Poll: Would you support a Blue Board for translators?
Takako S. Japan Local time: 06:47 Member Russian to Japanese + ...
Proz
Nov 25, 2009
polyglot45 wrote:
but many of them seem to rely very heavily on their friends on translator sites. I sometimes think that such people must bid low to get jobs in the first place, taking the work away from more experienced and therefore higher paid translators, only to expect those same colleagues to answer all the (very) many questions they have to put even to finish the job at all.
Looking at this from a client perspective, it is obviously best for the client to know his translators and to build up a good and direct working relationship with them. Even with agencies, with whom I would prefer not to work, it is at times possible as a client to insist on using the same person (and you can tell by the style if this is not the case and call them to order), in order to trust your supplier.
But all this would be in an ideal world and the truth is that, at times, we desparetely have to find a translator for a language pair with which we are unfamiliar and it then becomes a mixture of Hobson's choice and pot luck - never a happy combination.
I think that the truly bad translators should be named and shamed. Not just someone's occasional mental aberration. Clients should be protected from some of the people, who one can easily pick out on sites like this. Yes, to learning curves and supportiveness. No, to acting as a permanent crutch for the incompetent and unable.
But since site rules preclude any form of direct criticism, there's not a snowball's chance in hell - always assuming a system could be devised that could not be abused by the "dirty tricks" brigade...
[Edited at 2009-11-24 22:21 GMT]
I appreciate any questions and answers given on this site as I am a Kudoz lover. I don't think this is a bad idea to rely on fellow translators. This is one of the purposes why the Proz is created.
About the criticizm, I am wondering if all participants are ready to work under their own names.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 23:47 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
You did not read
Nov 25, 2009
polyglot45 wrote:
but it is interesting to see how many people seem to be running scared....
I think you clearly haven't read the Proz.com profiles of the people who are against the idea...
[Edited at 2009-11-25 07:19 GMT]
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 23:47 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
Create the system and you will see dirty tricks
Nov 25, 2009
polyglot45 wrote:
I think that the truly bad translators should be named and shamed. Not just someone's occasional mental aberration. Clients should be protected from some of the people, who one can easily pick out on sites like this. Yes, to learning curves and supportiveness. No, to acting as a permanent crutch for the incompetent and unable.
But since site rules preclude any form of direct criticism, there's not a snowball's chance in hell - always assuming a system could be devised that could not be abused by the "dirty tricks" brigade...
Well, create the system and there will be dirty tricks. Bad agencies will use it to put price and payment pressure on translators, discredit good translators they dislike for personal reasons, etc.
In my opinion, bad translators are bound to have trouble working in the future: they will be spotted by the customer itself, and they will always have trouble finding work. Any agency or customer with enough experience knows how to select good translators. They don't need black lists which, in my opinion, would only serve as a solution for agencies who can't do their job and who should not be in the market anyway.
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gad United States Local time: 17:47 Member French to English
I am guessing that more than two individuals misunderstood this poll
Nov 26, 2009
Alejandro Cavalitto wrote:
Hello,
I am sorry that two users misunderstood the scope of the poll. It is currently not possible for individual participants to modify their vote but this could be considered for future implementation.
Regards,
Alejandro
I think that probably many on this site voted "Yes" thinking that it must be a Blue Board FOR THE BENEFIT OF translators, not ABOUT translators. Otherwise I can't imagine all the "No" posts here while the supposed majority think "Yes". It can't be possible.
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gad United States Local time: 17:47 Member French to English
Agree with John Fossey
Nov 26, 2009
John Fossey wrote:
If an agency doesn't pay or pays late, that is a plain, objective, unequivocal fact.
If a translator does a lousy job, how are you going to define it? It will often be purely subjective, especially when an outsourcer doesn't have linguistic abilities in the language pair themselves.
If a translator does a lousy job, a well managed outsourcer will have other resources they can fall back on to put the job together properly, deliver and get paid for it. If a translator can't get paid, what recourse do they have? They are alone in this case.
Sorry, but there is a serious imbalance in the situations of outsourcers vs. translators, hence the need for the BB and other similar sites to protect translators from otherwise unrecoverable harm.
Exactly - very well put.
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Oliver Lawrence Italy Local time: 23:47 Member (2008) Italian to English + ...
Well put
Nov 26, 2009
I think that probably many on this site voted "Yes" thinking that it must be a Blue Board FOR THE BENEFIT OF translators, not ABOUT translators. Otherwise I can't imagine all the "No" posts here while the supposed majority think "Yes". It can't be possible.
I'm sure you're right
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