| User | Thread poster: yolivf Off topic: ever-expanding data bases: a piece of my mind |
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yolivf 
Spain
Local time: 20:39
 Member (2007)
English to Spanish
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I contacted an agency back in mid-May; I got their reply and on their demand I sent them the confidentiality agreement, the Supplier's questionnaire and the samples of my work (30 May); and, finally, the Business Marketing Test Piece_ 2 (23 June). Yet, I am still waiting for a reply. It is not only annoying, it is time consuming. This seems to be common practice among agencies, though; and I wonder: do all the agencies that do this ever reply or do they just keep asking for free tests? And, more generally, what are some agencies making us translators spend our time filling in forms for?... Is it all about data-base expansion?
Cheers
[Editado a las 2011-10-20 10:05 GMT]
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MSBerlin
Germany
Local time: 20:39
German to English
| | Types of companies | Oct 19, 2011 |
There are companies that have lots of forms and database work and test translations, and there are companies that have work. There doesn't seem to be much overlap.
I haven't taken a test in years.
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Anne Walseth
Norway
Local time: 20:39
Member (2010)
English to Norwegian
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MSBerlin wrote:
There are companies that have lots of forms and database work and test translations, and there are companies that have work. There doesn't seem to be much overlap. |
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Well said!
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Lisa Simpson, MCIL
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:39
 Member (2010)
Portuguese to English
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I have found little correlation between those that ask you to sit tests and those that actually give you some work. What is even more frustrating are the ones who have you on their database, yet post a job on ProZ or elsewhere that matches your skills after you've taken the trouble to fill out all their forms, NDAs, maybe even done a test for them. Why not send a round robin to the translators already on their database? How can it be about database expansion? Are they not creating more work for themselves by receiving a mountain of cvs and quotes each time they post an ad?
[Edited at 2011-10-19 12:19 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT
Spain
Local time: 20:39
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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MSBerlin wrote:
There are companies that have lots of forms and database work and test translations, and there are companies that have work. There doesn't seem to be much overlap. |
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I entirely agree.
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Tina Vonhof
Canada
Local time: 12:39
Member (2006)
Dutch to English
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I usually tell companies that I will send a signed contract and other documents as soon as I have received a job from them. I don't do tests either - they can look at the samples in my Proz profile. All I am willing to send is my resume.
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Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 14:39
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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| | Tina's practice seems like a good rule to live by | Oct 20, 2011 |
I myself have generally been willing to take short tests, but I have to say that very little of my test-taking has actually resulted in paid work.
I also think that "database expansion" in many cases translates into "looking for cheap translators who have not yet gotten wise to our shoddy payment practices."
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Michael Grant
Japan
Local time: 03:39
Japanese to English
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Tina Vonhof wrote:
I usually tell companies that I will send a signed contract and other documents as soon as I have received a job from them. I don't do tests either - they can look at the samples in my Proz profile. All I am willing to send is my resume. |
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What a great way of weeding out the riff-raff agencies! I love it!
I am ashamed to admit I have been too much of a pushover and have, up to now,
done practice tests without a making a fuss. It never dawned on me that I could say No"...!
Well, no more! I have seen the error of my ways!
I'm going to update my sample translations, and
start referring these "test-pushers" to there!
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The translation workplace 
