| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Do translators need sleep? Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
|
|---|
Jennina (X)
Local time: 23:29
Italian to Finnish
+ ...
| Good question! (((: | Feb 22, 2008 |
Sometimes it really seems like translators shouldn't need any sleep.
What a business...
| | | |
That was happened to me too. Most of them want to pay 0.02-0.03 USD ! Some of them contacted me about 3 times want me to do the job. It's extremely low!!
" It's not work for people that live in the US " I told them that!
| | | | yam2u 
United States
Member
English to Malay
+ ...
Translators don't need food, either. Or anything that keeps mere humans alive. Us C3POs just live for the sheer joy of churning out words in different languages until our circuits fuse.
Thank you for that tickle, Jeff! 
-may-
| | | | | I am a great translator and I deserve great rates! | Feb 22, 2008 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
cause we are a great company and we deserve it [...]
[/quote]
Hahahahahahah!
If I could stop rolling on the floor laughing, I would tell you that we should all reply to such messages to tell such agencies that they are free to use MT at best-friends-forever rates...
| | |
|
|
|
| Thanks for this! | Feb 22, 2008 |
Thanks for the good laugh. Unfortunately, it just sounds a bit too close to reality for comfort. As Jennina said, what a business!
I think I'll take my day off today to go out and look for a C3PO costume...
| | | | | Many a true word spoken in jest | Feb 22, 2008 |
yam2u wrote:
Translators ... just live for the sheer joy of churning out words in different languages ....
I know it is a selective quote, but every single week, on many threads in the proz forum, you can read people saying almost exactly that. Do some forum searches on "I love translating" and similar phrases.
It is not surprising if some people try to take advantage. They can read the forums and think "well, if they all love it so much, they will probably do it for 0.5c or 1c or 2c or 5c less per word..."
I have seen a website where the word "script" is systematically replaced by "hacker alert - log out now" or similar.
I would like to suggest that Proz implements something similar. Anywhere it says "I love translating" should be replaced by "I think translating is the probably least worst way to make a living".
That'll stop 'em, you see
| | | | PAS
Local time: 00:29
Polish to English
+ ...
| Piece o' cake | Feb 22, 2008 |
I will take the whole job, no problem.
I have this machine translation thing. Just open the source file, click "start" and go to a movie (or three). A dual core computer should be able to handle this by Sunday.
Pawel Skalinski
| | | | | I am convinced this is a joke | Feb 22, 2008 |
It's a kind of melting pot of all potential shortcomings.
But it is not that funny, when you think about it: how can people here think it is a real offer?
Philippe
| | |
|
|
|
Desiree Staude (X)
Local time: 00:29
English to German
I got some different offers, but also strange - yet, not so funny as this one. Thanks for sharing!
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 18:29
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Translators do need sleep | Feb 22, 2008 |
Thank you everyone for your comments.
As many of you have guessed, this is a compilation of several job offers. While the sarcastic (yet honest) comments are of course mine, the rest of the offer information was, unfortunately, taken from genuine translation job offers.
I am glad that no one was fooled (at least not for long) and I am happy that new translators are not taken in by these offers.
In fact, one such job was just recently re-posted. No takers... See more Thank you everyone for your comments.
As many of you have guessed, this is a compilation of several job offers. While the sarcastic (yet honest) comments are of course mine, the rest of the offer information was, unfortunately, taken from genuine translation job offers.
I am glad that no one was fooled (at least not for long) and I am happy that new translators are not taken in by these offers.
In fact, one such job was just recently re-posted. No takers? Did you offer them your "best" rate instead of your "normal" rate as requested? Unfortunately for them, they did not ask you for your "best best" rate which is generally considerably lower than your "normal best" rate, but not quite as low as your "really really best best" rate. They should have been more specific.
Good night.
[Edited at 2008-02-22 16:08] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Assem Mazloum
Germany
Local time: 00:29
Member (2007)
English to Arabic
+ ...
| Not a joke... | Feb 23, 2008 |
Hi Jeff,
been there, but got back to my senses fast and retracted my quote.
I might accept 1 cent lower than the Min rate if the the outsourcer is my client, otherwise, NEVER.
