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How can a translator try to maintain a more or less constant workflow?
Thread poster: Bárbara Hammerle López-Francos
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:56
English to German
+ ...
On undercutting etc. Feb 24, 2015

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:


One freelancing translator cannot undercut another one's rate simply because, being different individuals, they will NOT be offering the same level of service!

Check it out! Any decent auto magazine, every month, will have a section comparing two similar cars. Though they may resemble each other, cost about the same, each one will outperform the other in some specific criteria.

While cars are mass-produced, each individual is unique, therefore their work must have different strengths and weaknesses.


How can you say that? How do you know you're not undercutting someone else who does the same great service? Not saying you do that on purpose or at all, but undercutting is going on every day when I fail to get a project just because a "similar" translator is willing to do it for less. Now granted, that translator is probably not very similar, but the clients are okay with him/her and only sometimes they will revert back. There are just too many people out there working for much cheaper than they should. Does that translator know he's undercutting others? Well, he should if he charges rates that are obviously low. What is obviously low? Well, you'll have to do your own research.

And I am sorry, I don't think your first car example works.
Though two translators (not cars) may resemble each other, one of them (actually many of them) will work for less, often much less.

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
REAL CASE STUDY, which I have told over and over again:

An occasional client asked me for a cost estimate on a large job, and I gave it.

Later she called me to say she had found someone 25% cheaper. I thanked her for the heads-up, so I wouldn't mentally reserve time to do it.

She said 'no', and explained that she wanted ME to do it for 25% less.

I told her that it was my price. If I gave her a discount on that now, I'd be admitting that my estimate had been an attempt to rip her off, which is disallowed by my book.

Fortunately, she knew my work, so she'd be able to assess the cost/benefit I offer.

I told her she should get to know the cheaper translator's work, to compare both cost/benefit ratios, and then make a sound business decision. It would be her call.

Epilogue is that I got the order at my regular rate, as per my estimate.

The sad thing is that I'll never know if there really was another translator offering to do it for 25% less.


Good for you, and I am not concerned about whether there ever was another cheaper translator. Problem is it doesn't always work that way. And the answer is certainly not "You must be charging too much!"

[Edited at 2015-02-24 17:05 GMT]


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 22:56
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Explaining Feb 24, 2015

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

One freelancing translator cannot undercut another one's rate simply because, being different individuals, they will NOT be offering the same level of service!

Check it out! Any decent auto magazine, every month, will have a section comparing two similar cars. Though they may resemble each other, cost about the same, each one will outperform the other in some specific criteria.

While cars are mass-produced, each individual is unique, therefore their work must have different strengths and weaknesses.


How can you say that? How do you know you're not undercutting someone else who does the same great service? Not saying you do that on purpose or at all, but undercutting is going on every day when I fail to get a project just because a "similar" translator is willing to do it for less. Now granted, that translator is probably not very similar, but the clients are okay with him/her and only sometimes they will revert back. There are just too many people out there working for much cheaper than they should. Does that translator know he's undercutting others? Well, he should if he charges rates that are obviously low. What is obviously low? Well, you'll have to do your own research.

And I am sorry, I don't think your first car example works.
Though two translators (not cars) may resemble each other, one of them (actually many of them) will work for less, often much less.


... because I am in daily contact (not via Proz, via Yahoogroups and often directly) with hundreds of translators working in my language pair, in my country. I have met many of them face-to-face, I've seen the work some of them do, we exchange help, so we have a fair idea on what each one does best. We also discuss rates.

It is not by accident that those who mutually consider "equivalent" for general stuff charge the same rate. Taking engineers only, I am mechanical, Mr. "A" is civil, and Mr. "B" is electrical. Depending on the job, one of us may be more suitable than the others... or not. If it's too specialty-specific, we may - or not - refer to the others.

It's like the car test analogy: one is more comfortable, the other has more room for luggage, one may have a tougher suspension for bad roads, the other may be thriftier on fuel, and so on.

Among these engineers, I'm the only one who does video. Another one, Mr. "C", mechanical engineer, like me, does AutoCAD. And yet another mechanical engineer, Mr. "D" doesn't use CAT tools, however he works EN and DE too. Mr. "F" does video, FR and EN, is a CAT tool master, but he is not an engineer; his major subject areas are IT and BA.

Medicine? I don't translate that. I refer immediately to Ms. "G" or Ms. "H", true specialists.

