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Scammed by a 5 stars rated agency.
Thread poster: María Toresani
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:43
German to English
+ ...
on "stars" Oct 26, 2020

Don't go by "stars" in the future. Period.

María Toresani
Mr. Satan (X)
Tom in London
P.L.F. Persio
ahartje
Daryo
 
María Toresani
María Toresani
Argentina
Local time: 11:43
Member (2022)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Rookies Oct 26, 2020

Maxi Schwarz wrote:

IrinaN wrote:

I'm sorry if I'm hijacking the thread but it seems to be at least somewhat relevant.

Should a rookie charge "full price" from the start?

$5/page is a highway robbery, no doubt. It's less than .02 a word based on a 300-word page.

On the other hand, there is no way a rookie, the most honest, hard-working, talented rookie can produce top quality. ........


My thoughts.
First, nobody should be offering translations unless they can produce sufficient quality. I didn't get in until I had the training. That said, a beginner will not be as good as 10 - 20 years later - were it not so, this would be sad. But what that actually means is that to reach a similar quality, you need to spend maybe 4X as long in the beginning. Therefore your 0.15/word might translate into $7.00/hour as a beginner at the extreme end, and $50/hour later on. For the same reason you should not accept "rush" work with impossible deadlines, because you will not be able to produce quality that way - even the seasoned professional will be hard pressed.

A partially trained or untrained beginner should probably have some type of mentor / proofreader on hand, whom they pay (probably) to a) ensure quality, b) learn from.

A badly done translation is a useless translation, and can turn into a harmful translation in some instances.


I am not "untrained" I am studying a lot at the moment at college (Public Translation at Universidad de Buenos Aires), and have been improving my language skills for +5 years now. But when I said I am a beginner I meant that I am just now (because I think I am ready) starting to work as a translator. And I think, we have all been there.


Walter Landesman
Endre Both
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:43
German to English
+ ...
rookies 2 Oct 26, 2020

Maria Toresani wrote:

I am not "untrained" I am studying a lot at the moment at college (Public Translation at Universidad de Buenos Aires), and have been improving my language skills for +5 years now. But when I said I am a beginner I meant that I am just now (because I think I am ready) starting to work as a translator. And I think, we have all been there.

Maria, I was responding to Irina's general hypothesis, and it had nothing to do with you. I actually did not look up your background. Irina's idea was one of lower rates for "rookies" and I countered that. I disagree with for the reasons I said.


María Toresani
Daryo
 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 14:43
Japanese to English
Don't let yourself down Oct 26, 2020

Maria Toresani wrote:

I would like to add that in Argentina 1.00USD =181.00 pesos that's why getting paid this amount of dollars means a lot of money to me (around 60.000 PESOS!) and it's very different to other countries where the currencies may not be this devalued. But in any case, I know this is not an excuse and I should charge more, I will update my rates.

I'm feeling a bit attacked by this comments (not the quoted one)... We all start as rookies and learn throughout our ways. Also, I read all your comments and your locations show you are mostly from non-devalued currency countries. The payment I got means an entire month of food to me...

Don't feel attacked. We're just stating the truth. And I live in a country where $350 a month is considered a wonderful monthly salary.

If a $0.02 word rate (according to someone else's calculations) earned you $347, then charging $0.07, for example, a very normal beginner rate, would have earned you $1214.5 for that job ...if my math is right... don't quote me on this one.

That's four months of food. You could take only three jobs a year and not starve. And it's not like the jobs that pay $0.02 are much easier than the $0.07 jobs. It's the agency that makes the difference, so spend time getting your CV out to better agencies.

Back to the main topic, there's not much you can do to force the agency to pay you. How about this: offer to take the offending messages down in exchange for payment within 48 hours. If they don't pay within that time or begin to make excuses, then you know they are acting in bad faith.


Elena Feriani
Christopher Schröder
Oleksandr Ivanov
 
Walter Landesman
Walter Landesman  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 11:43
English to Spanish
+ ...
Disagree Oct 26, 2020

Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei wrote:
How about this: offer to take the offending messages down in exchange for payment within 48 hours. If they don't pay within that time or begin to make excuses, then you know they are acting in bad faith.


I disagree with this "offer".
That would be 100% unethical.


