Anton Konashenok Czech Republic Local time: 17:50 Russian to English + ...
Just received
Feb 22, 2011
From a letter that arrived in my mailbox 5 minutes ago:
"Over the next month we will have approx. 50 hours of DA (Danish) audio to transcribe with a specific set of rules and a special software – very user friendly. The rate would be $75/audio hour, subject is general. All audio files are very short, but there are many files and rules to follow. However, with the software we developed, everything will be quite easy and fast to process, and the rules are easy once you learn them."
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Michal Glowacki United Kingdom Local time: 16:50 Member (2010) English to Polish + ...
Hm?
Feb 23, 2011
"Over the next month we will have approx. 50 hours of DA (Danish) audio to transcribe with a specific set of rules and a special software – very user friendly. The rate would be $75/audio hour, subject is general. All audio files are very short, but there are many files and rules to follow. However, with the software we developed, everything will be quite easy and fast to process, and the rules are easy once you learn them."
That's great, but can you be specific about this message? There's nothing wrong with it for me. Not that I know what the rate should be, or anything....
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Anton Konashenok Czech Republic Local time: 17:50 Russian to English + ...
Just an example
Feb 28, 2011
Michal Glowacki wrote:
That's great, but can you be specific about this message? There's nothing wrong with it for me. Not that I know what the rate should be, or anything....
Just a typical example of a lowish rate for a job encumbered by numerous rules being justified by "very user friendly software".
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Nicole Schnell United States Local time: 08:50 Member English to German + ...
My personal favorite: "Because it's industry standard."
Feb 28, 2011
Quote from a recent email correspondence after being contacted by a potential agency customer:
"Dear translator,
[...job...need translator, etc.]
Please provide your rates and your discount."
Me: "Dear [PM],
How come that you are asking me for favors before you even learned my name?]
PM: "Favor? Discounts are industry standard."
Me: "Last time I checked translators are the industry, and I can assure you that this is not a standard."
PM: "My apologies. I am new to this job."
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Rudolf Vedo CT United States Local time: 10:50 Member (2008) Croatian to English + ...
Perhaps increase rate and then discount
Feb 28, 2011
Nicole Schnell wrote:
Quote from a recent email correspondence after being contacted by a potential agency customer:
"Dear translator,
..need translator, etc.]
Please provide your rates and your discount."
Me: "Dear [PM],
How come that you are asking me for favors before you even learned my name?]
PM: "Favor? Discounts are industry standard."
Me: "Last time I checked translators are the industry, and I can assure you that this is not a standard."
PM: "My apologies. I am new to this job."
[/quote]
How funny!
Perhaps the PM's are like purchasing managers in many industries where part of their performance evaluation is based on their negotiation skills, as judged by how much they manage to reduce initial quotes.
I suppose one could tell them that the rate is [your usual rate*1.15], but that you can offer offer a goodwill discount of 10%. I'm sure this happens in all sorts of industries.
If they refuse to deal with you, it doesn't sound like a great loss.
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Rudolf Vedo CT United States Local time: 10:50 Member (2008) Croatian to English + ...
"...because we'll give you extra time."
Feb 28, 2011
Generally meaning a few extra hours or perhaps a day or two, in exchange for an inferior rate.
What on earth is up with that logic? I'm 100% booked -- if your rate that equates to $15/h is unacceptable if I spend that hour/those hours today, what possible difference does it make if I split that time up over x days? Sheesh.
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