[Edited at 2008-02-23 02:56]
| | | | apk12
Germany
Local time: 00:29
English to German
+ ...
| yes, but a great one. | Apr 6, 2010 |
sleep? what's this? translators should learn to compete with google - does google need sleep? obviously not - so, speed up: learn to feel as a slave and learn to treat this as an "opportunity". have you forgotten? you're working in a "free market"...
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
...It is Friday afternoon and we have 2,567,000 words that must to be translated in two days. Please do not bother to respond if you ... are not able to translate more than 20,000 words by this time. ...We need to roundup at least 115 more translators, so if you can type your name, you have the job. ...we have very low budget and can pay no more than .03 a word, so please give us your very, very best, best-friends forever rate because ...If only we could find a way to eliminate the need for silly translators from this process, our clients would be happy and we could make more money. However, once we piece together the work of over 100 high-quality translators like you working without sleep for less than 1/5 of the going rate, we are confident that our client will order more work from us in the future. Despite the rush nature of this project, translators will not be paid for 90 days.”
A compilation? Yes, but a great one. Cut-up-text arts, but a real readymade artpiece.
Congrads, a perfect one.
[Edited at 2010-04-06 20:30 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
| Do translators need sleep? | Apr 6, 2010 |
Jeff Whittaker wrote:
I am asking this question because I have noticed the large number of jobs that have been posted here and elsewhere lately that are asking for large volumes of work to be completed in a very brief period of time (often by multiple translators) and of course, instead of offering more for a rush fee, they want to pay less because of volume. When the client receives the resulting mess, do they just think that this is what a "translation" is supposed to look like, do they blame the agency or do they blame themselves for paying so little?
I just got this e-mail which I think serves as an example of all these recent "offers":
"Dear Colleague,
“We are offering translators the rare opportunity to work with our agency. It is Friday afternoon and we have 2,567,000 words that must to be translated in two days. Please do not bother to respond if you cannot meet this deadline (we need to have everything back by 3:00 pm this Sunday) of if you are not able to translate more than 20,000 words by this time. We know that this is a lot, but we could not say no to this great money-making opportunity for us and this great opportunity for some new translators to get some great experience. We need to roundup at least 115 more translators, so if you can type your name, you have the job. However, we do prefer translators who can offer good quality, are prompt and who offer discounts for large projects and for TRADOS repetitions. Because of the great volume of this job, we have very low budget and can pay no more than .03 a word, so please give us your very, very best, best-friends forever rate because we are a great company and we deserve it and please place the rate in the subject line (because of the rush schedule we do not have time to qualify anyone and only translators with the best rates will get the work). However, please note that even though you will be working for two days and nights without sleep on this highly-technical text, if our client finds that you have made even one small error, you will not be paid. The subject matter is very interesting and several of our translators have actually offered to do this job for us for free, but we understand if you need a little money to help defray the cost of electricity to operate your computer and coffee to stay awake. Translators are responsible for editing their own work – unfortunately, there is no money in the budget for us to do anything but pass your work on to the client. If only we could find a way to eliminate the need for silly translators from this process, our clients would be happy and we could make more money. However, once we piece together the work of over 100 high-quality translators like you working without sleep for less than 1/5 of the going rate, we are confident that our client will order more work from us in the future. Despite the rush nature of this project, translators will not be paid for 90 days.”
I pity new translators who think that this is normal.
Dear Colleague: I am able to accept the job as I have nothing more to do. I can even finish it well before the proposed delay (the same day of the assignment) and at a quite lower price due to my long experience and very fast typing. So, I offer a 50% discount to you, but please assign me the double number of words, as otherwise I will have a full superfluous day. I look forward to your reply. TIA.
[Editado a las 2010-04-06 22:50 GMT]
| | | | Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 18:29
English to Spanish
+ ...
Pablo Bouvier wrote:
Dear Colleague: I am able to accept the job as I have nothing more to do. I can even finish it well before the proposed delay (the same day of the assignment) and at a quite lower price due to my long experience and very fast typing. So, I offer a 50% discount to you, but please assign me the double number of words, as otherwise I will have a full superfluous day. I look forward to your reply. TIA.
[Editado a las 2010-04-06 22:50 GMT]
Thanks for the laugh!
Andrea
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 15:29
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | I love this part: | Apr 7, 2010 |
Because of the great volume of this job, we have very low budget and can pay no more than .03 a word
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Do translators need sleep? | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
