For those critical of this site Thread poster: aivars
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aivars 
Argentina
Local time: 17:49
English to Spanish
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I am not a partner of Henry nor even a Platinum member (yet). My point today is that even when there is room for improvement here (and this is largely due to the multiple uses of the site), the other options for translators/agencies on the net can hardly compare to Proz.com.
To illustrate this I\'ll refer my experience with Aquarius. Every time I get a job offer from them on my mailbox (and this happens only once in a while, mind you), after clicking on \"Would you like to bid on this ... See more I am not a partner of Henry nor even a Platinum member (yet). My point today is that even when there is room for improvement here (and this is largely due to the multiple uses of the site), the other options for translators/agencies on the net can hardly compare to Proz.com.
To illustrate this I\'ll refer my experience with Aquarius. Every time I get a job offer from them on my mailbox (and this happens only once in a while, mind you), after clicking on \"Would you like to bid on this project?\" I would invariably end up on a note saying \"Only Gold members can apply to this offer. Upgrade to ...\".
Things get their value in comparison to other things, and sometimes we start appreciating something when we don\'t have it anymore.
My positive contribution of the day.
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| | | | Nitza Ramos
United States
Local time: 16:49
Spanish to English
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I agree and I am sure Henry appreciates your comment. Like you said, sometimes we take things for granted....
| | | | Myron Netchypor
Ukraine
Local time: 23:49
Member (2003)
English to Ukrainian
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MODERATOR
It\'s true. Agree with all written above
| | | | Maya Jurt
Switzerland
Local time: 22:49
French to German
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| Marketing argument: Argentina ! | Jan 19, 2003 |
I agree of course with you but this is only half of the story.
You find the other half in a profile that is your very own. How do you sell yourself on proZ ? (you are just one of many doing this):
\"Psychologist UBA, Argentina. Manages a group of professionals to provide high quality translations at very good rates given the ongoing devaluation in Argentina.\"..... (!!!!)
Professional website, (congratulations!) very qualified but...... See more I agree of course with you but this is only half of the story.
You find the other half in a profile that is your very own. How do you sell yourself on proZ ? (you are just one of many doing this):
\"Psychologist UBA, Argentina. Manages a group of professionals to provide high quality translations at very good rates given the ongoing devaluation in Argentina.\"..... (!!!!)
Professional website, (congratulations!) very qualified but... not able to make ends meet as a translator.
Therefore, your agency charges 0.04 - 0.08 USD/word. How much can you pay the translator who does the final work???? 0.0l5?
I understand fully what motivates you to act as an agency and to offer low rates. Lots of other translators in other (even economically stronger ) countries try to make their living by taking the role of the middleman.
But there is only one word for it: exploitation. Exploitation of the weaker link in the chain.
So sad!
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| Totalmente de acuerdo contigo, Aivars | Jan 20, 2003 |
... y algunos comentarios es mejor ni leerlos!
| | | | | Additional experience | Jan 20, 2003 |
Do you know these sites?
- www.trally.com
- www.translatorscafe.com
- www.foreignword.biz
- www.expertsontheweb.com
The first is like Aquarius a paying site, i.e. without a membership you cannot do anything. Also, while Aquarius has recently tried to \"copy\" Proz as much as possible (see hotline for example!), Trally is only for jobposting.
The last three I indicate are free but very \'slow-moving\' as far as jobs are concerned (at least in my language pairs) and with no/ few other interesting features.
What do you think?
Long live Proz!! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 22:49
Spanish to English
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| | Agree, agree, agree | Jan 20, 2003 |
No other site like ProZ.
Claudia
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Nathalie M. Girard, ALHC (X)
English to French
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| I'm curious about the actual volume of traffic... | Jan 20, 2003 |
Quote:
On 2003-01-20 13:21, Parrot wrote:
The news came soon after year-end 2002. You might want to read this:
http://www.translatorscafe.com/Cafe/Translators_Directories.asp
Thank you for the link Parrot 
... See more Quote:
On 2003-01-20 13:21, Parrot wrote:
The news came soon after year-end 2002. You might want to read this:
http://www.translatorscafe.com/Cafe/Translators_Directories.asp
Thank you for the link Parrot
Now, this brings me to this question:
I am curious about the actual breakdown of traffic on Proz. For example:
What portion of the site traffic belongs to the forum, to Kudoz, to job postings & bidding, to downloads, to the Blue Board etc...
