Poll: Are you comfortable assessing test translations for your favorite agency? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are you comfortable assessing test translations for your favorite agency?".
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I have never been asked, but I wouldn’t do it as I would be opening the door for the competition (if the tests are any good). Most of the translation agencies I have been working with are boutique agencies with whom I built a loyal relationship over the years, I love working with them and I believe they feel the same…
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 19:15
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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I strongly believe in relying on your own strength. So I've got no problems with assessing test translations from colleagues that theoretically might outcompete me. Besides, if I'm asked to do translation editing it is very much in my interest that the translation is a high-quality one.
That said, I'm only rarely asked to assess a test translation. Probably because in most agencies this is done internally.
| | | | | Not always, but I do it anyway | Oct 31, 2023 |
I have assessed tests for several agencies, and sometimes feel sad that the quality is not better. Especially with technical translations, however, there have been some very mixed bunches, and luckily the best of them were excellent.
I have usually had plenty to do myself, so I am not worried about the competition.
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Some years ago, a niche-market agency asked me to do a huge semi-advertising job. I had too much on my plate and had to refuse, so they divided it up between four of their best translators. I agreed to go over their work, even though I don't like editing. I rewrote most of the text and sent it back, showing the track changes, with just one comment: "The parts that I've changed were not necessarily wrong in the original - in most cases, it's just a stylistic preference". I found it easier and qui... See more Some years ago, a niche-market agency asked me to do a huge semi-advertising job. I had too much on my plate and had to refuse, so they divided it up between four of their best translators. I agreed to go over their work, even though I don't like editing. I rewrote most of the text and sent it back, showing the track changes, with just one comment: "The parts that I've changed were not necessarily wrong in the original - in most cases, it's just a stylistic preference". I found it easier and quicker to write the way I normally would, rather than work out if the original was acceptable or not.
The agency ditched the four translators and never worked with them again. They were left with just one top-tier professional but she has now retired. They try to maintain very high standards, and are desperately looking for a couple of people to take her place, but they tell me there are none to be found. What they need is someone who can do slightly technical work in a way that not only informs but also, and especially, sells the product or service.
That's the closest I've come to assessing other people's translations and I don't intend to come closer! I never even commented on their work but still felt bad about what happened. ▲ Collapse
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Coz I is the best, innit.
| | | | Marjolein Snippe 
Netherlands
Local time: 19:15
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
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If my favourite clients need another translator, I would prefer they use a good one.
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On a regular basis in specific fields and brands/end customers.
I like to believe these agencies know I'm no longer immortal, and therefore test new translators and my potential competitors in order to prepare my succession and handle growing volumes.
Growth obviously resulting from never-seen-before, unparalleled excellence in current translation deliveries and from a proactive, smart, spot-on extra-mile attitude (shared between agency and me), leading those quality-addict translati... See more On a regular basis in specific fields and brands/end customers.
I like to believe these agencies know I'm no longer immortal, and therefore test new translators and my potential competitors in order to prepare my succession and handle growing volumes.
Growth obviously resulting from never-seen-before, unparalleled excellence in current translation deliveries and from a proactive, smart, spot-on extra-mile attitude (shared between agency and me), leading those quality-addict translation buyers, with their eyes still blinded by such brillance, to gradually shift all their global translation needs to that agency.
But let's see how long the "go-to" EN>FR translator for things that machines cannot fathom remains yours truly...
15 years left to go.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 19:15
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| No, very poorly paid | Oct 31, 2023 |
They ask a lot, explanations, lengthy justifications, etc. It ends up in a revision+education for a peanut rate. Not interested.
[Edited at 2023-10-31 13:50 GMT]
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 19:15
French to English
No problem at all. I know they get more work than I could ever handle. If they were to give me more, they'd be in trouble because I wouldn't have time to do much else: a government agency would probably say that they're using me like an employee without me having employee benefits.
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Lingua 5B wrote:
They ask a lot, explanations, lengthy justifications, etc. It ends up in a revision+education for a peanut rate. Not interested.
I was only ever been asked to quickly correct the errors in the same 150-word text using tracked changes and give a good/bad opinion. There was never any back and forth.
| | | | IrinaN
United States
Local time: 12:15
English to Russian
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| Favorite and logic | Nov 3, 2023 |
"Favorite" means, or at least should mean well-known, sane, highly professional, honest and reasonable people by default. How else can an agency become favorite???
I have never even advertised editing as part of my services, it has never been my cup of tea and until my last breath I'll keep insisting that this is a separate profession, but my favorite agencies have asked me to edit now and then, not too often, and after years of cooperation I sometimes obliged. Why would I even exp... See more "Favorite" means, or at least should mean well-known, sane, highly professional, honest and reasonable people by default. How else can an agency become favorite???
I have never even advertised editing as part of my services, it has never been my cup of tea and until my last breath I'll keep insisting that this is a separate profession, but my favorite agencies have asked me to edit now and then, not too often, and after years of cooperation I sometimes obliged. Why would I even expect ***...a lot, explanations, lengthy justifications, etc. It ends up in a revision+education for a peanut rate??" *** They trusted my final revision, they knew the subjects where my outcome will be welcomed by the clients; otherwise they simply wouldn't have sent me a line. Also, favorite agencies do not pay peanuts or they do not become favorites.
Just one cycle - translation, editing, then, maybe, another quick proofreading by an agency's corrector, not another editor in case of a lengthy text, and off it went to the client. I actually did the editing job myself rather than complaining, compiling rap sheets and sending the text back and forth to the translator, wasting everyone's time and money. Just like my truly professional editors have taught me by example. Discussions in the process have not been excluded.
Nothing could be more ridiculous than fear of losing my spot under the sun after praising another colleague. Natural selection worked to the benefit of the best, not the cheapest. Oh, those good old times . ▲ Collapse
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