Pages in topic:   [1 2] >
Welcome to the second ProZ.com Translation Contest!
Thread poster: María Florencia Vita
María Florencia Vita
María Florencia Vita
Local time: 14:04
SITE STAFF
Mar 29, 2007

Dear members,

I am happy to announce the second edition of the ProZ.com Translation Contest, including many of the suggestions received from you, such as a dedicated page with clearly defined phases, more freedom to choose language pairs, and a more efficient voting interface.

Unchanged is the objective of providing a vehicle for enjoyment, camaraderie and friendship among site members, while promoting and recognizing excellence in the art of translation.

... See more
Dear members,

I am happy to announce the second edition of the ProZ.com Translation Contest, including many of the suggestions received from you, such as a dedicated page with clearly defined phases, more freedom to choose language pairs, and a more efficient voting interface.

Unchanged is the objective of providing a vehicle for enjoyment, camaraderie and friendship among site members, while promoting and recognizing excellence in the art of translation.

There will be no material prizes but winners will be announced through the site and an icon will be posted in their profiles, if they so choose.

Participation in the contest is limited to paying site members (students, freelance full and partial community members). For the qualification and voting phases it will be also required to have the language pair among the “working” or “interest” language pairs. Site moderators have no privileges in the contest, and therefore can participate like all other members.

All translations must be original works. Reuse of existing (published) translations, in whole or in part, is prohibited. No parallel contests (translation contests with the same source text) will be permitted.

The contest will be divided in three phases:
  • Submission: In this stage the target texts are presented and members are given the opportunity to post their translations into any language(s) of their preference. During this phase the entries will be visible only to their posters. Entries can be submitted as late as 3pm (GMT) on April 12th, 2007.

  • Qualification: In this phase all entries will be made visible but hiding the identity of the posters. Members will be able to give a positive or negative qualification to each translation. Depending on the feedback received entries will be qualified or disqualified. As soon as an entry achieves one of these status it will disappear from the qualification page.

  • Voting: In this phase all the qualified entries will be shown, still hiding the posters' names. In language pairs with a minimum of 3 qualified entries there will be a voting process, where members will be allowed to select a first, second and third choice (assigning 4, 2 and 1 points respectively) and to post comments on the entries.


At the end of the voting phase the winners will be announced and the names of the posters will be made visible (except for those who opted for hiding their names if not winning).

Please visit the contest page at http://www.proz.com/?sp=event/contest_board or select Community -> Contest at the top dropdown menu.

Thanks for supporting the site!

Florencia
Collapse


 
lexical
lexical  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:04
Portuguese to English
Oh dear... Mar 29, 2007

...here we go again.

 
Maria Diaconu
Maria Diaconu  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 19:04
English to Romanian
You've made my day! Mar 29, 2007

Hi Florencia,
Thank you for opening the second contest, I have been looking forward to it!
I have one little suggestion: would it be possible to have a more printer-friendly version of the text provided for translation?
It is rather printer-unfriendly, the way it looks now

Keep up the good work,
Maria


 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 13:04
Spanish to English
+ ...
Oh, good! Mar 29, 2007

This time I should have time to participate!





Later: Easy to print after you open in a new window. Double-spacing would help, but no big deal.

I love the innovations! Phased qualifying will help with the large language-pair groups, and the source texts in three major languages will allow many more to participate.

[Edited at 2007-03-29 20:34]


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 14:04
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
Great suggestion and an alternativa Mar 29, 2007

Maria Diaconu wrote:

Thank you for opening the second contest, I have been looking forward to it!
I have one little suggestion: would it be possible to have a more printer-friendly version of the text provided for translation?
It is rather printer-unfriendly, the way it looks now

Keep up the good work,
Maria


Hi Maria, thanks for your kind words and excellent suggestion. We will include an PRINT option in the next edition of the contest.

Meanwhile you could select the text, copy it and paste it in a word processor, to format it and then print it from there.

Kind regards,
Enrique


 
Cristina Pereira
Cristina Pereira  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:04
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
On voting Mar 29, 2007

I'm sorry if this subject seems disllocated, but one thing I noticed in the previous contest was the small number of votes. Is there anything being done to encourage people to vote? I participated and voted (of course I couldn't vote on my own entry and I chose the one I thought was best apart from mine). But I also heard about people who participated and thought they shouldn't vote, to keep it more ethical. Well, I think that at least those who participate should vote... if they could be encour... See more
I'm sorry if this subject seems disllocated, but one thing I noticed in the previous contest was the small number of votes. Is there anything being done to encourage people to vote? I participated and voted (of course I couldn't vote on my own entry and I chose the one I thought was best apart from mine). But I also heard about people who participated and thought they shouldn't vote, to keep it more ethical. Well, I think that at least those who participate should vote... if they could be encouraged to do it.

