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| User | Thread poster: Bin Tiede Another perspective |
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Bin Tiede 
Germany
Local time: 22:13
 Member (2008)
German to Chinese
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Suppose you were an outsourcer. You were about to find a translator for a project, and your budget were 20 cents per word for it. After examing the profiles on Proz.com carefully, you finally found a translator with a high profile, who fit all the requirements for this job. Then you asked for his/her price, this translator sent you 5 cents per word.
What would be your first reaction?
Thanks for reading and contributing.
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Alexander Onishko
Ukraine
Local time: 23:13
Member (2007)
Russian to English
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Bin Tiede wrote:
Suppose you were an outsourcer. You were about to find a translator for a project, and your budget were 20 cents per word for it. After examing the profiles on Proz.com carefully, you finally found a translator with a high profile, who fit all the requirements for this job. Then you asked for his/her price, this translator sent you 5 cents per word.
What would be your first reaction?
Thanks for reading and contributing.
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I would be very glad to indulge in every pleasure on the remaining 15 cents!
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Andy Lemminger
Canada
Local time: 14:13
 Member (2002)
English to German
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I wouldn't give him/her the job because I'd think that something's wrong with someone whose rates are that low.
Andy
www.interlations.com
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:13
Member (2007)
English
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| | I wouldn't trust them at first | Jan 19 |
Of course, it depends where they live but if we're talking Europe, the US, etc. then I'd be very wary. I'd get them to do a test, I'd give them a first job that was short, destined for internal company use only, not urgent (allowing time for proofreading or even re-translation if necessary). If all went well, I'd spend the rest of the money on a bottle of champers and toast my good luck.
But if I had a really important job to be done urgently, I'd just reject them.
This would make a good poll - I don't think we'd learn much but then you can say that about most of the polls.
Sheila
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Germaine
Canada
Local time: 16:13
Member (2005)
English to French
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| | Take, after a test | Jan 19 |
I would ask for a test and such test being conclusive, I would accept the offer. Then, taking into account my time for proofreading, administration fees and, if possible, a reasonable profit, I would pay a fair rate. My rule is very basic: I don't like to be taken advantage of, so I don't take advantage of others. I wouldn't "adjust" the rate upfront though (experience told me it was a bad idea).
Sure, there might be "something wrong" with someone asking what is considered a low rate. I remember of a translator putting so many conditions for execution and delivery that in the end, I said to myself "Ok. There's the why". But there are also translators who are just not aware of their value, or who think that, because they don't have the sacro-saint diploma/title, they can't ask for a "professional" rate.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 22:13
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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| | I would think of fruit! | Jan 19 |
I.e. would think that the translator is a lemon, and would therefore hire some other translator.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 22:13
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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| | The thesis wrongly set at start. | Jan 19 |
Why would their online profile (never mind what it's like) be an ultimate evidence of their competence? The outsourcer must always be ready to take a certain risk.
Before I decide on their overall performance, I'd give them a small paid job.
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 22:13
Member (2009)
English to German
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I'd be wondering why this translator is selling him-/herself short.
And also about the quality of the translation... then go hire another translator.
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kchansen
Denmark
Local time: 22:13
English to Danish
| | Same as for any translator, plus a bit | Jan 20 |
I would be wary of any translator the first time around. I'd ask them to do a short test, then try them out on one or more small jobs where I had enough time and resources to check their translations thoroughly. Finally, after they had proven themselves, I'd be happy to send them jobs that didn't need thorough checking but I'd keep spot-checking translations "just in case".
The lower price would make me a bit more wary but once a low-price translator had proven him- or herself, I'd be happy to use them.
Thinking one step further, I might also want to tell a low-price translator that their prices are a bit low. If I can pay them a better price, I might build up a better partnership, whereas a translator who finds out that I have cheated him or her by keeping prices low might not want to work with me any more once they find better paying clients.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 22:13
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| | Hire a proofreader | Jan 20 |
Bin Tiede wrote:
Suppose you were an outsourcer. You were about to find a translator for a project, and your budget were 20 cents per word for it. After examing the profiles on Proz.com carefully, you finally found a translator with a high profile, who fit all the requirements for this job. Then you asked for his/her price, this translator sent you 5 cents per word. |
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My first reaction would be shake my head at having found yet another translator who is out of touch with what he is worth. I would use some of the left-over money to hire a proofreader, and if the proofreader's report is favourable, I would share it with the translator and let him know that he is worth more than 5c per word.