All the above do exist, though I'm not naming names here, and there are many others of equivalent rating as translators who charge the same rates.

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
REAL CASE STUDY, which I have told over and over again:

An occasional client asked me for a cost estimate on a large job, and I gave it.

Later she called me to say she had found someone 25% cheaper. I thanked her for the heads-up, so I wouldn't mentally reserve time to do it.

She said 'no', and explained that she wanted ME to do it for 25% less.

I told her that it was my price. If I gave her a discount on that now, I'd be admitting that my estimate had been an attempt to rip her off, which is disallowed by my book.

Fortunately, she knew my work, so she'd be able to assess the cost/benefit I offer.

I told her she should get to know the cheaper translator's work, to compare both cost/benefit ratios, and then make a sound business decision. It would be her call.

Epilogue is that I got the order at my regular rate, as per my estimate.

The sad thing is that I'll never know if there really was another translator offering to do it for 25% less.


Good for you, and I am not concerned about whether there ever was another cheaper translator. Problem is it doesn't always work that way. And the answer is certainly not "You must be charging too much!"


Well, I was just curious to know whether that client was trying to pull a fast one on me, or if she really had someone cheaper.

Many years ago I translated a sales training program titled "Your price is right: Sell it!". Having ascertained that my price is right, being equal to colleagues I consider equal, I should sell it, right?

If anyone says that I'm too expensive, I feel reassurance that my service is not what they're looking for. Maybe they are trying to buy a new Mercedes in a Tata dealership. Evidence is that now and then a former prospect returns, tells me about some "bad experience", and asks me how much "the real thing" costs.


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:56
English to German
+ ...
Couple of more thoughts regarding undercutting etc. Feb 24, 2015

Do you ever discuss the rates suggested here with your professional colleagues? I've seen quite a lot of unaccepatble terms related to subtitling and or video transcription and translation.
And if you have a constant workflow, I am sure it's because you have built a customer base - your special expertise in subtitling has helped, yes?

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
It is not by accident that those who mutually consider "equivalent" for general stuff charge the same rate. Taking engineers only, I am mechanical, Mr. "A" is civil, and Mr. "B" is electrical. Depending on the job, one of us may be more suitable than the others... or not. If it's too specialty-specific, we may - or not - refer to the others.

It's like the car test analogy: one is more comfortable, the other has more room for luggage, one may have a tougher suspension for bad roads, the other may be thriftier on fuel, and so on.


So you're saying there is no undercutting going on at all? Or you are not affected by it? Maybe not between you professionals.
Let me just ask you: do you seriously think no undercutting is going on between translators?
Just look at the jobs and bids here.
But I take it you don't depend on those jobs - and I wouldn't recommend having to depend on them anyway - and I can see that your specific expertise (subtitling) and your experience allow you to get jobs from other places (referrals from businesses and translators and from direct clients that seek you out because of your specific expertise and experience).

Nevertheless, undercutting is IMO a huge problem in our business. Even if you just look at the rates suggested by Proz.com (rates calculated from suggestions by translators AND agencies), it's obvious how low they are. See: http://search.proz.com/?sp=pfe/rates

I am not going to make this a never-ending rant.
We clearly have different experiences and you work in a different field (at least for the most part I take).
But when we are asked to give advice to newcomers, the last thing I want to do is tell them that all is well and easy and that they will have no problem with a constant workflow at adequate prices.
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

If anyone says that I'm too expensive, I feel reassurance that my service is not what they're looking for. Maybe they are trying to buy a new Mercedes in a Tata dealership. Evidence is that now and then a former prospect returns, tells me about some "bad experience", and asks me how much "the real thing" costs.


That is indeed the right approach. I do the same. I also hope that the many "bad" experiences customers have will help change the whole industry around because for many of us, it's a tough business to be successful in.


So, to all of you who are new to this business, give it at least five years and see how you're doing.

For newcomers, here's a good tool and article for you, courtesy of Proz.com and guests. Just be aware that you can't count on having enough work to work those 40 hours every week, 49 out of 52 weeks of the year. I certainly support notions expressed there that you need to determine what it is you want to earn and that I would hold that it must lead to a satisfying career and not to working like crazy for peanuts.
http://www.proz.com/translator-rates-calculator

PS on the calculator: just because you can translate more than 300 words per hour doesn't mean you should charge less per word - that would be counterproductive and foolish. 300 is a good number of words per hour for quality work, on average.

