| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | How to pitch a low-paid project (Lesson No. 1) Thread poster: Lingua 5B
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| None of the lines i missed | Apr 21, 2016 |
Michael Newton wrote:
There are variations of this:
"If you do this small job for us this week, we'll give you a big job next week".
"We can only pay six cents for this job but we will pay you more for future jobs".
"Give us your best rate based on long-term cooperation".
"Give us your best rate as we expect more jobs from this client in the future".
etc., ad nauseam
Where did you get this lines. I am just a victim of this lines. There is non I never met with. I don't know how I can kick out of my way.
Please advice and I also need to build my CV since am new here.
[Edited at 2016-04-21 17:17 GMT]
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Hussein, it is not difficult to avoid being a victim of those tricks.
1. Check references before accepting or applying for a job. There are many forums and professional groups (including FB groups) where you can make a quick check with the name of the agency or the contact person so you can learn what other translators have to say about them. There are even "blacklists" of scammers. This has saved many colleagues from being deceived.
2. Pay attention to all the details ... See more Hussein, it is not difficult to avoid being a victim of those tricks.
1. Check references before accepting or applying for a job. There are many forums and professional groups (including FB groups) where you can make a quick check with the name of the agency or the contact person so you can learn what other translators have to say about them. There are even "blacklists" of scammers. This has saved many colleagues from being deceived.
2. Pay attention to all the details about the company. At least they should have an email address and/or website with their own domain, phone numbers and an address, and even check on the social networks the contact person who posted the job offer or sent you the email.
3. DO NOT accept doing more than one translation test, and it must not be longer than 200-250 words. That is more than enough for them to verify your skills.
4. Take those fixed lines mentioned by Michael and all their possible variants as a warning sign when you happen to read at least one of them in a job offer. Nothing good comes from someone who uses them. You'll get used to read between the lines and get familiar with the scammers' selling speeches.
5. Prepare smart, professional replies to each of those lines when a potential client uses them with you. For instance, to the "Give us your best rate based on long-term cooperation" line, you can say "I'll give you my standard rate now as you are a new client, and as our commercial relationship moves forward we may negotiate a discount for future projects". This is part of the art of negotiation.
6. Last but not least: See yourself as a service provider, not a job seeker. Never ask an agency how much they pay. If you are a freelancer YOU set the rates, terms and conditions of your service, not the other way round. Sadly, some agencies got used to offer a rate or search for the lowest bidder. Just let them go and keep looking. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I give them a lesson (knowing they won't learn) | Apr 21, 2016 |
I tell them:
Now and then I get hired to fix/salvage/redo translation work done for about half my standard rate, so I've seen what it looks like more often than I should. Though the flaws differ in their nature, I'd say the overall quality is comparable to the raw output anyone can get, for free and immediately, online from Google Translate.
If your budget is so tight, it would cost you nothing to have your current project done through Google Translate. If your end-client falls for it, you'll make a bundle! If they don't, you'll have more money left to hire me to do it professionally.
Of course, I never get a reply, but if manure hits the fan later, they'll remember my warning.
Two cases worth mentioning:
1. An agency hired me for a proofreading job, and accepted my rate without questioning. As they told me later, it had been done by ONE translator, and checked by TWO independent proofreaders. And yet, it was disparagingly bad, in fact much worse than raw GT output.
No matter how cheap that translator and the two proofreaders were, I am sure that the finished job, including my proofreading, came out more expensive than if I had translated it right away.
2. Another agency hired me for a proofreading job. The PM told me that a new client said they were 'unhappy' with their current LSP, and wanted to give her firm a chance. She sent me the source and that LSP's delivery. I took a glance and said that the prospect was trying to pull the wool over her eyes, because that was obviously MT.
The PM asked me how could I be so sure it was MT, and I provided the evidence:
The source text said "TWETNY (sic! - my emphasis here) thousand dollars", and the translation said "twetny (sic!) mil dólares". Any distracted teenager would have noticed that there was a typo on what should be "twenty", and translate it into "vinte". Only a machine would rule out "twetny" as an untranslatable word.
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Edward Vreeburg wrote:
-> it's a high profile client- - we do anything to win it... (bend over backwards and find slave rate translators to boot)
This one always puzzles me, as I thought that high profile clients are essentially larger companies who pay good rates and provide the agency with plenty of work. Wouldn't anyone with some business sense try to deliver a good job and find the best possible translator to win and keep that client. I can't understand why agencies try to find cheap translators for apparently high profile clients? Wouldn't that be very short-sighted?
[Edited at 2016-04-22 06:10 GMT]
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| Important point | Apr 22, 2016 |
Christine Andersen wrote:
If clients ask for my rate for long-term collaboration, they have to compete with the other clients who keep me busy - i.e. they have to pay me at least as well. AND on time...
I agree 100% here. You often get posts on Proz touting a rather banal ' but it's an open market' response to low rates. The market depends on so much more than price. Good human resources are an essential asset and companies that focus too much on the end price, as you point out, are not going to able to attract the sort of workers who can let them offer quality services. Their only way to engage with the market will be an unconvincing 'Use us - we're cheap' shout.
If the best paying agencies have, and give at least some of us, a steady flow of work from high profile clients, it's because they're engaging with that market successfully in other ways.
[Modificato alle 2016-04-22 07:50 GMT]
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