| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4 5 6 7] > | First ProZ.com translation contest Thread poster: María Florencia Vita
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Dear members,
Translation contests have been in our plans for a long time and we are finally ready to launch the first site-wide contest. Its objective is to nourish camaraderie and friendship among site members and to promote excellence.
The contest will be a members-only experience, both for participation and for voting, including partial memberships of the Community kind, and in this instance it will cover translations from English into all other languages that have ... See more Dear members,
Translation contests have been in our plans for a long time and we are finally ready to launch the first site-wide contest. Its objective is to nourish camaraderie and friendship among site members and to promote excellence.
The contest will be a members-only experience, both for participation and for voting, including partial memberships of the Community kind, and in this instance it will cover translations from English into all other languages that have a dedicated forum in the site.
We plan to do the contest along the following lines:
1 - Next Monday January 29th we will make public the source text in English, about 300 words long, literary in nature, and we will create dedicated threads in all non-English forums to allow members to post their translations.
2 - Each participant will be allowed to post only a translation for each language, but to post in as many languages as desired. In case of more than a translation by the same translator in the same language, only the first post will be allowed and the remaining will be hidden. Posts not being translation of the source text will be hidden as well.
3 - This translation phase will last 2 weeks and after that the threads will be locked and we will open a voting phase to select the winners of all the relevant language pairs. Translations will be presented for voting without the name of their authors (just reference numbers). Voting in each language will be limited to site members who have that language in their working pairs. Members will not be allowed to vote for their own translations. There will be no voting in languages with less than three translations. A full week will be allowed for the voting phase.
4 - The threads dedicated to the translations and to the voting will be visible only to staff members (and to each poster during the normal 24 hours edition time) and will be made visible to all after being locked at the end of the corresponding periods. The threads will be also hidden to site moderators to allow them to participate like any other members.
5 - No material prizes this time around. But winners will be announced through the site and an icon will be posted in their profiles, if they so choose.
I look forward to your feedback and to your participation. Thanks for supporting the site.
Regards,
Florencia ▲ Collapse
| | | | Russell Jones 
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:19
Italian to English
| How disappointing | Jan 25, 2007 |
English native speakers the only ones excluded?
This is discrimination.
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Local time: 09:49
German to English
| Not only English native speakers | Jan 25, 2007 |
The contest also excludes:
- non-paying users, many of whom are excellent translators
- translators who work in a target language that does not have a specific forum on ProZ.com
| | | | | Only paing members? Not the registered ones? | Jan 25, 2007 |
....
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| and how do we know... | Jan 25, 2007 |
that you are not trying to put together a translator database?
| | | | Ivana UK
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:19
Member (2005)
Italian to English
+ ...
| Couldn't agree more | Jan 25, 2007 |
Russell Jones wrote:
English native speakers the only ones excluded?
This is discrimination.
All members should have the opportunity of participating (by translating into their own native language). Why have EN natives been excluded?
[Edited at 2007-01-25 14:03]
| | | | lexical
Spain
Local time: 06:19
Portuguese to English
| appalling idea | Jan 25, 2007 |
This is an appalling idea, for all the reasons given by many contributors to the thread in the Forums that you started on this topic. It proves nothing and just serves the cheapen Proz.com.
| | | | Hipyan Nopri
Indonesia
Local time: 11:19
Member (2005)
English to Indonesian
+ ...
In response to what Russell said, the language pairs should include any listed languages to English instead of only English to any listed languages.
With regard to participation, I can understand if it is devoted to members only.
However, I disagree with voting delimitation to members only given the fact that some language pairs have very limited paying members compared with the non-paying ones. Thus, to be most representative, voting right should be given to all regis... See more In response to what Russell said, the language pairs should include any listed languages to English instead of only English to any listed languages.
With regard to participation, I can understand if it is devoted to members only.
However, I disagree with voting delimitation to members only given the fact that some language pairs have very limited paying members compared with the non-paying ones. Thus, to be most representative, voting right should be given to all registered users.
Finally, in response to what Niraja said, how about translators who work in a target language that does not have a specific forum on ProZ.com? Would ProZ provide for the forum? ▲ Collapse
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Jessica Klingberg
United States
Local time: 00:19
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
I guess I should not have been surprised at the amount of negativity in this thread, but I am.
I would like to express my support for this competition, it sounds harmless and like lots of fun. Go for it, ProZ.
| | | | | Not a bad idea, but... | Jan 25, 2007 |
I can't see the point of entering a contest that has no prize.
I won't be taking part myself for Gaelic as I've got enough on my plate right now with my postgrad and current translation projects.
| | | | | Could be fun, but why not INTO English too? | Jan 25, 2007 |
Jessica Klingberg wrote:
I guess I should not have been surprised at the amount of negativity in this thread, but I am.
I would like to express my support for this competition, it sounds harmless and like lots of fun. Go for it, ProZ.
I think it could be harmless fun and am not suspicious that ProZ would use it for any nefarious purpose!
However, it's a bit hard on those of us who translate into English - a large number, I assume.
Could I (and others) attempt to translate the text into one of our working languages, even though our mother tongue is English? Just as an exercise? After all, we used to have to do this when we were students. Can we still do it? Who knows ...
Jenny.
[Edited at 2007-01-25 14:40]
| | | | Nesrin
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:19
English to Arabic
+ ...
| It also excludes... | Jan 25, 2007 |
All translators who work from and into languages other than English (they do exist!), e.g French>Spanish, German>Arabic.
But I guess a line has to be drawn somewhere!
Niraja Nanjundan wrote:
The contest also excludes:
- non-paying users, many of whom are excellent translators
- translators who work in a target language that does not have a specific forum on ProZ.com
[Edited at 2007-01-25 15:06]
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Jessica Klingberg
United States
Local time: 00:19
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
So we are excluded this time, big deal. Maybe next time it will be German or Spanish or xxx translators who have to wait a turn. This is the first time that a contest like this is taking place. ProZ is probably just testing out the waters. If it turns out to be successful, they will probably revise and expand upon the idea. Things take time to develop. It's not a big deal, guys.
| | | | lexical
Spain
Local time: 06:19
Portuguese to English
| I don't suspect Proz of nefarious purposes... | Jan 25, 2007 |
...but I think it will not be able to resist featuring the 'winning' translator as "Voted Best Lithuanian to German Translator" (for example). Otherwise, why hold the contest?
At the very least, such a tagline should carry a health warning like:
a) It is possible that as few as 3 translators entered the contest;
b) Many members and users of this site were barred from entering or voting;
c) Many of those who did not choose to enter may be as good, or better, transla... See more ...but I think it will not be able to resist featuring the 'winning' translator as "Voted Best Lithuanian to German Translator" (for example). Otherwise, why hold the contest?
At the very least, such a tagline should carry a health warning like:
a) It is possible that as few as 3 translators entered the contest;
b) Many members and users of this site were barred from entering or voting;
c) Many of those who did not choose to enter may be as good, or better, translators than the winner;
d) It is probable that the 'winner' was 'elected' by a minority of his/her peers. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Camaraderie?? Really?? | Jan 25, 2007 |
Florencia Vita wrote:
Translation contests have been in our plans for a long time and we are finally ready to launch the first site-wide contest. Its objective is to nourish camaraderie and friendship among site members and to promote excellence.
There's enough bickering over KudoZ as it is! Do you really think that by pitting translators against each other - after all, this is our LIVELIHOOD, not just some hobby - you'll foster friendship?
Catherine
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