| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you prefer working with local or foreign agencies? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Joan Berglund 
United States
Local time: 02:23
Member (2008)
French to English
| Local (Eastern US) agencies | Apr 13, 2012 |
Everything else being equal, because it is faster to read and write emails in English than in French, I don't have to feel guilty if I am not up at the crack of dawn to answer European emails and I don't have to worry about who is responsible for wire transfer or paypal fees with companies that pay by American bank check. That being said, most of my customers are actually in Canada and France, so I try to get up early, get practice writing French emails, and spend a lot of time cursing banks.
| | | | | posted elsewhere | Apr 13, 2012 |
repeat post deleted
[Edited at 2012-04-13 23:51 GMT]
| | | | | Location, location, location | Apr 13, 2012 |
Really interesting poll, I expected "no preference" or "local" to be the frontrunner.
From the discussion, foreign seems to be a frontrunner because they are larger-scale projects and pay better. But for me - as for others in the discussion - local agencies pay better in my language pair, purely for circumstantial reasons (low supply, official accreditation near-mandatory), and nothing prevents a local agency from being an international one.
Btw, for me there is no amb... See more Really interesting poll, I expected "no preference" or "local" to be the frontrunner.
From the discussion, foreign seems to be a frontrunner because they are larger-scale projects and pay better. But for me - as for others in the discussion - local agencies pay better in my language pair, purely for circumstantial reasons (low supply, official accreditation near-mandatory), and nothing prevents a local agency from being an international one.
Btw, for me there is no ambiguity about the term "local" in this context: it means "not foreign/national". Just as "domestic", when contrasted with "foreign", means "not foreign/national" rather than "in the house"!
MM ▲ Collapse
| | | | | bring on the reformation | Apr 13, 2012 |
Bruno Depascale wrote:
In my personal experience, local (i.e. Italian) agencies pay very low fees and treat you most of the time as a beggar, not as a professional service provider.
This maybe is due to the fact that Italian translation agencies are often very small and have a very restricted view on the translation industry and on business in general.
Moreover, in Italy people often have a "paternalistic" approach to work: that is, "we are doing you a very big favor assigning you this job at the "very high rate of 0,04 € per source word"!
This is only my humble opinion of course..
Nope I agree and worse ....
My US agency THANKS ME when thay pay me: they pay me within days everytime even though we have a 30 days from end of month invoice agreement. They even pay me when I have missed the invoice deadline; they feel guilty about the inter-continent bank fees and even offer to pay them: they know that after completing 25000 words in one week of banking contracts in 7 point helvetica on PDF that my brains have turned to mush and I may wish to blow my brains out if I dont get a day off, ... because now they have to check it before sending it to the client and they feel the same .... they also give me the longest deadlines possible ie: what do I need after viewing the file, and tell me (when Im worried about problematic areas of text and meaning) ... "its ok, sometimes its written badly, sometimes translators have different interpretations ... but anyhow we have similar texts on file, and we'll check it for any applicable standard phrases .... " .... therefore I love these guys ... I give the work my all and I never dread getting emails, phone calls or work from them, ... I also tell them how great they are to work for .....
The Italian agencies I have been unfortunate to have contact with: 3 in all, all had the following in common:
They pay you within 60-90 days from the end of the month, ie could be as long as 4 months if work falls at the beginning of a month. They also tend to scream at you down the phone if you understand Italian, dont have any other English speakers/proof readers who work in the office or with them: ie they control your work and dont speak the target language enough to recognise a missed preposition, and treat you like a slave in that work is a privalege and as your "datore di lavoro" you need to be grateful to them for the opportunity and always remember that you are expendable ..... And never try to contradict an Italian boss on these points, ...
But generally it's 1. the histrionic screaming (rather than discussion and understanding), once my housemate could hear the screams from the phone receiver from the other side of the house while I remained quite and listened ....
.... and 2. the cc-ing to everyone in the company of the abusive emails (the ones you usually receive when 1. you resign, and/or 2. you propose better work conditions or remind them of your legal rights) telling you and everyone else that you are an arrogant worthless ingrate. This last scary abusive action is enacted to make sure no-one else working for them gets any uppity ideas about human rights ....
Personaly I am terrified of them .... Bring on the reformation I say .....
[Edited at 2012-04-13 23:54 GMT]
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| local, but not a huge preference | Apr 14, 2012 |
the real downside of international agencies (usually Euro) is the time zone, so if i don't catch their emails in the wee hours of the morning, i miss out. I do admit that I have had that experience with Spanish and Italian agencies, they often ask for me to work for WAY below my rate. Most of the int'l agencies that I work for are in the UK or in France/Belgium because of the language pair i work in and the Euro rate vs CAD is good.
I think I do prefer local agencies, just for convenience... See more the real downside of international agencies (usually Euro) is the time zone, so if i don't catch their emails in the wee hours of the morning, i miss out. I do admit that I have had that experience with Spanish and Italian agencies, they often ask for me to work for WAY below my rate. Most of the int'l agencies that I work for are in the UK or in France/Belgium because of the language pair i work in and the Euro rate vs CAD is good.
I think I do prefer local agencies, just for convenience and good rates..there are plenty of them in this region who need my language pair and they're in the same time zone. I've also generally had good experiences with a couple of Asian agencies, but sometimes the time difference made it really difficult. ▲ Collapse
| | | | inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 08:23
French to German
+ ...
| Foreign agencies | Apr 14, 2012 |
Definitely, since no VAT means a lot less paperwork.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 07:23
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Client collector | Apr 14, 2012 |
I don't very often work with agencies, but I'll take the question to refer to clients in general. I don't mind where they come from if they pay my rates and offer reasonably interesting work.
Of course, I'm wary of accepting a large first job from a country where chasing for payment is going to be pretty impossible, but I think you have to be realistic and examine the business risk. Frankly, a small local debt may have to be written off as there's a limit to the economics of chasin... See more I don't very often work with agencies, but I'll take the question to refer to clients in general. I don't mind where they come from if they pay my rates and offer reasonably interesting work.
Of course, I'm wary of accepting a large first job from a country where chasing for payment is going to be pretty impossible, but I think you have to be realistic and examine the business risk. Frankly, a small local debt may have to be written off as there's a limit to the economics of chasing the client, and if an important local client goes into liquidation then all outstanding payments are lost.
I find "client collecting" much more interesting than the stamp collecting I did when I was young. It's fun to add up how many countries I've done business with in the last month/year.
Sheila ▲ Collapse
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