Web Trouble & Saving Face! Thread poster: Mary McArthur (X)
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Mary McArthur (X) 
Local time: 03:39
French to English
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Anyone else here doing a project for Atom e-City this weekend? Anyone else not being able to access their site?
I have a rather small load (5000 words) to turn in tomorrow, but, as I was working on another project this week, I was counting on devoting Friday-Sunday evening to look up any last troublesome words for their project on the private forum and glossaries Atom e-City has on its site. Well, the site has been down since Saturday morning my time, and despite my best efforts (e-mai... See more Anyone else here doing a project for Atom e-City this weekend? Anyone else not being able to access their site?
I have a rather small load (5000 words) to turn in tomorrow, but, as I was working on another project this week, I was counting on devoting Friday-Sunday evening to look up any last troublesome words for their project on the private forum and glossaries Atom e-City has on its site. Well, the site has been down since Saturday morning my time, and despite my best efforts (e-mail *and* call to the webmaster) yesterday and today, I can\'t get anyone to answer the phone or my e-mail. And now the deadline\'s getting close and with all this specialized business/computer jargon, I\'m really worried about turning something in tonight that might have some linguistic inconsistencies with the other translators of the project.
I\'m just starting out and I *really* need to do an immaculate job (well, one always needs to do an excellent job, but you understand--just getting word of mouth to get ANY job is really important to me at this stage). Any suggestions what I can do to explain the situation and yet maintain my professional reputation?
Mary McArthur, San Francisco ▲ Collapse
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Rick Henry
United States
Local time: 05:39
Italian to English
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| At the risk of sounding negative... | Aug 4, 2002 |
Why on earth would you rely on one single online site for your translation/glossary needs - and then wait to the last minute to look for something else? That said, maybe you could try proZ\'s many personal glossaries or it\'s master glossary. You could also try glosspost on yahoo to look for specialized glossaries. proZ\'s Translator resources forum may also be of some help regarding other glossaries/dictionaries.
HTH
R.
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... See more Why on earth would you rely on one single online site for your translation/glossary needs - and then wait to the last minute to look for something else? That said, maybe you could try proZ\'s many personal glossaries or it\'s master glossary. You could also try glosspost on yahoo to look for specialized glossaries. proZ\'s Translator resources forum may also be of some help regarding other glossaries/dictionaries.
HTH
R.
==
Quote:
On 2002-08-04 18:58, mmcarthur wrote:
Anyone else here doing a project for Atom e-City this weekend? Anyone else not being able to access their site?
I have a rather small load (5000 words) to turn in tomorrow, but, as I was working on another project this week, I was counting on devoting Friday-Sunday evening to look up any last troublesome words for their project on the private forum and glossaries Atom e-City has on its site. Well, the site has been down since Saturday morning my time, and despite my best efforts (e-mail *and* call to the webmaster) yesterday and today, I can\'t get anyone to answer the phone or my e-mail. And now the deadline\'s getting close and with all this specialized business/computer jargon, I\'m really worried about turning something in tonight that might have some linguistic inconsistencies with the other translators of the project.
I\'m just starting out and I *really* need to do an immaculate job (well, one always needs to do an excellent job, but you understand--just getting word of mouth to get ANY job is really important to me at this stage). Any suggestions what I can do to explain the situation and yet maintain my professional reputation?
Mary McArthur, San Francisco
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Mary McArthur (X)
Local time: 03:39
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Problems in your assumptions | Aug 4, 2002 |
Actually, I think you\'re missing my main concern because of some mistaken assumptions: 1) I do not rely on a single site for glossary needs--I do quite a bit of research using the web, my personal library, city/academic libraries to which I have access (same as you, I\'m sure). However, in this case I was given access to a site where the multiple translators could discuss terms in a forum, to make sure terms, acronyms, etc. were consistent. I was able to find translations for all the questionab... See more Actually, I think you\'re missing my main concern because of some mistaken assumptions: 1) I do not rely on a single site for glossary needs--I do quite a bit of research using the web, my personal library, city/academic libraries to which I have access (same as you, I\'m sure). However, in this case I was given access to a site where the multiple translators could discuss terms in a forum, to make sure terms, acronyms, etc. were consistent. I was able to find translations for all the questionable terms elsewhere, mostly on the web (and yes, using ProZ, which was very helpful), but it was not being able to verify that I matched other opinions on the project that worried me. And it should have: I do not feel it worth my time or my client\'s to hand in a translation I\'m less than 100% sure of.
2) I did not wait to the last minute, and you have no basis for assuming that. I worked steadily on the project from the time I received it until now. I would already be finished if it hadn\'t been for the snag with the site yesterday.
As a freelancer who has other projects (specifically an on-site job in another field), there is no problem with me waiting until Friday or Saturday to verify something using the web (a resource that should be up 24hrs a day/7 days a week), for a project whose deadline is Monday (and a project I accepted partly because there would be this online forum). I\'m sure I\'m not the only freelancer who works weekends. And I think it\'s fair to be able to work on a project until its deadline--how was I to know the site would arbitrarily go down for such a long time? Contingency planning is one thing, but you need to be able to use the resources you are expected to use.
Mary McArthur ▲ Collapse
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| I managed to access atomecity.com | Aug 5, 2002 |
If this is your site, then it looks like it\'s up and running again today Mary, so happy translating for you. Otherwise it seems to me that your customer will just have to get their act together and accept delayed delivery of your translation due to the agency\'s failure to keep its web resources online.
Weekend Working Wombats
Werek
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| Tell your customer | Aug 5, 2002 |
1. Complete the translation and mark the terms you are not sure of.
2. Inform your customer. Say the translation is over, yet their site was (and still is) down and you are not sure about some terms.
3.Ask him a short delay and the phone number of some other translator who\'s working on the project, so that you can verify with him/er the terms you are missing.
This is what I would do.
Good luck with your job!
adriana
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Mary McArthur (X)
Local time: 03:39
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Up and running... | Aug 5, 2002 |
Thanks for the posts!
Actually, Derek\'s right, the site went up shortly after my (1st or 2nd?) message today and things resolved themselves: words were searched and found on their site (and elsewhere, admittedly), hair torn out earlier was patched back onto my head  , a breath was taken, and in the end, files were transferred off to their rightful home. And everything turned out fine.
I think.
I\'m kidding (well, I *d... See more Thanks for the posts!
Actually, Derek\'s right, the site went up shortly after my (1st or 2nd?) message today and things resolved themselves: words were searched and found on their site (and elsewhere, admittedly), hair torn out earlier was patched back onto my head , a breath was taken, and in the end, files were transferred off to their rightful home. And everything turned out fine.
I think.
I\'m kidding (well, I *did* deliver the document). It is good to hear how others would handle a potentially sticky situation, though. Not knowing any translators personally, not liking any kind of confrontation, and not yet being established with a consistent client base, it\'s sometimes hard to know what is reasonable to do on behalf of your client, and then what\'s reasonable to do on your own behalf. ▲ Collapse
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