| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Agency requesting a re-translation of one of my translations Thread poster: Mark Sanderson
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| Ask to be paid for a summary | Sep 14, 2014 |
If first of all they wanted a translation and now they want a summary I think you should ask for being paid for the summary as well. This is another job!
[Modifié le 2014-09-14 09:04 GMT]
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 23:08
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| It becomes much clearer | Sep 14, 2014 |
Mark Sanderson wrote:
This agency pays really low rates and also tries numerous little tricks to squeeze every last cent out of its translators (I previously posted about how they remove all punctuation marks, numbers and English letters from their Chinese source text word count calculations), so I really can't guess what little tricks they are trying to play here. I don't want to get suckered into all of this, however, they do send me work quite regularly.
I remember that thread! In that case I really can't understand what possessed you to apologise to them. If I may give my opinion, you really sound like the perfect translator for them: always willing to do more for less; subservient; just happy to be fed with work. They've no doubt offered their client the world for twopence and now you're going to have to deliver it for a halfpenny.
Personally, I think reviewing proofreaders edits, particularly if there's been a complaint, should be accepted as part of the job; but if the agency uses poor proofreaders then I'd stop working with them pretty quickly. I'm sure this one will expect you to do the work for free.
I really don't intend any disrespect, but I suspect that you already know that if you keep working with this agency you'll soon be back here, with a different situation but the same result: more work; less money; zero job satisfaction; loss of self-respect.
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 06:08
Chinese to English
| Show willing? | Sep 14, 2014 |
Everything Sheila said is absolutely right. The key thing to remember here is that the agency has no standing to be asking you to re-edit or retranslate. They are not seriously interested in achieving good quality. They are just trying to do some surface work to persuade their client.
So now it's up to you. There is not much that can be done on the level of translation. If you think it's worth doing some work on your business relationship with them, then you can do so: make some su... See more Everything Sheila said is absolutely right. The key thing to remember here is that the agency has no standing to be asking you to re-edit or retranslate. They are not seriously interested in achieving good quality. They are just trying to do some surface work to persuade their client.
So now it's up to you. There is not much that can be done on the level of translation. If you think it's worth doing some work on your business relationship with them, then you can do so: make some superficial changes in the text, juggle some words, swap in the odd synonym. Show willing, and maintain the relationship. Or just say stuff it, they're not worth the hassle. But this is entirely a business relationship decision; it has nothing to do with translation. ▲ Collapse
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Phil Hand wrote:
make some superficial changes in the text, juggle some words, swap in the odd synonym. Show willing, and maintain the relationship. Or just say stuff it, they're not worth the hassle. But this is entirely a business relationship decision; it has nothing to do with translation.
and expect not to be paid! If the agency's client is again not satisfied with the little changes, the agency will have to hire and pay another person to get the text right. Since it's clear that the agency doesn't want to pay for a re-translation, then it will have no option but not to pay you. Otherwise, they'll lose money.
Who should be in charge of the re-translation/extra revising is a difficult question. Personally, I believe the proofer should do it. But then, they'll have to pay him/her... hence they've asked you.
I don't think you have many options... revise thoroughly and send it back. Get paid, learn the lesson and forget about them.
BTW, I agree with Sheila entirely...
[Edited at 2014-09-14 11:57 GMT]
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Phil Hand
China
Local time: 06:08
Chinese to English
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:
I don't think you have many options... revise thoroughly and send it back.
I'm assuming that Mark has already done his best with the translation first time round. Without additional guidance/glossaries/models, what basis does he have for revising?
There might be a fight over payment, but if there is, remember the golden rule: the agency is your client, not the end client. Your client, the agency, accepted the translation. Therefore they must pay. Any comments the end client has are the agency's problem, not yours.
| | | | | you can always make it better... | Sep 14, 2014 |
Phil Hand wrote: Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:
I don't think you have many options... revise thoroughly and send it back. I'm assuming that Mark has already done his best with the translation first time round. Without additional guidance/glossaries/models, what basis does he have for revising? There might be a fight over payment, but if there is, remember the golden rule: the agency is your client, not the end client. Your client, the agency, accepted the translation. Therefore they must pay. Any comments the end client has are the agency's problem, not yours.
and express concepts in a different way... not easy, I admit, but it's doable.
The agency has accepted the translation, but not the end client... if the problem is not solved, the agency won't be paid and the translator won't be paid either... so, it's the translator's problem too... I agree in theory that it's the agency problem and that the translator should be paid, but we know what type of agency this is...
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Mark Sanderson wrote:
I spoke with the agency again on Saturday morning and they told me that no further feedback was available from the client. When I asked the PM why they could not go back to the client and ask for further clarification on how and why they are unhappy, they told me that the client was "unavailable". It seems to me that the agency have promised the client that they will get a full re-translation of their document, and don't want to go back to the client with questions about the first translation as this may lead them to believe that they are not actually getting a complete re-translation of their document.
Clients are generally unable to assess the quality of translation either way, but agencies suffer from inability to differentiate much more than translators do. They often end up competing on price and on subservient client service. What's easier than to promise full retranslation free of charge when it's not you who's going to be doing it?
However, the agency is now saying that I don't need to do a full re-translation of the document!?!.
What clients are told and what really goes on behind the scenes...
The PM requested that I take the version of my translation that has been through an agency appointed proofreading and editing team,
At least they aren't trying to make you pay for that (which is quite surprising in the light of those habits of their you mentioned further below).
and make some further changes to make it more "readable".
Again, we'd need to get a sample of the syntax to form an opinion. Otherwise it may be that you were excessively literal and the syntax ended up looking awkward without sufficient reason, but it may also be that they're squeezing free editing out of you.
Whilst I understand that this is my translation and I have a responsibility to correct any problems within the translated text, should I be expected to perform editing duties after it has been through other people's hands? Surely this would be considered editing (re-editing) and should be charged for appropriately?
Depends. Accepting or rejecting changes proposed by clients or QA'ers is usually considered included in the price by agencies and many translators, but actually fixing any clumsy syntax inserted by editors, or mistranslations, other than simply rejecting their proposals, should count as a separate job or at least require some sort of specification of service that takes due account of the client's expected involvement and rights in the process and in your relationship in general.
It also matters if the assignment was billed as marketing translation and explicitly expected to reflect a set of corporate voice guidelines, or a literary translation, in which case more client involvement and more leeway with free edits could easily be seen as appropriate in the general opinion, especially where premium rates are paid.
This agency pays really low rates and also tries numerous little tricks to squeeze every last cent out of its translators (I previously posted about how they remove all punctuation marks, numbers and English letters from their Chinese source text word count calculations), so I really can't guess what little tricks they are trying to play here. I don't want to get suckered into all of this, however, they do send me work quite regularly.
There you have your answer. Tell them you're inclined in favour of a continued relationship with them but they need to change their behaviour to reflect a professionally acceptable standard. At least as long as you didn't actually deliver an unreadable translation of a halfway
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