[Edited at 2015-02-24 20:31 GMT]


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 22:56
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
I'l try to tackle most issues Feb 24, 2015

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

Do you ever discuss the rates suggested here with your professional colleagues?


Rates suggested here? No. We discuss the rates we adopt. Anyway, most of us are in Sao Paulo, Brazil, so it's the same market. I'm talking about text translation rates.

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I've seen quite a lot of unaccepatble terms related to subtitling and or video transcription and translation.
And if you have a constant workflow, I am sure it's because you have built a customer base - your special expertise in subtitling has helped, yes?


Subtitling is a different matter.
Relatively few translators who do other types of translation do it.
I specialize in corporate (training, institutional, product launch) video, so I am outrageously expensive, if compared to the people who do it for cable TV. and nothing else.
Yet I only work EN/PT, both ways. A colleague who does EN/IT/ES/PT (corporate too) charges twice as much as I do for translation & spotting.
Quite often I get turn-key video requests involving EN/PT plus ES, which I speak rather fluently, hence understand to time-spot, without ever having studied it formally. However I am illiterate in ES. After a few trials, I found a reliable colleague to do PT/ES (but no EN) subtitles for me. Though I guess she is usually cheaper, I make it a point to pay her COD exactly the same rates I charge.
Not so many translators cover the full nine yards, but I do. I translate, burn the subs, and author interactive DVDs.

Now and then I translate subtitles in the "cable TV way"... from transcribed, time-spotted templates. I managed to negotiate a mutually rewarding (though much lower) rate with only TWO clients so far. Both agree that it doesn't lead to high quality, but it's the only affordable compromise to get acceptable quality.

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
So you're saying there is no undercutting going on at all? Or you are not affected by it? Maybe not between you professionals.
Let me just ask you: do you seriously think no undercutting is going on between translators?
Just look at the jobs and bids here.
But I take it you don't depend on those jobs - and I wouldn't recommend having to depend on them anyway - and I can see that your specific expertise (subtitling) and your experience allow you to get jobs from other places (referrals from businesses and translators and from direct clients that seek you out because of your specific expertise and experience).


There is a lot of undercutting going on, for sure.
However it is more between agencies than between translators.
Say agency A undercut agency B to grab a job. If they overplayed it, the problem will be to find a moderately competent translator cheap enough to let agency A have some profit. If the end-client is minimally quality-minded, there will be trouble down the road.

Bernhard, you work DE-EN, right? How many reliable high quality translators in your pair could you find in India, China, or any relatively low-COL country?

I simply don't enter the undercutting game, because it has no way out. If my price were too low, I'd soon be in such helluva demand, that there wouldn't be any time left to take any good paying jobs that come up. It would be a downward spiral.

Every translator has the same number of hours per day to 'sell'. One must check their productivity; if it's too low, those hours won't be enough to make a living form translation. Evidence of the effect of productivity is that my domestic translation rate has remained unchanged since June 1994 (sic!). Faster computers, CAT tools, the Internet, no need to print, and other outcomes of progress in IT have beautifully covered, with increased productivity, any inflation, cost of living etc. here. (International rates are affected by currency exchange rates, funds transfer fees, etc. so it's a different policy.)

I do undercutting too... in exchange for a much farther away deadline. Use it to translate books. If my normal turnaround of N weeks can be extended to N months, I'll grant a 30% discount. I'll work on them on my otherwise 'idle' time, i.e. between projects, awaiting proofreading, while rendering video, etc.

It's a matter of time management. We buy flour by the lb or kg, not by the number of acres planted with wheat. Likewise our clients buy words translated, not the hours we spend translating them. Yet we manage our time, not our words.

In my consulting days, I taught one time management seminar 76 times (apart from a few others on the same subject). I think I've neatly adapted those big corporation time management techniques to the freelance translator realm. Maybe some day I'll set up a course on that, however it's not the issue at hand.

So, if a translator hard for cash undercuts others to GET a job, they should be wise to keep this as a provisional solution to relieve their immediate needs. They should be aware that it will prevent them from accepting another better-paying job (Murphy's Law) for a while.

Conversely, a translator charging more than they should will earn more, have more time to spare, however they should be aware that clients may move elsewhere if it's costing them too much.

So finding the proper rate, that will keep the workload/profitability balanced is a very delicate act.