Christel Zipfel
Josephine Cassar
 
IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 09:43
English to Russian
+ ...
Didn't mean any offence Oct 26, 2020

Maria,

If anything I said was hurtful, I apologize.

Maxi,

My point is very simple - between bad and excellent there is a mediocre but quite sufficient and satisfactory.


Oleksandr Ivanov
 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 14:43
Japanese to English
Shhhh Oct 26, 2020

You guys want me to give the whole game away?
Obviously she's going to get her money any way she can. Then she can give whatever fair and honest review she thinks the agency deserves.

Ahh, now the cat is out of the bag.


 
Vanda Nissen
Vanda Nissen  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 00:43
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
Try not to take it personally Oct 27, 2020


I'm feeling a bit attacked by this comments (not the quoted one)... We all start as rookies and learn throughout our ways. Also, I read all your comments and your locations show you are mostly from non-devalued currency countries. The payment I got means an entire month of food to me...

[Edited at 2020-10-26 00:35 GMT]

@Maria, try not to take it personally. I am privileged to live in Australia but I grew up in the USSR and experienced the sharp devaluation of the Russian ruble first hand so trust me, I know exactly how it feels to see price tags changing two-three times a day. But in terms of rates your location is no one's business. Do not sell yourself cheap. I know Russian translators from Russia and Ukraine who charge the same as their colleagues in Europe, Australia, and USA. Their clients are happy to pay their rates because they offer good translations.

PS Outsources from certain countries should be avoided.


Oleksandr Ivanov
P.L.F. Persio
Endre Both
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Out Oct 27, 2020

Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei wrote:

You guys want me to give the whole game away?
Obviously she's going to get her money any way she can. Then she can give whatever fair and honest review she thinks the agency deserves.

Ahh, now the cat is out of the bag.


Actually the cat has been out of the bag for a long time - at least so far as long-time Prozians are concerned. Anyone consulting the BlueBoard should keep a large bowl of salt beside their workstation, and take frequent pinches from it.

[Edited at 2020-10-27 09:52 GMT]


P.L.F. Persio
Rachel Fell
Daryo
 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Apply the rules of Uber, etc. Jan 13, 2021

A 5.0* rating means next to nothing and should be viewed as worse than a 4* rating by the cautious pessimist.

Now a 4.95* rating would be actually-spectacular.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
There is no such thing as a rookie translator Jan 13, 2021

IrinaN wrote:

Should a rookie charge "full price" from the start?

.....

On the other hand, there is no way a rookie, the most honest, hard-working, talented rookie can produce top quality.



There is no such thing as a rookie translator. A translation is either perfect and ready for use in the real world, or it isn't. A translation can't be half-good.


Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Not necessarily Jan 15, 2021

Tom in London wrote:

IrinaN wrote:

Should a rookie charge "full price" from the start?

.....

On the other hand, there is no way a rookie, the most honest, hard-working, talented rookie can produce top quality.



There is no such thing as a rookie translator. A translation is either perfect and ready for use in the real world, or it isn't. A translation can't be half-good.


There's actually a lot of back-office junk that can and even should be done pretty half-a$$ed (like, translated as fast as you can type or dictate, format barely, revise never, consistent terminology hmm what's that?).... although with the advent of MT and the wide availability of the internet in developing and entirely undeveloped countries with cheap labor, we in the richer parts of the world just rarely encounter it on the market these days.


 
Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:43
Japanese to English
+ ...
Scammed Jan 15, 2021

Don't be scammed by agencies that say they will pay you if you delete the unfavorable rating. Once the rating is deleted, they disappear and you are prevented from reposting.

Josephine Cassar
Adieu
Daryo
 
IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 09:43
English to Russian
+ ...
I didn't know Jan 15, 2021

Tom in London wrote:

A translation is either perfect and ready for use in the real world, or it isn't. A translation can't be half-good.


That there are incubators where Perfect Translators hatch.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ah but Jan 16, 2021

Michael Newton wrote:

Don't be scammed by agencies that say they will pay you if you delete the unfavorable rating. Once the rating is deleted, they disappear and you are prevented from reposting.


Ah, but you have to tell them first they have to pay you, and only then will you remove the unfavourable rating. Which, of course, you never will.

[Edited at 2021-01-16 07:55 GMT]


 
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