It is not just professionalism among translators that is vital to our industry, but project managers, too. Unprofessional project managers that do not understand the business will cause a company to fail – leading to poor recruitment, client complaints, and potential ruin.
I had a recent encounter with a rather unprofessional agency, and thought I would share my experiences and the warning signs I noted. Feel free to add your own experiences and personal alarm bells in the comments.
After seeing what looked like a relevant job posting on ProZ, I decided to respond to their request for more translators in my language combination and specialisation. Despite their later interest (well, they obviously DID look at my application), I decided I would rather not work with such an agency. Look for the warning signs.
Firstly, this agency does not have a company profile at ProZ.com and so cannot be found on the ProZ Blue Board, a vital tool in checking what others have said about a given agency.
Next, although I gave them the benefit of the doubt at the time, I was surprised to see that their online application form was actually hosted on Google Docs and not on their own servers. I thought perhaps it was just easier to use.
I diligently completed the form, and they responded to ask for further details – strange, seeing as the form and my attached CV had been pretty self-explanatory. More suspicious was the fact it came from a free gmail email address – not a registered domain.
In the email, they asked some rather strange questions. Firstly, they asked if I translated into my foreign language, and from a language that I only reported myself to be “very good” in. Secondly, they asked me if I translated into my native tongue from languages I only reported to be a beginner in. Furthermore, they appeared to assume my absolute maximum word count (8,000, in extreme circumstances, under long hours and using translation memory software) would be normal, and asked whether they could expect quality of a good enough standard that they would not have to proofread it.
Anyone else feel a little confused?
To explain:
The form asked about all languages spoken by the applicant, even those that are not fluent. I assumed this was just to get a round picture or to see what languages the person could do business in. I didn’t expect to receive any comments regarding anything but translation into English (reported native language) from German (reported fluent language).
Oddity 1: Target language – non-native (German)
…So why, then, did they ask if I could translate into German? There is a widely acknowledged difference between a linguist’s native and foreign language competencies. Aside from those that are truly bilingual, we will never be able to express ourselves as competently in our foreign languages as we do our mother tongue. Even among bilinguals, there is often a bias that results from a monolingual education – even if another language is spoken in the home. We will potentially be able to understand things as well as a native speaker, but rarely express ourselves as freely. This is simply the difference between passive and active vocabulary. There also remains the potential for grammatical error, or failure to consider culture-specific connotations of certain vocabulary and expressions. The list goes on. As such, it is considered extremely unprofessional to translate into one’s non-native language.
Oddity 2: Source language – very good proficiency (Dutch)
Not only do they expect me to translate into my non-native German, but they expect me to do so from a language that I only report to be very good in. Ludicrous! At present, I would not translate from Dutch into my native English. Yes, I can understand it pretty well, but by no means do I have the cultural knowledge or linguistic proficiency required. This was made quite clear on the form!
Oddity 3: Translate between two non-native languages?
Further to the above, this is even more strange. Do you think they are just a bit lazy on recruitment?
Oddity 4: Source language – beginner proficiency?
…As if the previous suggestions were not mad enough! Yes, I might roughly be able to translate “Iki bilet, lütfen” from Turkish into passable English (2 tickets, please), but if we went much further I think we would have difficulty. Translation professionals certainly would not translate from a language they report only “beginner” proficiency in.
Oddity 5: 8000 words per day
That is not quite what I stated. I stated my standard was up to 4,000 a day, working normal hours, but I have been known to manage up to 8,000 occasionally, in my specialism, using CAT tools, and working an extra long shift. When most translators seem to translate around 2-3,000 words per day, it seems a bit ludicrous to suddenly expect that 8,000 is sustainable and 9-5!
Oddity 6: skip the proofreading?
This is possibly the weirdest statement of all. What kind of agency is willing to forego proofreading, even for the best of translators, working within their specialism? Not only that, but they say this already – so are they willing to let me loose on a client without proofing my work, even before they have confirmed my high standards? Utter madness, and liable to land them in hot water.
Oddity 7: Still no mention of a registered domain name in the footer
Very, very suspicious. How do they intend to attract clients, then?
So, as you can see, this ‘agency’ gave me more than a few reasons to not bother pursuing further. I am somewhat more curious to hear from other translators who have received similar messages, or whether anyone out there has their own theories about who is playing have-a-go project manager?