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
Nevertheless, undercutting is IMO a huge problem in our business. Even if you just look at the rates suggested by Proz.com (rates calculated from suggestions by translators AND agencies), it's obvious how low they are. See: http://search.proz.com/?sp=pfe/rates


I wouldn't rely on them, for a few reasons:
a) Some people never update them;
b) I happen to know a few profiles whose owners 'in loving memory' won't be able to update their rates 'from beyond';
c) some currencies have undergone drastic changes relative to the USD;
d) they mix together all levels of translators;
e) they represent the rates each translator ASKS for, but, as you say, undercutters abound.

So I check directly with my colleagues, friends, often project partners... to the rest of the world, my competitors.

Maybe this is the unique Brazilian friendly style. The best picture of it happened when a local client (I often walk to their office) sent me a rather expensive gift as thanks for all the guidance I gave him and his staff on issuing international documents for sworn translations. I guess Brazil is the only place where a Muslim (the client) would send a Jew (yours truly) a Christmas present!

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
But when we are asked to give advice to newcomers, the last thing I want to do is to tell them that all is well and easy and that they will have no problem with a constant workflow at adequate prices.


A newcomer to ANY profession has to build a reputation and a clientele. Of course, newcomers can't charge the same rates as an experienced translator, but they shouldn't be too far below, if they are qualified as translators, and not merely bilinguals givin' it a try. Otherwise the reputation they'll build will be simply "cheap".

Now and then I'm invoked to recover some translation disaster. As I managed to gather from most of these cases, the rates paid were at most half of mine, usually less. Salvage was impossible, so I had to redo them from scratch at full translation rate.
The interesting thing here is that these cheap translations (I saw them, of course) were actually worse than free online Google Translate's output. Bottom line is that these cheap clients were paying amateurs/unskilled translators money only for the luxury of having someone to blame, nothing else. Quality-wise and cost-wise, they'd be better served by GT.
I guess this is why so many say they "fear" machine translation.
My hope is that MT will eventually cleanse the translation marketplace from both amateurs and bottom-feeding overly greedy agencies.


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:56
English to German
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Clarification Feb 25, 2015

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

Do you ever discuss the rates suggested here with your professional colleagues?


Rates suggested here? No. We discuss the rates we adopt. Anyway, most of us are in Sao Paulo, Brazil, so it's the same market. I'm talking about text translation rates.


Thanks for your detailed reply, José.
Just to clarify: With rates suggested here I meant rates proposed and bid for on the job board and rates suggested on the Proz.com translator AND agencies rates page.

[Edited at 2015-02-25 00:49 GMT]


 
Norskpro
Norskpro
Norway
Local time: 02:56
Member
English to Norwegian
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Where is it? Feb 25, 2015


Just to clarify: With rates suggested here I meant rates proposed and bid for on the job board and rates suggested on the Proz.com translator AND agencies rates page.

[Edited at 2015-02-25 00:49 GMT]


There is a page with community rates, but where do you find agency rates?


 
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.
Maria S. Loose, LL.M.  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 02:56
German to English
+ ...
Go for a big direct client Feb 25, 2015

and participate in the ongoing call for tenders launched by the European Commission. You need to have a proven track record in translation plus a University diploma of any kind. There are more than 80 language combinations into and out of English, French and German. However, translators have to be a resident of one of the member states of the European Union. Details are to be found on DG Translation's website.

 
Angela Malik
Angela Malik  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
German to English
+ ...
Do something to change something, or do nothing and change nothing Feb 26, 2015

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
Angela Rimmer wrote:

All is very well in my corner. I earn more money than I ever could working for someone else in a 9-5 office, I have the luxury of turning down work I know I won't enjoy and I am not "exploited" by any means. I'm usually booked about 2 weeks in advance. My clients are interesting, respectful and generally pay on time.


Wow, and you get all this through Proz.com?!


No, of course not all of it comes from ProZ. Like most other translators, my clients come from a variety of sources, and for me most of my clients are from the word-of-mouth approach (my existing clients refer their friends/colleagues/acquaintances to me). But some of my clients have come from ProZ, and I promise you ProZ doesn't just attract the dregs of evil, bargain-hunting clientele.


Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

What I regard as fair and adequate might be something completely different from what you see as such.
...
I am not saying there isn't good stuff out there, but whatever happens on this portal does have an impact on us all.


I respectfully disagree that "whatever happens on this portal [has] an impact on us all". While it may be true that my idea of a fair and adequate rate might be different from yours, I really don't find this to be a relevant consideration. If someone else is able to charge less for a translation than me, good for them. But I can't charge their price, and I won't. There's plenty more work out there for me.