Does anyone (Henry, moderators) have any breakdown of where the majority of the site\'s traffic comes from?
I\'m very interested as this could give us more information about what makes Proz the success that it is, which features are more popular with the members.
Any ideas guys?
Thanks and have a great day!
Nath ▲ Collapse
| | | | kbamert
Local time: 22:49
French to German
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| bidding minimum as a gold member of www.aquarius.net | Jan 21, 2003 |
Hello
Quote:
\"Only Gold members can apply to this offer. Upgrade to ...\". .
Quote:
pair code US$/word US$/word
Translation Agencies Corporation
Eng-Jpn EN-JA 0.085 0.085
Eng-Kor EN-KO 0.11
... See more Hello
Quote:
\"Only Gold members can apply to this offer. Upgrade to ...\". .
Quote:
pair code US$/word US$/word
Translation Agencies Corporation
Eng-Jpn EN-JA 0.085 0.085
Eng-Kor EN-KO 0.11 0.11
source:
http://www.aabx.com.ar/pairs.html
Even if you paid the €500 for a membership as a Gold-Agency or the €100 for a gold freelance membership (I am not sure if you could register as a freelancer being an agency) you could not bid for 31 language combinations you offer as an agency (range 0.04 US$ to 0.06 US$) because the bidding minimum on the Aquarius website is fixed to 0.07€ a word. Only the 2 above mentioned language combinations of your agency offer would qualify for bidding (English into Japanese [0.085 $US] and English into Korean [0.11 $US]).
In this respect it is clear that you are obliged to address you to the lower bidding range available of proz.com as an agency owner and as an agency bidder.
If this low bidding range of proz.com is in the interest of any feelance translator (taking into account your benefit margin) of any country is another question.
Kind regards
Kurt
P.S.
Note that the bidding conditions are cleary stated on the website of http://www.aquarius.net/
Quote:
How do I quote on a project?
First of all, you must be a Gold member in order to place your quote on a project.
So I wonder why you feel surprised not being able to quote as a bronze member?
[ This Message was edited by:on2003-01-21 15:27] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Reason for the success of Proz.com | Jan 21, 2003 |
A while ago I wrote a paper about translation related sites on the Internet. Prior to this I did quite extensive research on the subject and found that the big difference of the leader of the pack - Proz.com - from other sites was Kudoz. I came to the conclusion that Kudoz is a ingenious feature, and probably the main reason why Proz has taken the top spot when it comes to translation sites on the net.
This is of course only a guess, and it would be interesting to see figure... See more A while ago I wrote a paper about translation related sites on the Internet. Prior to this I did quite extensive research on the subject and found that the big difference of the leader of the pack - Proz.com - from other sites was Kudoz. I came to the conclusion that Kudoz is a ingenious feature, and probably the main reason why Proz has taken the top spot when it comes to translation sites on the net.
This is of course only a guess, and it would be interesting to see figures over the traffic on the site.
Best regards,
Jonas ▲ Collapse
| | | | | order of traffic | Jan 24, 2003 |
KudoZ gets a bit more traffic than jobs, which gets more traffic than forums, and then the Blue Board. After that, there is the CAT center, etc.
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aivars
Argentina
Local time: 17:49
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | I'm just stressing the value of free memberships at Proz | Feb 2, 2003 |
Kurt,
thanks for your info. Not being a Gold Member seems I had no way of knowing that minimum bidding rates are set at .07. It\'s a kind of catch 22 situation.
It\'s more a praise to Proz than a critic of Aquarius. Proz offers so many unvaluable services for free. Or what\'s best it allows those who do not want to pay with money, to pay with their effort/expertise (Brownies) which is another form of value.
[ This Message was edited by:on2003-02-02 19:30]
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