Conclusion: Expect professionalism, but appreciate a good agency and / or Project Manager
As has probably been made clear, there are some basics about the translation industry that any project manager should be expected to know. Simple things like what languages are appropriate as source and target languages, for example. If they are not aware of this, it is unlikely they will understand in other translation-specific business issues, such as why a 10,000 word document cannot be translated by 5pm after receiving it at 10am that morning. People not aware of such basic details are charlatans, clearly new to the business and not very committed.
I also found the lack of desire to proofread very worrying. It certainly suggests they do not expect repeat business, indeed, if so, how can one be sure the invoice will be paid in full and on time? Even with the best intentions to pay, a bad project manager will eventually suffer financially from their unprofessionalism and this could have a negative knock-on effect.
Lastly, it is very shocking that a genuine agency would not have its own website. Web-hosting and domain packages are so cheap these days, most translators have one too. Moreover, how do they expect to find work? I hope at least this casual attitude encourages translators to put more energy into their own promotional efforts.
I wonder how project managers feel reading about such charlatans. I am sure that employment with a translation agency is not as easy as these hacks would like to assume. It certainly takes more than gmail email address and Google Docs to run a translation agency. In fact, project managers, as far as my experience tells me, tend to have similar training and/or experience in languages to some translators, most are usually multilingual, and highly skilled. They are also knowledgeable of the industry and what the art of translation actually involves. Questions such as those asked above really should not need asking.
On the bright side, I have been lucky to work with some very skilled, friendly and professional Project Managers. Each time something like this happens, we should take a step back and appreciate all those valuable, professional project managers with whom we have the pleasure to work.
I do agree with Rose that checking blue board entries playing a big role whether we should work with given agency or not. I also suggest to check client credibility on other big portals like http://www.translatorscafe.com which is also a second best translators portals and you can get a good information related with new client (agency), because what i feel if you have good enough agency then you must have profile on at least these two big translation portals.
Hi Rose,
Glad you wrote about your bad experience here with an agency and pointed out the things that struck you as fishy. I agree with you on all these points. Above all, a professional translation agency should have a domain of its own, which means it will have its own website and e-mail addresses rather than ones that depend on Google, Yahoo!, hotmail or whatever; if you ever get any enquiry from an agency that uses one of the latter addresses, you can be sure it’s a low-budget business, which doesn’t say much for its approach to business and the customers it hopes to attract.
As for test or sample translations – this topic’s been covered elsewhere on the Net many times already, by the way – I think you have to rely on your common sense really. If anyone asks you for a long “sample” of your work, but wants you to do a new translation for them, you should either tell them how much it will cost them at a “special reduced rate” (for example) or laugh and put the phone down. A sample’s a sample, after all, not the whole thing.
In one case last year, a potential customer contacted me after finding my details on my association’s website and asked me to translate a fairly long text for them so they could see just what I could do. The project sounded very interesting, but the text was a bit long to do for free, I thought. I wrote back and said I would be happy to send them a shorter sample of xxx words in the next few days, which I did. They thought it was so good, I got the job (translating an online training course, which I’m still working on – it’s a big job). So you can certainly bargain with a customer if they’re really interested in you. I’ve also offered other clients a special low rate (half the normal rate) for a sample translation and got the job on the grounds of good quality. Not that it always works, but it does in many cases. Budgets are obviously important here, but so is how professional a client is.
Sometimes I get the impression that translators don’t know how to deal with requests for (free) samples of their work. Well, I know it’s always nice to win a new customer, but there are a lot of potential customers out there and no-one says you have to work for the first one that comes your way, do they? Translators with a bit of confidence in themselves ought to be able to negotiate with potential and existing customers – it’s part and parcel of working in Sales, after all, and self-employed translators obviously need to sell their services just like any other freelancer.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future. Keep up the good work – a bit of sound criticism now and then can open people’s eyes and help them in the future.
Best regards
Carl
Member of the BDÜ
and owner of
Amper Translation Service
Fürstenfeldbruck
Germany
http://www.ampertrans.de/
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Hi all!
I just found this forum. I’ ve done a few “test translations” before never to hear from a client again. They were never that long but once I had to travel four hours for an “interview” with the “test translation” never to hear form the client again.
