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Pay for a translation test?
Thread poster: Catherin Newmann
Catherin Newmann
Catherin Newmann  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 23:26
Spanish to English
+ ...
Apr 24, 2015

Yes, as you read it: Pay for a translation test.

Today I got an email from a company asking If I would be available to take a translation.

I answer: yes I can. Then I received an email containing information about a translation test (no surprise here).

What is a first for me is reading that there is a translation test fee of 120 GBP British pounds or if paid in Colombian pesos $COP 460.000. THAT'S ABOUT 180 USD DOLLARS!

Needless to say, I r
... See more
Yes, as you read it: Pay for a translation test.

Today I got an email from a company asking If I would be available to take a translation.

I answer: yes I can. Then I received an email containing information about a translation test (no surprise here).

What is a first for me is reading that there is a translation test fee of 120 GBP British pounds or if paid in Colombian pesos $COP 460.000. THAT'S ABOUT 180 USD DOLLARS!

Needless to say, I replied back saying that it wasn't going to work.

Please, has this ever happened to you? Who comes up with translation tests fees?

What type of company does this instead of referring to certifications such as ATA, Proz Certified PRO, etc?


PS: This company is not listed in Proz.
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Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 08:26
English to Russian
I like this agency already. Please send me their contact details, Catherin. Apr 24, 2015

In a couple of years translators will be lining up outside the agency's back door (so as not to get in the way of the agency's clients) in the hope of getting a chance to start punching their keyboards pretty soon just for the fun of it. Next, translators will be bidding for jobs, eBay style...

The issue of a proposed arm-long (900-word) unpaid test is currently being
... See more
In a couple of years translators will be lining up outside the agency's back door (so as not to get in the way of the agency's clients) in the hope of getting a chance to start punching their keyboards pretty soon just for the fun of it. Next, translators will be bidding for jobs, eBay style...

The issue of a proposed arm-long (900-word) unpaid test is currently being discussed in this forum - http://www.proz.com/post/2421946#2421946

Personally, I firmly believe that tests should be paid for. However, I have never even imagined a situation in which translators would be required to pay for the questionable privilege to do a test.

[Edited at 2015-04-24 23:05 GMT]
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Rachel Fell
Rachel Fell  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:26
French to English
+ ...
Males me think of... Apr 25, 2015

turkeys voting for Christmas...

 
Neirda
Neirda  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 14:26
Chinese to French
+ ...
And you actually took time to answer? Apr 25, 2015

Eye for an eye, you should've sent back an invoice for "Time wasted". That's a minute you'll never get back.

[Edited at 2015-04-25 04:23 GMT]


 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 14:26
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Scam Apr 25, 2015

Looks more like a legitimate scam than a legitimate company.

 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 14:26
Chinese to English
Breaking the zero lower bound Apr 25, 2015

I dunno, sounds like the way of the future to me. Don't producers pay supermarkets to sell on their shelves now? What are they called, slotting fees or something? And we pay for various qualifications which we assume will give us access to markets. The vendors often hang some putatively educational content on the qualifications, but generally you get it for the certificate. And in big tenders you pay tender fees, don't you?

Of course we don't want to pay for access to work, and the
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I dunno, sounds like the way of the future to me. Don't producers pay supermarkets to sell on their shelves now? What are they called, slotting fees or something? And we pay for various qualifications which we assume will give us access to markets. The vendors often hang some putatively educational content on the qualifications, but generally you get it for the certificate. And in big tenders you pay tender fees, don't you?

Of course we don't want to pay for access to work, and the difference between paying nothing and paying something is a massive psychological barrier, but it's an idea whose time has come.

And presumably, fairly shortly afterwards, the revolution that Marx predicted. Ho hum.
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RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 01:26
German to English
UK company? Apr 25, 2015

Hi Catherine,

Is this a UK company?

Please reply to me privately.

Thanks,
Robin


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:26
English to German
Scam Apr 25, 2015

I think this is a scam.

