Translators versus agencies

While working steadily for an agency is great, the inconvenience of having to wait until the agency is paid to be paid is a serious problem.

I establish a price that allows me to pay the translator and have some money left over for myself too because I have some expenses and some responsibilities.

Translators are paid per words; therefore, any word that is wrongfully translated (black for white or anything like this) should be deducted from the same amount that it was going to be paid or if times permit the translator should have the opportunity to correct it. We know that a majority of the texts to translate are urgent so there is not enough time to send it back to the translator. In these cases, translators should have their word discounted for the price of the words misspelled, wrong etc. There is no reason at all to discount a percentage of the translation when there is a price per word that can be used.

Translators don't deal with clients; therefore, they should not be involved in the client agency owners’ relationship.

They are employees as long as an agency uses them to do a job they are going to benefit from.

Ralf Lemster wrote:

Hi Geneviève,
Although I agree in principle that non-payment is not an option, even if there are severe defects in the work delivered, I see some misconceptions in your post.


This is not an inconvenience, but a real business risk.
Agree on payment terms, and insist on them - personally, I would never enter into an agreement where the performance of my counterparty is conditional upon a third party's payment.


You forgot a major aspect: a business needs to turn in a profit.


In my view, that is too simplistic, as one wrongly-translated word may render an entire paragraph senseless.


I outsource work on a permanent basis - here's how I deal with problems. As a matter of principle, translators receive an edited version of their translation (usually in Trados pre-cleanup mode). If the quality was insufficient, I quantify the extra cost incurred for editing, and propose to deduct this from the next invoice. If the translator disagrees, the invoice will be paid in full, and the business relationship terminated immediately.


Of course not - these are two distinctly separate contractual relationships.


No, they're not employees - a freelancer runs an independent business.

Best regards,
Ralf

Yolande Haneder wrote:

I agree that a translator should be paid whatever happens.
That said I should add a translator should not take an assignment just saying when one find mistranslations that he was sorry he had headache/the flu and correct the terms 2 days later. A proofreader should check the terminology on the internet in the case the translator had just translated literally. A translator should take time to read its copy before sending it back. If he is given 5 days for 2000 words, it means he should take time for the translation and not rush in the last 2 hours before sending back a copy.

I don't want to upset anybody but sometimes I have the feeling, being a PM is trying to coordinate between 2 worlds that don't care about each other. The client's side, wanting the cheapest translation and starting an argument if 2 words are not OK and the translator actually not caring about what will happens with the translation, just expecting to be paid since he took the first terminology in his dictionnary.

Please don't take me wrong, there are great translators over here that do really care about their work and give a great job, but there are also black sheeps giving discredit to the whole translation market. If you just felt what it is being like punched by both sides once a proofreader/translator didn't do his job properly and the client on the other side claiming for damage, you just think it is not all black or white.

A translator should be paid everytime, just like a translator should take care for his translation just as if it were for himself. Normally it is so and one should tend in this way but the other possibility will always happen.

Yolande Haneder wrote:

You get a point about the time factor. I am usually trying to extend the deadline (not always possible though) to a point that the translation doesn't end up in a hurry.
I have lost quite a few jobs for this reason because some agency are still offering to translate at a very short notice (the record for me was a high technical job of 2000 words given to the competition because I refused - given at 11 am and back at 4 pm at the latest - I would die to know how it ended up).
I get some credibility for asking the clients to wait but if they are waiting, they are expecting more.
I remember a sentence on a commercial course: "don't sell your expensive products in a discounter market or you will ruin the market for the expensive products".

Each translator should ask for themselves what they are expecting.
If they want to get job in the quality market, they can't end up offering the same quality as the cheap market. The client has to feel the difference. This mean that to survive the agency has to expect more from the translators than a cheap agency would do, except higher quality and higher commitment. If the agency is not offering a better quality than the cheap agencies, it will have to become a cheap agency or review its quality procedure because otherwise the client would go to the cheaper one.

I don't know if you are taking about price reduction because of a personal case or because you read it on conditions but I think this policy would be meant either to get a free editing on the back of the (cheap) translator or be sure that the translator does not accept a job he/she is not up to just for the sake of the money.

Genevieve Tournebize-Iliev wrote:

While working steadily for an agency is great, the inconvenience of having to wait until the agency is paid to be paid is a serious problem. Let’s look at the two sides.
If I am an agency, I have the responsibility to talk and understand the requirements of the client. I establish a price that allows me to pay the translator and have some money left over for myself too because I have some expenses and some responsibilities. In the business world, owners of agencies may be paid by clients 30 or 60 days or more after the work is done, and given back to the client. This is what business owners do, and what they engage in when they become a business. Business owners write contracts with the clients and with the translators. From the beginning, everyone knows that by doing business there are some risks. When business owners write contracts they should specify the conditions of the translator’s payment. If a business is going to wait until they get paid by the client before paying the translator they should write it in the contract. If it is not done then the payment schedule must be agreed on by the translator and the owner.

gad wrote:



I would add that an agency has the responsibility for proofreading, editing, and quality control for translation work submitted. The agency and translator should work together as a team and the agency should fully expect to have to go through these steps. That is the advantage, for the end client, of going through an agency as opposed to a freelancer. The end client is also paying a higher rate to an agency than they would be paying directly to a freelancer, so the end client has reason to expect that all of these steps are carried out.

Genevieve Tournebize-Iliev wrote:

I totally agree with what you said, that is why I am trying to create or revive an awareness with people who have been in business a long time and sometimes expect and punish way too much freelance translators.