Phil Hand China Local time: 04:15 Member (2011) Chinese to English
Please don't call us unprofessional
Jan 20
I understand the position that you're taking, Lisa, but I'm a little bit upset to see you suggesting that taking a paper outside one's field of expertise is "unprofessional". I have a pretty clear understanding of what I can and can't do, and I think I offer highly professional services to my clients. But I also manage to deal with texts which aren't in areas that I've studied or worked in before (luckily, since my degree was in linguistics...)
There are certain words which one should be pretty cautious about using in these forums, and I think "unprofessional" is one of them.
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Jessica Noyes United States Local time: 16:15 Member Spanish to English + ...
great resource for new fields
Jan 20
If you have time, Martin, you might consider following one of the free courses offered by the Massachussets Instute of Technology. They offer over 2000 sets of their course materials on every topic (but no instructor assistance or credit). Still you can study engineering, architecture, linguistics in a guided, deliberate fashion, and at your own pace. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
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Martin Damiano Alcorta Argentina Local time: 17:15 Partial member (Jan 2012) English to Spanish
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That's a great resource
Jan 20
Thanks very much Jessica, I'll check it out right away!
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Lisa Simpson, MCIL United Kingdom Local time: 21:15 Member (2010) Portuguese to English + ...
@ Phil
Jan 20
I apologise if I upset you as that was not my intention. Simply put, if I were to go and see a dermatologist who then agreed to take a look at my painful knee I would find that a) a bit odd and b) yes, unprofessional. We just appear to have a difference of opinion on this - that's allowed.
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Samuel Murray Netherlands Local time: 22:15 Member (2006) English to Afrikaans + ...
@Martin
Jan 20
Martin Damiano Alcorta wrote:
So, I lost the job assignment, but I safeguarded my reputation by not delivering a poor translation... Do you think that I did the right thing?
Some people interpret the word "specialisation" to mean "you translate mostly in this field" but some interpret it to mean "you can translate nothing else".
Did you mean to imply to this client that you refuse to do any work except for work in your specified specialisations?
Do you think you would have been able to produce adequate translations of the test pieces of test, even though you would not normally excel at translations in those fields?
If a client sends me a test with texts from various fields and asks me to translate everything, then I think the assumption is not that I would turn out to be an expert in all those fields. If some of the texts were of fields that I'm very poor at, I would simply add a note at the top of those paragraphs to say that I'm not an expert in that field and that I normally don't accept jobs in that field. The client will then hopefully judge those paragraphs on issues like spelling errors and grammar only.
[Remember also that in a test translation you are free to add comments and questions to the translation, to indicate which words or phrases you were unsure of. This might backfire in some cases because a client might be afraid that your translations will always be full of questions, but on the other hand it might tell the client that you will not guess.]
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Martin Damiano Alcorta Argentina Local time: 17:15 Partial member (Jan 2012) English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
@Samuel
Jan 20
[quote]Samuel Murray wrote:
Martin Damiano Alcorta wrote:
So, I lost the job assignment, but I safeguarded my reputation by not delivering a poor translation... Do you think that I did the right thing?
Some people interpret the word "specialisation" to mean "you translate mostly in this field" but some interpret it to mean "you can translate nothing else".
Did you mean to imply to this client that you refuse to do any work except for work in your specified specialisations?
Do you think you would have been able to produce adequate translations of the test pieces of test, even though you would not normally excel at translations in those fields?
If a client sends me a test with texts from various fields and asks me to translate everything, then I think the assumption is not that I would turn out to be an expert in all those fields. If some of the texts were of fields that I'm very poor at, I would simply add a note at the top of those paragraphs to say that I'm not an expert in that field and that I normally don't accept jobs in that field. The client will then hopefully judge those paragraphs on issues like spelling errors and grammar only.
er also that in a test translation you are free to add comments and questions to the translation, to indicate which words or phrases you were unsure of. This might backfire in some cases because a client might be afraid that your translations will always be full of questions, but on the other hand it might tell the client that you will not guess.]
I mostly translate in my fields of expertise, I also do work in other fields, but in the case I stated, there were fields I've never heard of, that's why I told them I couldn't be able to do it. Mainly because the test was just a brief glance of what was going to come, and honestly it was too technical. That's why.
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Tom Fennell United States Local time: 15:15 Russian to English + ...
We have been speaking of new clients, but there is another problem - regular clients
Jan 21
You are speaking of new clients, and I think you acted correctly. I am a legal/business translator and I would not want to have a new client that is primarily concerned with electrical engineering texts.
However, my regular legal clients often need translations of texts which are rather technical. They usually work under great time pressure. In my language direction (RU>EN) it is extremely hard to find native speakers, and even harder to find native speakers with technical expertise.
I always warn them about my limitations every time, and remind them that they should be sure to have the translation reviewed by a technical expert, and I often mark terms I feel less than certain about. On some occasions, I find my own technical editor if I feel there could be serious safety issues involved (I recently did this for control panel equipment at a nuclear power plant) -- I "ate" the cost on this item. In my next rate sheet, I will be including these editing costs.
It does sound like you did the right thing in this case. Even if you have the same rate, work outside your field is inherently less profitable, because your hourly earnings will be lower due to decreased productivity.
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Martin Damiano Alcorta Argentina Local time: 17:15 Partial member (Jan 2012) English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
I agree
Jan 21
I agree with you Tom, and thank you for your advice! I really appreciate it!
Cheers!
Martín
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Giles Watson Italy Local time: 22:15 Member Italian to English
It's a common problem/opportunity
Jan 22
Tom Fennell wrote:
However, my regular legal clients often need translations of texts which are rather technical. They usually work under great time pressure. In my language direction (RU>EN) it is extremely hard to find native speakers, and even harder to find native speakers with technical expertise.
My wine clients quite often want legal translations or translations in language combinations I don't handle.
I pass these requests on to colleagues or agencies I know I can trust - many of whom I found out about through Proz - and let them get on with it. Everyone's happy and the client gets the best possible translation, which is the object of the exercise.
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Vladimír Hoffman Slovakia Local time: 22:15 Member (2009) English to Slovak + ...
You are correct,
Jan 22
but only on short-term run. On long-term run, it is simple a time investement into acquiring new knowledge. Of course, somebody could object that you are doing training at your client's expenses (because you will probably deliver worse translation than as if you already were specialized in the field), but if your client is at least satisfied (I do not say delighted or even excited) with quality of your work, then you have invested your time well. I remember that I was learning how to translate legal texts for more than two years, translation after translation, with gritted teeth, but since then I made big profit from the field. Painful and stressful learning method, but highly effective one.
Tom Fennell wrote:
Even if you have the same rate, work outside your field is inherently less profitable, because your hourly earnings will be lower due to decreased productivity.
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Suzan Hamer Netherlands Local time: 22:15 Member (2007) English + ...
Wat a gem, Jessica!
Jan 22
Jessica Noyes wrote:
If you have time, Martin, you might consider following one of the free courses offered by the Massachussets Instute of Technology. They offer over 2000 sets of their course materials on every topic (but no instructor assistance or credit). Still you can study engineering, architecture, linguistics in a guided, deliberate fashion, and at your own pace. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
I second Martin; it is a great resource. Already started learning more about anthropology... and film as chemistry. Just one question. When am I supposed to find time to work?
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