Besides, at such a high fee it is questionable whether this would even be a successful scam.

[Edited at 2015-04-25 07:50 GMT]


 
Steve Melling
Steve Melling  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 07:26
French to English
+ ...
That's what I thought. Apr 25, 2015

Lincoln Hui wrote:

Looks more like a legitimate scam than a legitimate company.


Hi Lincoln,

It must be a scam.

I think there's somewhere on here where scams can be notified.

Sadly, some people will be so desperate they'll fall for it.


 
Maija Cirule
Maija Cirule  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 08:26
German to English
+ ...
This company is a scammer Apr 25, 2015

Catherin Newmann wrote:

Yes, as you read it: Pay for a translation test.

Today I got an email from a company asking If I would be available to take a translation.

I answer: yes I can. Then I received an email containing information about a translation test (no surprise here).

What is a first for me is reading that there is a translation test fee of 120 GBP British pounds or if paid in Colombian pesos $COP 460.000. THAT'S ABOUT 180 USD DOLLARS!

Needless to say, I replied back saying that it wasn't going to work.

Please, has this ever happened to you? Who comes up with translation tests fees?

What type of company does this instead of referring to certifications such as ATA, Proz Certified PRO, etc?


PS: This company is not listed in Proz.









seeking for naive and trusting translators. You should report them.

[Edited at 2015-04-25 11:39 GMT]

[Edited at 2015-04-25 12:54 GMT]


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 06:26
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Is it the same? Apr 25, 2015

http://www.proz.com/forum/scams/284987-scam.html

 
Jan Kovačič
Jan Kovačič  Identity Verified
Slovenia
Local time: 07:26
Member (2020)
English to Slovenian
+ ...
It should be reversed Apr 25, 2015

I find paying to be able to do a translation test slightly offensive. It should be the other way around.
I decided not to do any unpaid tests anymore either, unless I'm certain that it actually IS a test or it's a respected agency/direct client.


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 07:26
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Unpaid tests Apr 25, 2015

Apparently some agencies believe that translators are at their disposal, twiddling their thumbs, yawning, about to fall asleep while eagerly awaiting the long overdue arrival of an opportunity to work for free.

Frankly, I've been in the business for a while, even became a member of the German translator association, so why should I "donate" my time to do unpaid tests? Perhaps to bite my nails waiting for jobs that never come?...
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Apparently some agencies believe that translators are at their disposal, twiddling their thumbs, yawning, about to fall asleep while eagerly awaiting the long overdue arrival of an opportunity to work for free.

Frankly, I've been in the business for a while, even became a member of the German translator association, so why should I "donate" my time to do unpaid tests? Perhaps to bite my nails waiting for jobs that never come?

Now, I don't mind taking tests, even long ones, for as long as they're paying my normal rate.
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Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:26
Serbian to English
+ ...
a similar kind of scam Apr 26, 2015

is working nicely in some other fields, like being asked to fork not so small amounts of money to be registered with all sorts of agencies just to be put on some more or less useless list (future properties available for letting, remote possibility of working as film extra, model etc etc)

So some "innovative" scammer is now trying the same recipe on translators ...


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:26
English to German
If everyone thought that way... Apr 26, 2015

Thayenga wrote:

Apparently some agencies believe that translators are at their disposal, twiddling their thumbs, yawning, about to fall asleep while eagerly awaiting the long overdue arrival of an opportunity to work for free.

Frankly, I've been in the business for a while, even became a member of the German translator association, so why should I "donate" my time to do unpaid tests? Perhaps to bite my nails waiting for jobs that never come?

Now, I don't mind taking tests, even long ones, for as long as they're paying my normal rate.


... there wouldn't be such scams, neither would there be free test translations or clients/agencies dictating their terms.

The problem is that translation is such a large unregulated industry where everything goes - as long as there are enough gullible and/or desperate people to oblige.


 
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