In the previous contest I participated, there were fewer votes than entries in my pair. I won a 3rd place, and that's very good, of course

I hope not to be misunderstood, but I just don't see what would take people to read all the entries and vote if there's not some kind of incentive... I have to confess I don't know what that incentive could be...

BTW, congratulations because this time English native speakers are able to participate

Best,

Cristina
Collapse


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 14:04
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
Improvements in the voting department Mar 29, 2007

CristinaPereira wrote:

I'm sorry if this subject seems disllocated, but one thing I noticed in the previous contest was the small number of votes. Is there anything being done to encourage people to vote? I participated and voted (of course I couldn't vote on my own entry and I chose the one I thought was best apart from mine). But I also heard about people who participated and thought they shouldn't vote, to keep it more ethical. Well, I think that at least those who participate should vote... if they could be encouraged to do it.

In the previous contest I participated, there were fewer votes than entries in my pair. I won a 3rd place, and that's very good, of course

I hope not to be misunderstood, but I just don't see what would take people to read all the entries and vote if there's not some kind of incentive... I have to confess I don't know what that incentive could be...



Hi Cristina, thanks for a very appropriate question

Low voting was a problem in the first contest, and we benefited from the members’ feedback and suggestions to add a few improvements to the process, including:
  • Expanding the voting base by including members who have the corresponding language pair among their “working” and “interest” pairs (only the “working” ones were allowed in the first contest).
  • Adding a qualification phase, where members with the right to vote will provide positive or negative qualifications to one or more translations and keeping visible in this stage only the translations not yet qualified or disqualified.
  • Showing only the qualified entries in the voting stage
  • Allowing multiple votes (1st, 2nd and 3rd places) in each language pair.


The overall effect of these changes is expected to be positive, as more voters will have to choose among fewer translations (only the qualified ones) and will have more options to vote.

Of course we all learn as we go, and the third contest should be even better

Kind regards,
Enrique


 
Joost Elshoff (X)
Joost Elshoff (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 18:04
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Too bad non-paying users can't participate Mar 30, 2007

Can't this competition also be opened for non-paying users? It sounds more like a scheme to get more paying members than a true competition.

Why limit it to paying members? Any particular reason for excluding all those honest, non-paying freelancers who just can't afford a full membership?


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 14:04
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
Site staff members focus their efforts on serving members first and foremost. Mar 30, 2007

Joost Elshoff wrote:

Can't this competition also be opened for non-paying users? It sounds more like a scheme to get more paying members than a true competition.

Why limit it to paying members? Any particular reason for excluding all those honest, non-paying freelancers who just can't afford a full membership?


Hi Joost,

ProZ.com is an open and welcoming community. The workplace has been structured in such a way as to invite and welcome the participation of language professionals or those with language needs, including those who are only occasional visitors or just passers-by.

However, while welcoming use of the site by non-paying users, the site team maintains a keen focus on providing great value to the site's paying members, whose fees make this endeavor possible. New features are developed according to member need and feedback.

Participation in the translation contests is just one of several members-only benefits on the site.

Kind regards,
Enrique


 
Language Aide Pvt. Ltd. - Translation & Interpreting Agency
Language Aide Pvt. Ltd. - Translation & Interpreting Agency
India
Local time: 22:34
English to Hindi
+ ...
One Question Apr 1, 2007

[quote]Florencia Vita wrote:


  • Qualification: In this phase all entries will be made visible but hiding the identity of the posters. Members will be able to give a positive or negative qualification to each translation. Depending on the feedback received entries will be qualified or disqualified. As soon as an entry achieves one of these status it will disappear from the qualification page.

  • Voting: In this phase all the qualified entries will be shown, still hiding the posters' names. In language pairs with a minimum of 3 qualified entries there will be a voting process, where members will be allowed to select a first, second and third choice (assigning 4, 2 and 1 points respectively) and to post comments on the entries.

    So, unlike in the first contest, this time the members have to vote the participants two times, one during the Qualification Phase and another time during the Voting process.

    If I am not wrong on this, then will it not appear for voters a more lengthy process to choose the winner, than it was in the first contest (only the voting phase)?

    I strongly agree with Cristina that should be some kind of incentives for voters to keep their interest throughout the contest in general, and in all three phases in particular.

    Language Aide

     
  • Enrique Cavalitto
    Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
    Argentina
    Local time: 14:04
    Member (2006)
    English to Spanish
    On the qualification and voting phases Apr 1, 2007

    [quote]Language Aide - Translation & Interpreting Agency wrote:

    Florencia Vita wrote:


  • Qualification: In this phase all entries will be made visible but hiding the identity of the posters. Members will be able to give a positive or negative qualification to each translation. Depending on the feedback received entries will be qualified or disqualified. As soon as an entry achieves one of these status it will disappear from the qualification page.

