Simone Linke Germany Local time: 14:29 English to German + ...
doesn't seem to be the case here
Jan 27, 2011
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Mlinar wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
it will at least be good practice.
To make this a practice, he'd need a feedback, which I doubt will follow.
By doing the test, the translator will see whether that kind of work is his cup of tea, and will surely learn things about the matter at hand. At this very beginning of his career, it makes total sense to do the test, in my opinion.
But with 10 years experience (Yoshida doesn't appear to be a newbie)? At some point you'll have to be more demanding and carefully think about whether or not to do sample translations just to see if it's your cup of tea... he should at least make sure the odds are good and that there's something in it for him.
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xxxPT Translati United States Local time: 05:29 Japanese to English
Japan...
Jan 27, 2011
My answer is sort of a mix. I started taking agency tests late last year, as up until then I did only internal translation (part of my job duty) and many side-jobs (although I'd been doing that since my teens). I think tests are a good way to get started in translation. It's good practice. After you do a few, you will start to see patterns in the tests. If you have no jobs and just getting started, take them.
The key is to not get upset if you fail, as there can be several reasons that may or may not be your fault. It could even be something as simple as they didn't even bother to really check it. Or a native speaker didn't check it. Or of course, your fault.
Anyway, the key is to get the first few jobs from a couple good companies. It takes time, but if you do well, it'll snowball very quickly (what I'm experiencing now).
Something I read about before about SOME Japanese agencies:
There is one thing you need to watch out for, and that's tests for agencies that run translation schools. Because of the lack of jobs in Japan, language schools are promising jobs if they attend their school. Some of them just have the trial and employment info up there for publicity purposes, or to entice students. Or you may even get a, "Unfortunately you failed but if you go to our school...." type responses.
***Disclaimer*** I am not saying all agencies that also teach translation are scamming. I'm just writing what I've read. You can go to various translator websites in Japan and they talk about this.
[Edited at 2011-01-27 19:58 GMT]
[Edited at 2011-01-27 19:59 GMT]
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Gideon Stanton United States Local time: 08:29 Russian to English + ...
Personal experience
Jan 27, 2011
I balked once when I was asked to translate a second trial text. The first was ca. 300 words. The project manager apologized, as in this case the company simply didn't know much about the translation business. I got the job. I only complained because I was trying not to be taken advantage of, even though I had nothing to lose by the translation and really wanted the job.
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Annett Hieber wrote:
... my experience is that trial translations were often followed by real jobs.
Amazingly, my experience has been the opposite.
Translation tests most often - if not always - led to an e-mail saying that I had 'passed', plus an offer of outrageously low rates.
On the other hand, when a PM (either known or a newcomer) sent me a sample or the whole job, and asked me 'Would you feel comfortable translating this? If yes, what would be your rates?', every time my answer to the first question was 'yes', I got a real job.
Btw, I'm very explicit on my web site about the areas of human knowledge that I do not translate.
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