You know how much time, energy and ultimately how much it will cost you to produce a translation. That's your base line for breaking even on a specific job. You know how much your basic expenses are. That's your base line for breaking even in general. Anything above and beyond that is profit. The trick then is to find a "sweet zone" where you are charging enough to make a profit without going beyond the limit of how much clients are willing to pay.

But here's the clencher: no one client is alike, and some clients do pay well. A lot of them, actually. So if you find that clients are turning up their noses at your quotes, your problem is not the other translator supposedly "undercutting" you -- your problem has nothing to do with other translators. Either you are overshooting what your targeted clientele can afford or is willing to accept (but I doubt this is the case) OR you are targetting the wrong client. Look into what steps you can take to start attracting a more quality-conscious clientele. Look into other ways of marketing yourself so you reach those ideal clients. Don't waste energy on dead-end leads; focus that energy elsewhere and re-invest it in your business -- maybe doing a seminar or something on how to successfully manage price negotiations would be a better use of your time.

...or you could just keep huffing and sighing as you watch some poor translator bid way too low on a job, and complain about how they're all affecting your bottom line. No one on ProZ is affecting my bottom line -- the only person that I allow that much control and influence over my bottom line is ME.


Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

All is certainly not well in Translation Land - when thousands of translators compete for rock bottom jobs.


No one is forcing those translators to compete for rock bottom jobs. If you find yourself amongst them and you're not happy, stop bidding on rock bottom jobs. Change the way your business operates and look for better jobs to bid on.

Whatever you're doing, if you're not happy, doing nothing but complaining about it does not help you in any way whatsoever.

[Edited at 2015-02-26 11:30 GMT]


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Breath of fresh air Feb 26, 2015

Angela Rimmer wrote:
No one on ProZ is affecting my bottom line -- the only person that I allow that much control and influence over my bottom line is ME.

I completely agree with this positive sentiment. I'm responsible for my business and, like Angela, I cede control of it to nobody.

If it's not prospering then the person doing something wrong is me, not some English conversation teacher in Japan who's trying to make some pocket money through casual translation at half my rate.

If you have the right skills in this huge and heterogenous market, you should be able to find work to suit you at a rate to suit you.

Regards
Dan


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
English to German
Thank you Angela! Feb 26, 2015

Thank you for your positive attitude that makes me feel proud to have joined this industry.

I agree that assertiveness is very important otherwise people take advantage very quickly, but I cannot help feeling offended by the expectations of some agencies/clients, e.g. an agency tried get me to agree to a longer term job in my field of expertise. I would have loved the job - but I would have had to work my socks off for months and they were trying to wow me with 1600 Euro per month!


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:56
English to German
+ ...
adding on ... Feb 26, 2015

Angela Rimmer wrote:

What I regard as fair and adequate might be something completely different from what you see as such.


Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I am not saying there isn't good stuff out there, but whatever happens on this portal does have an impact on us all.


Angela Rimmer wrote:
I respectfully disagree that "whatever happens on this portal [has] an impact on us all". While it may be true that my idea of a fair and adequate rate might be different from yours, I really don't find this to be a relevant consideration. If someone else is able to charge less for a translation than me, good for them. But I can't charge their price, and I won't. There's plenty more work out there for me.


Fact is many people are competing for the jobs on the job board. I'll leave it at that.
Many newcomers don't know any better or don't mind working for inadequate rates. I am certain that's a fair assessment. Every job completed in a professional fashion but for little money is a job lost to people who charge adequately. I think that's a fair statement as well.
What I think is not a fair statement is to say that everything is well in our profession. How long have you been a translator?

So you can disagree with me and say "whatever happens on this portal has no or little impact on us all," and that's your right. But given the huge number of agencies and translators interacting here, I can't say I agree with you.

I write about these topics because I believe it's important to inform newcomers, to encourage them not to start working for peanuts and undercutting their colleagues. Don't have to worry about me.

Yes, we all live in our own little neighborhood, but we don't live in a vacuum.
There are plenty of examples that show how many people are being exploited in our profession. That is not good for them and to say that it wouldn't have any repercussions for all of us is a bit close-minded if you allow me to say that.


Angela Rimmer wrote:
Whatever you're doing, if you're not happy, doing nothing but complaining about it does not help you in any way whatsoever.


