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Off topic: Your worst translation-related job ever (not considering payment issues, only the job itself)
Thread poster: Daniel Frisano
Daniela Duarte
Daniela Duarte
Brazil
Local time: 06:41
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yeah, I know how those bad days are... Dec 18, 2017

Texte Style wrote:

Vesa, I reckon the sheer volume of remarks will probably make them throw their hands up in horror!

My worst ever job was when working at the agency. We were asked to translate the interface for some accounting software. I had never translated any software interfaces at the time, and knew nothing about accounting (still don't know very much although I do at least deal with my own as a freelancer).
The boss made a half-hearted attempt to find someone else then said I'd have to do it.
The file came to 200 pages, it was horrendous. It took me ages, and triggered my first ever migraine. I had to take sick leave for that, and it was still waiting for me when I got back. My doctor said the migraine might be partly caused by failing eyesight, so I went for a check-up and ended up having to wear glasses for the first time in my life. Then I fell and broke my arm because I was prescribed the wrong glasses and couldn't tell where the floor was, and when I came back after that sick leave, the translation was still waiting for me and of course had become very urgent by then. A total nightmare! I made a really bad job of the translation, which I felt really bad about, but I knew that it was totally alien to my comfort zone, only my boss didn't care about that and thought I should be able to learn on the job.

Being able to refuse work as a freelancer brings a great deal of joy.


 
Daniela Duarte
Daniela Duarte
Brazil
Local time: 06:41
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I've been there so many times Dec 18, 2017

Matthias Brombach wrote:

One of my worst assignments was that I had to limit the amount of characters to an extent where the text, which I have translated quite accurately in an earlier stage of the project (HMI messages), became barely unreadable, by German abbreviations nobody would understand (but I was forced to do so). I still can´t imagine that the manufacturer uses or used such a limited display for these rather complex instructions and messages.



I've been there so many times, and the client still asked for a perfect job, even when the source document was really terrible, especially in those cases that it is a PDF and many words are unreadable and contained many abbreviations as you said.

So, about the proofreading jobs, I tend to avoid them, and also because their rates are cheaper.


 
Dave Bindon
Dave Bindon  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 11:41
Greek to English
In memoriam
Why cheaper? Dec 19, 2017

danileg wrote:
So, about the proofreading jobs, I tend to avoid them, and also because their rates are cheaper.


You should be setting your own rates and nothing should be cheaper in terms of what you earn per hour.

My general system (not including regular clients):

When a client asks me to "proofread" I give a rate per word (which is what they usually prefer) but I make it very clear how I define proofreading and I state that I will charge an hourly rate if the project requires revision rather than simple proofreading.


 
Martina Rotondi
Martina Rotondi  Identity Verified
Austria
Local time: 10:41
German to Italian
+ ...
Definitely Dec 20, 2017

20.000 words- zero context. I spent days and nights on that project.
It was a German into Italian translation project of an auction-style website. There was no connection between words and I had to research every single term because there were lots of commercial names and it was difficult to understand whether it was an object or a brand (like- Review -->is that "review" like "examination" or is it the brand??).


 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:41
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Synonyms Dec 20, 2017

... not to forget manuals, where one and the same item possesses multiple designations. On top of that, all earlier translators in the TM have of course taken multiple translations for that specific item. And machines usually consist of more than just one single item ...
The next step in my career as a translator would be to work as a fortuneteller, with a cristal bowl.


 
John Fossey
John Fossey  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:41
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
Employee survey responses Dec 20, 2017

I have one client that comes in about once a year with thousands of employee survey responses. As far as I can tell, these are largely illiterate shop floor workers who are required to respond to an employee satisfaction survey. Many of the responses make no sense at all, but most of them make a sort of sense but it's a nightmare trying to figure what the writer was trying to say.

 
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Your worst translation-related job ever (not considering payment issues, only the job itself)






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