I can’ t be that bad- had a few translation exams and always had very good scores.
is it possible the client might have needed a last minute short jobs completed for free?
I would appreciate any comments. Thanks.
That certainly sounds strange, especially with the four hour trip! Never heard anything back? Any legitimate company would usually let you know either way if you had gone so far as to travel out to see them….
I have heard of clients using test translations for last minute jobs to be completed for free. My general response when it comes to test translations is that I will do them, up to a certain point, and depending on the client. If there is any sort of deadline I say I am busy (even if I could squeeze it in), and either suggest doing it later (after that deadline has passed) or getting back in touch when I am less busy. I have since had one such client suddenly rescind the need for a test translation (excessively large, 650 words, with a deadline) at all when they really did need a translator. They were okay to deal with, except they deducted the fees for the bank transfer from my payment…
Hi,
I am a PM working for a translation software and services company, I am not bilingual however I have worked very hard to learn about the translation industry and relevant software, I’m not saying that I’ve haven’t made mistakes along the way but I pride myself on my PM skills and how these have only been enhanced when backed up with my industry knowledge. I have a great relationship with my translators and I think thisis a good reflection on me and my competency at my job.
However I think PM’s/agencies like the one mentioned give all PM’s a bad name.
Thank you for sharing Rose, I think we should always exchange our experiences whether bad or good, as a sort of a virtual guild for translators, Shukran dear.
That’s… disturbing. On the other hand, these guys sound incompetent enough to employ /me/. I do need a summer job…. But maybe one I could actually sort of nearly do would be less work.
I had an annoying experience with an agency that does have a website but with misspellings and misusage of English words on it. January last year it e-mailed me asking to contact them urgently, which I did. But then I was sent a link, which I could not open and did not get a response to my messages about my trouble with the link for another two days. So much for the urgency. Finally I got e-mail to send my resume, which the agency should have already seen on the site by which it learned how to contact me. Well, okay, I sent them my resume, as it’s not hard to do.
Next, the agency wanted me to take a translation test, which I balked at. You see, I have over 30 years of experience as a Japanese-to-English translator and a number of publications. I pointed out the errors in English on the agency’s website and application form and stated that I didn’t think they were in the position to “assess” my ” translation skills,” when they can’t even get their own pages in correct English. (Note: the spelling errors were of words spelled the same way in both British and American English.) I offered to send samples of my work, along with the original Japanese to judge by, and this included a speech I translated for the Prime Minister of the time. The agency still insisted on giving me a test; which I refused to do, as I see no point in being judged by an agency that is misusing and misspelling English.
I didn’t hear from the agency again after my third or fourth refusal. However, when googling its name a few months later, I noticed a number of complaints about late or non-payments and a person taking a test, which he thought he did well on but was rejected by the agency, anyway.
I feel your pain. It certainly seems like you were right to be suspicious.
I don’t think it is worth replying to this “agency”. I think it could be something similar to what you described. Similarly, I think some places prefer to receive a “test translation” that is actually a minimum job. Some agencies even try to get test translations that are ridiculously long. I once heard a colleague mention an agency that asked for a 1,200 word test translation. For the UN, maybe. But this was just an agency like any other!
Dear Rose,
You mention a 1,200-word translation test – this is nothing, I was asked to do 15 pages as a test on one occasion!
PAUL W. DIXON
True, true. I once had a wannabe-direct client who asked for a 10 page test translation. They also then expected to pay me an hourly rate for the actual job. Of 7 or 8 EUR per hour!
“…the ProZ Blue Board, a vital tool in checking what others have said about a given agency…”
Vital?
I think you’re too hopeful if you find it vital
or better
BB is vital if negative, and indeed I avoided a couple of lemons this way, but if BB are positive you can’t be sure that you’ll not be swindled
this is due to too much peers that stick on a 5 only because they received a 10 $ job, because the job was payed (even if 90 days after), or because the LSP forced them to change their old 1 with a 5 to be payed …
True, you can never be sure when the BB record is positive.
However I have noticed that, where I have had my suspicions or had negative experiences, other translators have felt the same. When the BB record is negative, or anything less than 4 in more than one translator’s opinion (I never go on the averages, I always look at exactly what was said by whom), it certainly serves as a vital warning.