I don't see it as "complaining." It's more like having a conversation. Some people appreciate it.

[Edited at 2015-02-27 05:00 GMT]


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Off topic Feb 26, 2015

"How can a translator try to maintain a more or less constant workflow?"

Contributions please.


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
English to German
Are you booked up in advance? Feb 27, 2015

I was just wondering, I am still getting established, building a client base, but I have heard and read lots about short deadlines, urgent jobs, even very large jobs seem to be very urgent.

Somehow I do not really understand this from a clients point of view. Translation is usually quite an expense, especially with large jobs. Wouldn't clients plan ahead, find the right person and give them time to do a good job? We always have to wait for our builder and we don't mind, he is not th
... See more
I was just wondering, I am still getting established, building a client base, but I have heard and read lots about short deadlines, urgent jobs, even very large jobs seem to be very urgent.

Somehow I do not really understand this from a clients point of view. Translation is usually quite an expense, especially with large jobs. Wouldn't clients plan ahead, find the right person and give them time to do a good job? We always have to wait for our builder and we don't mind, he is not the cheapest, but we know he will do a good job.

Wouldn't many of the established and experienced translators have a good client base who value them? This would allow them to plan ahead a little, or not?
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:56
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Alas... Feb 27, 2015

Alas, often though not always, in my language pair the end user seems to think that the translation can be done as a quick add-on at the end and never leaves enough time, or doesn't even realise that a translation will be necessary but that no time has been built into the programme for the translation to be done.

So it was recently, when late on a Friday I received a job that had to be done very urgently for the Monday morning, because on the Monday morning, a whole series of film
... See more
Alas, often though not always, in my language pair the end user seems to think that the translation can be done as a quick add-on at the end and never leaves enough time, or doesn't even realise that a translation will be necessary but that no time has been built into the programme for the translation to be done.

So it was recently, when late on a Friday I received a job that had to be done very urgently for the Monday morning, because on the Monday morning, a whole series of film crews in Rome, in various different locations around the city, needed to receive the detailed instructions of what they had to do in each location, the equipment that would have to be installed there, a description of the scenes that would be filmed, etc., all in English.

So instead of having a normal weekend, I had to cancel everything so that I could work day and night for the whole time. Then suddenly, on the Monday, having delivered the job, everything went completely quiet.

This is how it is with me, nearly all the time.

In my experience the best way of maintaining a constant workflow is to do one's ordinary jobs as they come in, but to also have, in the background, a very large job - a book, perhaps - with a very long deadline that means it can be done slowly over months.

When you have a big "background" job like this, it's ideal because you can deal with your more urgent jobs as they come, and use the intervening periods of time to work on the large, slow translation, so that you're working constantly but not excessively.

Unfortunately this only happens sometimes.
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Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 01:56
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Sticking to plans is a lot art, it seems to me Feb 27, 2015

Gabriele Demuth wrote:
Wouldn't clients plan ahead, find the right person and give them time to do a good job? We always have to wait for our builder and we don't mind, he is not the cheapest, but we know he will do a good job.

Wouldn't many of the established and experienced translators have a good client base who value them? This would allow them to plan ahead a little, or not?

I have one particular (Swiss) direct client who serves as a very good example. They're supposedly in charge of their own texts for their website, so surely they're in a position to plan everything to the nth degree. And they do: I often get an email advising me of upcoming jobs, up to a couple of months in advance. In fact, it's a ridiculous amount of notice as the jobs are only a few thousand words on average. But, for all this planning, the files always arrive late! And their return can never be delayed by a minute - it's all rush, rush, rush! They're quite amenable to paying my rush surcharge when necessary, but it just goes to show that the most organised clients nowadays don't seem able to stick to plans.

This "instant society" of ours is a big problem, Gabriele. Of course, many of the most urgent jobs are for agencies only willing to pay ludicrously low rates. We're all familiar with the scenario: (a) an end client places an order with a big agency, (b) they outsource it to a smaller one at 50%, (c) they offer it around at 50%, (d) all the sensible, professional translators turn it down, so it finally (maybe several days later) gets assigned to anyone who can do a half-decent in double-quick time for a pittance, without having time to do any checks on this new client.

But even the best clients seem to expect us to be sitting at our computers just waiting for the next job to appear. When you say you can't fit it in until next week they're quite astonished. It is frustrating to have to turn down a suitable job just because you can't drop everything and start right away - particularly if you haven't anything booked for the next day.


 
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