leapfrog France Local time: 22:25 French to English + ...
Jan 13
Please could somebody advise on how to quote for translating a website? Customer just emailed me a link to the site, which has several pages, with clickable links all over the place. To go and search all the text in order to establish a quote based on word count or time it will take to translate will in itself take me hours.
Is it normal practice to request the text to be translated in a more user-friendly (at least for the translator) format, such as PDF or Word?
Thanks for any help
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Anton Konashenok Czech Republic Local time: 22:25 Russian to English + ...
Translating a live site is potentially risky
Jan 13
A live site with lots of links does not clearly define your scope of work and does not allow you to give a quote in advance. Personally, I'd never agree to translate a live site. Instead, I'd request the client to e-mail me the set of HTML/PHP/ASP/whatever files to translate. Ideally, the webmaster should first create a bilingual file structure and only then send you the respective files.
If the site is hosted under a content management system, you should be given an account and, again, a list of pages to translate.
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Sheila Wilson Spain Local time: 21:25 Member (2007) English + ...
Only the client knows the extent of the job
Jan 13
leapfrog wrote:
Customer just emailed me a link to the site, which has several pages, with clickable links all over the place.
To go and search all the text in order to establish a quote based on word count or time it will take to translate will in itself take me hours.
I had the same request just a few weeks ago. The client said it was just a simple cut and paste job, but to my mind it is up to the client to define the extent of the job. Otherwise, it's like giving a painter a can of paint and a front door key, without telling him/her which rooms to paint. There's always going to be an element of doubt and possible misunderstanding.
Is it normal practice to request the text to be translated in a more user-friendly (at least for the translator) format, such as PDF or Word?
Well, that's what I did, at any rate - Word, rather than PDF by a long, long way. After all, the whole reason for being of a PDF is that it can't easily be edited, so don't expect me to translate one!
Sheila
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Alex Lago Spain Local time: 22:25 Member (2009) English to Spanish + ...
Two options
Jan 13
The best option is to do what Anton suggested and have the client sent you the actual files.
However not all clients can do that, often because they may have used a free service to set up their web page and don't really know what you are asking for, sometimes because the people who did their website don't send you all the files.
In this case you have two options, one is to ask the client to give you access to their website management site, i.e. access to the domain provider's site management application, you can then simply download the files yourself.
Another is to use a website copier like HTTrack which is free http://www.httrack.com/ to download all the pages from the Internet, problem here is that you may need to set the scanning depth quite deep (depending on the amount of internal links in the pages) and you may end up downloading outside content (if there are also external links) or not all the content (if you don't set your scanning depth deep enough).
In both cases after getting the files you should send them to the client and make sure you both agree on the actual material that needs to be and will be translated.
The best option is always having the client send you the files, but these others should work if that's not possible.
The problem is that translating websites requires a bit of programming/internet knowledge, if the client only sends you the "visible" text you will not be translating the link text, image text and other text in tags or meta tags, there is a big difference between translating the text visible on a website and translating a website, perhaps if you are not clear on this you should refuse this job and spend some time learning about website localization.
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Sarah Swift Germany Local time: 22:25 Member (2010) German to English
with Alex - different processes for different clients
Jan 14
I see myself as a surgeon going through a pre-op checklist when I define the scope of a web project with a client: it's better to double-check things than to amputate the wrong limb. If a site contains text in graphics, for example, is the plan to edit the graphics, or to send the client a table with a list of graphics and the translated texts to be inserted into each one?
In my experience, clients with small, basic websites are not always very tech-savvy, and they don't necessarily have tech-savvy staff, if they have staff at all. I will usually make a client like this a transparent offer on the basis of my own analysis of his or her site. Asking too many technical questions or making too many pesky requests ("please send me the files") could scare these clients off.
Preparing quotes for larger, more complex and/or dynamic website projects is different; most of the input into the project specifications then comes from the client, and my job is to ask lots of questions, request files, and take the client's input on board.
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leapfrog France Local time: 22:25 French to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Big Thank you
Jan 15
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply. I have repilied to the customer explaining why I cannot work from a "live" site and asking them to send the files in another format.
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Rolf Kern Switzerland Local time: 22:25 Member (2008) English to German + ...
Agree
Jan 15
leapfrog wrote:
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply. I have repilied to the customer explaining why I cannot work from a "live" site and asking them to send the files in another format.
This is the only way.
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