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Indian Agencies are bad payers....
Thread poster: Ramesh Kulandaivel
gayd (X)
gayd (X)
yes Aug 13, 2018

Bomi Rosiji wrote:

Its is interesting you brought this up David.
Once you are dealing with international languages, you are already crossing international borders and rates should not be lower than in Europe or the US, nor should the quality of the translation be lower either. In Nigeria, translators of local languages such as Hausa to Yoruba are paid local rates whereas translators of French to English or Portuguese or Arabic are paid international rates. These Nigerian translators are native speakers of proper English and more often than not, they are working for the same clients as translators from the UK and USA, so the quality of their work must not be different. It is the responsibility of the employer to do due diligence to ensure he is getting quality work from a professional and not just someone that speaks some type of English. By its very nature, the translated document is likely to travel across borders and even outlive the translator. The quality of the English must therefore be acceptable by all native speakers of the language and we should not accept anything less. Payment should not be based on the cost of living of a country but on the value the of the product. So if an Indian translator can deliver a high quality translation (and I have met many Indians with a strong Oxford accent) then that has a value. We do not condone translations by non professionals delivering work that does not feel natural to an American or British reader.



yes, I agree. But the fact is that certain companies take advantage of (exploit)
some translators who are in weaker positions and often don't have the power to negotiate. It's business,
so somehow, it's a matter of pure power relationship. That's why I don't think that positioning oneself as a valet
as some Western translators do is a successful strategy. I don't think either that it's good to have tons of WWA of low paying agencies on one's profile because it signals one's willingness to work for peanuts. The only thing which matters is the quality of the translation, it's really not a matter of attitude as certain people suggest. But obviously everybody is free to market their services
as they like.

[Modifié le 2018-08-13 07:40 GMT]

[Modifié le 2018-08-13 07:58 GMT]


 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 14:44
Member
English to Italian
Not really... Aug 13, 2018

Baran Keki wrote:

Then how can you explain the glowing ratings/reviews of European & North American translators you see on the BB records of Indian and Chinese translation agencies? Those people don't work for cheap as they live in very 'expensive' countries. Could it be that the Indian agencies pay European translators a lot more than their Asian counterparts? Can you imagine a Finnish or Dutch translator working for 0.03 USD per word and leaving awesome feedback? Could there be a reverse discrimination here?


Maybe they pay the "Asian counterparts" even less than the European ones... I just saw an offer for a technical manual from a Chinese agency, EN>IT, with a so called "budget" of 2-3 USD cents and 17 bids. I doubt many translators who translate into Italian live in "inexpensive countries", eastern or otherwise.


 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 16:44
Member
English to Turkish
the so-called 'native speakers' Aug 13, 2018

[quote]David GAY wrote:

By the way, I don't agree with the idea that Indian translators shouldn't translate into English, because English is one of the official languages of India. So in my opinion, they are native speakers of English
(Indian variant), even if their English differs quite a bit from the official English.

I don't know where this came from, but I have to disagree with you. As an in-house translator I had to translate hundreds of texts composed or translated by supposedly 'native-speakers' from former British colonies (acc. to Wikipedia English is an 'official' language in such countries), and they were not any better than those written or translated by Italians or the Chinese.
There may be exceptions, of course, but they do not disprove the rule.
Mind you, I am not saying that translators should not translate into their source language (i.e. English), and thereby not entirely disagreeing with you, but the notion that Indians, Nigerians, Singaporeans etc. as 'native-speakers of English' is completely wrong.


 
gayd (X)
gayd (X)
misunderstanding Aug 13, 2018

[quote]Baran Keki wrote:

David GAY wrote:

By the way, I don't agree with the idea that Indian translators shouldn't translate into English, because English is one of the official languages of India. So in my opinion, they are native speakers of English
(Indian variant), even if their English differs quite a bit from the official English.

I don't know where this came from, but I have to disagree with you. As an in-house translator I had to translate hundreds of texts composed or translated by supposedly 'native-speakers' from former British colonies (acc. to Wikipedia English is an 'official' language in such countries), and they were not any better than those written or translated by Italians or the Chinese.
There may be exceptions, of course, but they do not disprove the rule.
Mind you, I am not saying that translators should not translate into their source language (i.e. English), and thereby not entirely disagreeing with you, but the notion that Indians, Nigerians, Singaporeans etc. as 'native-speakers of English' is completely wrong.


What I wrote is that they can translate into English only for their own country, the English variant they use being not the same as the English spoken in the US or in the UK. But of course, there are exceptions as there are rich Indians who have studied at Universities like Oxford or Cambridge but I doubt somehow they work as translators...

[Modifié le 2018-08-13 09:31 GMT]


 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 16:44
Member
English to Turkish
Interesting Aug 13, 2018

Mirko Mainardi wrote:

Maybe they pay the "Asian counterparts" even less than the European ones... I just saw an offer for a technical manual from a Chinese agency, EN>IT, with a so called "budget" of 2-3 USD cents and 17 bids. I doubt many translators who translate into Italian live in "inexpensive countries", eastern or otherwise.


Of course there is no such thing as 'expensive' or 'inexpensive' country. What I meant to say was the 'standard of living'. I reckon you couldn't a support a family on 300 EUR a week in Milano, whereas such money is considered to be a fortunate in the Philippines. But, that being said, you'll have to pay 8.500 EUR for a car in Turkey that you could buy for 4.000 EUR in Germany because of various taxes and duties (based on this fact, can we assume Turkey is more expensive than Germany?)
As for the 17 bids for 2-3 USD budget job in Italy, I don't know... some people simply enjoy being slaves... I've met some of them here in Turkey, who happen to be in the same line of work as me


José Henrique Lamensdorf
 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 16:44
Member
English to Turkish
Okay then Aug 13, 2018

David GAY wrote:


What I wrote is that they can translate into English only for their own country, the English variant they use being not the same as the English spoken in the US or in the UK. But of course, there are exceptions as there are rich Indians who have studied at Universities like Oxford or Cambridge but I doubt somehow they work as translators...

[Modifié le 2018-08-13 09:31 GMT]


I have nothing against their translating into English for their own country for as long as I don't have to translate their texts into my native language (and who knows my translation of their texts might yet again be translated into English and then into various other languages based on the latter English version. I've seen many instances like this as an in-house translator).


 
gauloise
gauloise
United States
Local time: 14:44
Member (2020)
Italian to English
+ ...
Low rates can work for some Jun 26, 2019

Baran Keki wrote:

Mirko Mainardi wrote:

Maybe they pay the "Asian counterparts" even less than the European ones... I just saw an offer for a technical manual from a Chinese agency, EN>IT, with a so called "budget" of 2-3 USD cents and 17 bids. I doubt many translators who translate into Italian live in "inexpensive countries", eastern or otherwise.


Of course there is no such thing as 'expensive' or 'inexpensive' country. What I meant to say was the 'standard of living'. I reckon you couldn't a support a family on 300 EUR a week in Milano, whereas such money is considered to be a fortunate in the Philippines. But, that being said, you'll have to pay 8.500 EUR for a car in Turkey that you could buy for 4.000 EUR in Germany because of various taxes and duties (based on this fact, can we assume Turkey is more expensive than Germany?)
As for the 17 bids for 2-3 USD budget job in Italy, I don't know... some people simply enjoy being slaves... I've met some of them here in Turkey, who happen to be in the same line of work as me


If you are being paid 2 to 3 US cents to copy and paste from Google Translate that's a pretty good rate Italian ingenuity.


Yolanda Broad
 
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Indian Agencies are bad payers....







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