to maintain proper meaning and spirit of original text in another language with different terminology and nuances,etc.
Perhaps I am just old fashioned but would like any opinions regarding fidelity of machine translations. ... See more Thanks all for feedback. I like the super human translator theory the most. I find it hard to believe that quality can be maintained without proper review and editing, much less if the document is poorly written and needs some amount of interpretation in order to maintain proper meaning and spirit of original text in another language with different terminology and nuances,etc.
Perhaps I am just old fashioned but would like any opinions regarding fidelity of machine translations. If machine translation is good, it still needs editing and therefore editors. This is all done overnight and quality is maintained. This work must be very expensive to involve translators,editors and project managers, all willing to put in all nighters. What am I missing? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:01
French to English
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| What deep theoretical explanation are you looking for...? | Sep 26, 2014 |
Gerald Juliani wrote:
I have been reviewing and quoting on various Spanish to English translation jobs as a member of Proz and I am not sure what to make of job postings that post a deadline for quoting, and then a deadline for delivery of work the very next day, and the job is 40,000 words, 100,000 words....what am I missing?
There exist in the universe human beings who are poor enough organisers or who exert enough political pressure such that, further down the food chain, a client ends up "needing" 100,000 words translated in a day at whatever cost to quality or translators' sleep patterns. What more do you want to know?
| | | | | I personally think such jobs should be vetted by the moderators | Sep 27, 2014 |
and the poster informed that they are unrealistic and should be edited--to appear in a realistic from--40,0000---about three weeks to a month, or the job should be divided into 20 translators.
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 12:01
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| A job deadline only makes sense after the translator has been chosen. | Sep 27, 2014 |
Gerald Juliani wrote:
I am not sure what to make of job postings that post a deadline for quoting, and then a deadline for delivery of work the very next day, and the job is 40,000 words, 100,000 words....what am I missing? How do they expect a translator to get that amount of work done in such a short period of time, even with software help?
Please fill me in.
The deadlines for delivery are arbitrarily put there by the job posters in most cases. The job posting page forces the posters to put them in there.
A job deadline only makes sense after the translator has been chosen.
So when you read a job post, you may simply disregard the delivery deadline.
| | | | | Disregard deadline | Sep 28, 2014 |
jyuan_us wrote:
A job deadline only makes sense after the translator has been chosen.
So when you read a job post, you may simply disregard the delivery deadline.
That's what I do. I simply put my own delivery deadline (which is asked) when quoting for a job.
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