  • Voting: In this phase all the qualified entries will be shown, still hiding the posters' names. In language pairs with a minimum of 3 qualified entries there will be a voting process, where members will be allowed to select a first, second and third choice (assigning 4, 2 and 1 points respectively) and to post comments on the entries.

    So, unlike in the first contest, this time the members have to vote the participants two times, one during the Qualification Phase and another time during the Voting process.

    If I am not wrong on this, then will it not appear for voters a more lengthy process to choose the winner, than it was in the first contest (only the voting phase)?


  • Good question, maybe my explanation was not clear enough.

    Let's go back to the first contest, where for instance the English to German pair got 25 different translations. As we had a single round of voting, a voter had to read all 25 entries and compare the quality of each one against all the others. This was probably a lot of work (and the English to Spanish pair got 35 entries!).

    In the qualification round of the new system voters will be able to read as many or as few entries as they desire, and just cast a qualification vote for them on the line of the peer-grading system used in KudoZ, stating if they think the entry should go into the voting phase or not.

    Entries that have enough positive or negative net qualification votes to go to the voting phase or to be left out will be taken out of the qualification phase, so in our example the first voters may get into the qualification stale and qualify just 5 entries among the 25 visible, but some later voters may find only 13 entries with qualification still pending, and will be able to peer-comment just a few of them.

    In this way, when moving to the voting phase (the real voting, reading all option and picking preferences) there will be less entries to choose from, and they will be already pre-selected by peer-grading of voters as the best of the original batch.

    Regards,
    Enrique


     
    Claudia Luque Bedregal
    Claudia Luque Bedregal  Identity Verified
    Italy
    Local time: 18:04
    English to Spanish
    + ...
    Non-paying members can't participate, but would you consider the possibility of letting them vote? Apr 2, 2007

    Joost Elshoff wrote:

    Can't this competition also be opened for non-paying users? It sounds more like a scheme to get more paying members than a true competition.

    Why limit it to paying members? Any particular reason for excluding all those honest, non-paying freelancers who just can't afford a full membership?



    I wanted to participate in the first contest, but couldn't because I wasn't a paying-member and I'm not a pying-member yet (although last time I did the translation of the text for myself and then checked it with the other contestants' versions), but thought that for the second translation contest, this could change. Unfortunately, it hasn't

    I agree with you Joost, it shouln't be limited to paying-members only. I understand what Enrique has just explained, that there are benefits that are for members-only and this is one of them, but I don't see any harm in letting non-paying members participate if they wish to do it, if they have the time, if they have the enthusiasm. perhaps in the near future you could organize one contest for non-paying members, too.

    However, I think, at least they (I mean the staff members and organizers of the contest) could consider the option for non-paying members to vote. I'm sure there are many people interest in taking part in the constests, even if it's only by voting. Last contest I couldn't take part in it, but I enjoyed very much reading all the versions in the pairs I work and had my favorites and whether they won or not I wrote them a short contragulations note because they were my favorites
    Plus I've seen in this forum that some people are mentioning that last time there were very few people that voted, so perhaps there's a possibility that you let non-paying members but loyal users of this great site participate in the voting process. What do you think Enrique? Could it be possible?

    Regards,
    Claudia





    [Edited at 2007-04-02 15:29]


     
    Colin Ryan (X)
    Colin Ryan (X)  Identity Verified
    Local time: 18:04
    Italian to English
    + ...
    Lots of Browniz? Apr 4, 2007

    CristinaPereira wrote:

    I'm sorry if this subject seems disllocated, but one thing I noticed in the previous contest was the small number of votes. Is there anything being done to encourage people to vote?

    ...

    I hope not to be misunderstood, but I just don't see what would take people to read all the entries and vote if there's not some kind of incentive... I have to confess I don't know what that incentive could be...

    Cristina


    Maybe give voters lots of browniz? Not just 2 or 3 but 100 or 200?
    Also, maybe mention this in the popup for voting on the contest?
    Just an idea.


     
    María Florencia Vita
    María Florencia Vita
    Local time: 14:04
    SITE STAFF
    TOPIC STARTER
    Thanks for your feedback! Apr 4, 2007

    Dear ryancolm,

    Thanks for the idea, we are going to consider it.

    Kind regards,

    Florencia


     
    Pages in topic:   [1 2] >


    To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

    Moderator(s) of this forum
    Lucia Leszinsky[Call to this topic]

    You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

    Welcome to the second ProZ.com Translation Contest!






    Anycount & Translation Office 3000
    Translation Office 3000

    Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.

    More info »
    TM-Town
    Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

    Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

    More info »