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Lisa Simpson, MCIL
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:13
Member (2010)
Portuguese to English
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| | Any of this based on fact? | Jan 20 |
Bin, have you actually seen said profile yourself or are we all just contemplating a scenario that possibly doesn't exist anyway?
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Bin Tiede
Germany
Local time: 22:13
Member (2008)
German to Chinese
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TOPIC STARTER |
Lisa Simpson wrote:
Bin, have you actually seen said profile yourself or are we all just contemplating a scenario that possibly doesn't exist anyway? |
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When I am in contact with a client, I always check his/her BB records. It happens more than once, that I find a Prozian with a high profile (located in Germany) leaving a positive feedback for this outsourcer, who offers some 5 cents as their standard rates.
This makes me think.
[Edited at 2012-01-20 12:10 GMT]
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Bin Tiede
Germany
Local time: 22:13
Member (2008)
German to Chinese
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TOPIC STARTER | | The most recent case | Jan 20 |
Lisa Simpson wrote:
Bin, have you actually seen said profile yourself or are we all just contemplating a scenario that possibly doesn't exist anyway? |
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2 weeks ago, I had a telephone interview with an agency in Germany, who invited me to register with them. We had a nice chat, so I asked this lady how much they’d pay their translators. "5 cents" was her answer, I immediately thought of all the high profiles on their BB records.
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Katalin Horvath McClure
United States
Local time: 16:13
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
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| | But this is the other way around... | Jan 21 |
Bin, the scenario you described in your original post consists of a highly qualified translator OFFERING voluntarily the 5 cents rate, but the actual example you are citing is the other way around: an agency offering such rate, or describing it as their "standard" rate, when you contact them for the first time. How do you know it is true, when they say they pay others 5 cents? It could be a blatant lie, or the 5 cents may be their starting point for negotiation, this is what they would offer for somebody they do not know yet. Perhaps the "high profile" translators who left BB comments were paid more, sometimes significantly more than that initial offer. Or they worked on specialized projects, that were charged at a special rate, not the general 5 cents. Who knows?
I feel that this is rather speculating without enough facts at hand, and the thread can easily turn into yet another rant about agencies offering substandard rates.
[Edited at 2012-01-21 01:51 GMT]
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Siegfried Armbruster
Germany
Local time: 22:13
Member (2004)
English to German
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| | Our possible reactions | Jan 21 |
Suppose you were an outsourcer.
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We do outsource regularly
You were about to find a translator for a project, and your budget were 20 cents per word for it. After examing the profiles on Proz.com carefully, you finally found a translator with a high profile, who fit all the requirements for this job.
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Proz is just one source of information, there are other souces that allow us to identify the right person for the right job. But let's assume that we identified a person who in our opinion is perfect for this job.
Then you asked for his/her price, this translator sent you 5 cents per word.
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This is a very important point. The translator does not ask for a higher rate. And we did not mention a rate before.
What would be your first reaction?
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Remember, this is the translator we choose for other factors than rate. Rate however is also an important piece of information. As a first reaction I would not trust my eyes and depending on the topic and language pair I might wonder if he/she meant 0.15/source word instead (which might well be above our budget).
If 0.05 is clearly the rate the translator asked, this would shed some doubt on our decision and we would check if we missed something in our previous assessment.
If our assesment was right and we still want to work with this translator, we would offer him/her a higher rate (might not be much higher). If he/she is good, we want this person to understand that his/her service has a certain value. The translator might in the future be less willing to work for the bottom feeder clients which will make it more difficult for them to provide quality translations.
If we constantly are offered low rates for quality translations we might consider to reduce the rates we charge our customers to strengthen our position with them.
Please note, if a translator contacts us directly offering his/her services at such rates, we would not consider him/her a professional translator and we would not waste any time in following up with this contact
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