The Ailments of Global Translating (Part 1)

By Jana Paripovich,
Professional Editor and Translator for NMBooks Australia
Melbourne, Australia

Tel/Fax: 61(3)98780207

Get the List of 4,500+ Translation Agencies Now!
No Recurring Membership Fees!

See also: Part 1, Part 2.

The latest trend is going global for a lot of reasons but the major one being looking for the cheapest service and labour, which in turn helped many businesses grow faster.

For some it is a great thing as they would not have as much work otherwise and for the other it became a nightmare as it devalued their work and compromised the quality standards of the profession.

Overall, the main causes of the ailments of the global translating business are:

1. The agencies that do not pay, use translator databases to collect emails and then sell them to spammers, use sample translations to obtain free translations and gain 100% profit, and force translators to work 24 hours by giving them only a few hours notice, adding extra pages in the last minute.

2. Translators who claim accreditations, qualifications and/or experience and do not have them; who claim the professionalism but produce poor work and do not understand the risks of translating illegal documents (copyright, document fraud, etc.), those who work for the 'next to nothing' because of the above reasons and, who show zero tolerance to a constructive criticism and devalue professional education.

3. Internet payment agencies who hold translators' earnings up to a month claiming various justified and unjustified reasons and making nice profits by turning your money on the market in the meantime.

Therefore, the Internet becomes a tool of abuse for many. Translators' directories do not offer expensive (or any) legal help and representation and if the bad comes to worse, translators are left to sort the problems themselves. Agencies who commit fraud escape easily because what they would typically do is to change their name and their website and start fresh. Translators without qualifications, good reputation and accreditations also escape easily because they may change their emails, wipe out their old and create new profiles and start fresh too. It becomes increasingly difficult investigating such trails and identifying the genuinely good from the genuinely bad.

The symptoms (and cures) of the agency caused ailments:

1. They ask you for a sample translation that is more than a page (often a few pages from different documents). A cure: tell them you are happy to translate up to two paragraphs as this is sufficient to judge your translation skill and more time efficient.

2. They freeze at the mention of a formal contract that you ask them to sign and fax back and you have to chase them for reply. A cure: send them an email saying 'we are happy to list you on our website as looking for free translations'.

3. They refuse to pay a deposit of 10-20 percent especially for urgent translations. A cure: ask them for a payment in full and in advance once they come back to you because they could not find anyone else to translate 45 pages within 24 hours at a two hours notice.

4. They contact you repeatedly with "Hello, we saw your profile" queries and have no idea they already contacted you three times in the past nine months. They are definitely the worst kind. A cure: tell them you are happy to 'spam' them with your ISP.

5. They have either flashy or dubious looking websites. A cure: check their contacts and 'about us' info, send an email query to their manager's email address and judge the response, follow your gut feeling based on the correspondence you received from them (the language they use, the manner they do their business, etc.).

The symptoms of the translator caused ailments:

1. They do not ask questions (about the assignment, the conditions of work and payment, etc.). A cure: you (the agency or the client) ask them (the translators) questions.

2. Their rates are 'next to nothing'. A cure: ask if they could certify the translation and submit their first few pages within the 48 hours from receiving your deposit. If the work is of a mediocre quality, at least you saved yourself another 80% of otherwise wasted money.

3. Their replies have grammar and spelling mistakes and they justify them by saying how their native language is '------------' so you do not need to worry because they are not translating it into English. A cure: Ask them how would they translate an incorrect English sentence correctly into their target language.

4. They rush you to send them the work.

5. They do not have the qualifications in either language, a degree in their specialisation area, or accreditations, but they have the experience. A cure: ask for the experience, contact their clients regarding the same and then decide. Safer option: stay away.

The symptoms of the payment merchants caused ailments:

1. They would notify you of the "attempts that your client has made to make the payment'. More often than not, the client has paid on the same day that it supposedly attempted to make the payment. A cure: ask for the precise definition of the 'attempts' and tell them how your client has advised you that the payment was made and if there are any problems you might need to involve the ombudsman (or whatever applies in your homeland).

2. They would receive the payment from your client and then notify you on time but advise you how they cannot transfer it to your bank because of the A, B, C, and D reasons (all sounding right but feeling wrong) until the ten working days have passed. A cure: refer them back to their "Conditions of use" telling them you saved a copy on your hard drive on the day you signed (they often change their conditions from week to week so pay attention) or other disclosures that you have hopefully read before you signed up with them. They cannot survive from the fees they charge you but more from the profits they make while holding your earnings in their account and turning them on the market.

There is a lot more to know to be able to survive in the global jungle so stay tuned for more tips in the future.