| User | Thread poster: Ségolène Neilson French Native speaker not accepted for translation English-French |
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Ségolène Neilson
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:10
 Member (2005)
English to French
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I have just seen an ad asking for translators English-French and French-English but French native speakers could not apply as only English mother tongue was selected.
This contravenes all principles of professional translation i.e. you always translate into your mother tongue. Is there a way Proz can interveneor state a procedure? Thank you for your help.
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Natalie 
Poland
Local time: 01:10
 Member (2002)
English to Russian
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MODERATOR | | Please submit a support request | Dec 3, 2011 |
using the link at the bottom of the job page: [Report this job to site staff]
This must be the outsourcer's mistake, and discussing this in the forum would not help much.
Natalia
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Ségolène Neilson
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:10
Member (2005)
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | | Thank you Natalia | Dec 3, 2011 |
[quote]Natalie wrote:
using the link at the bottom of the job page:
this job to site staff]
This must be the outsourcer's mistake, and discussing this in the forum would not help much.
Natalia |
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writeaway
Local time: 01:10
 Partial member
Dutch to English
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| | Same happens the other way round too | Dec 3, 2011 |
I've seen job ads on Proz for jobs into English that exclude applications by native Anglos. And they were not 'errors'. For example, it's not at all unusual for people in the Netherlands and occasionally GermanyAustria to prefer to give the jobs to source language natives. And look at all the questions on Kudoz asked by self-proclaimed native/non-native speakers struggling to translate into a foreign language.
Go figure, but that's the way it is.
[Edited at 2011-12-03 18:29 GMT]
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Ségolène Neilson
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:10
Member (2005)
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | | You have to fight this too! | Dec 3, 2011 |
Have a good weekend
Bye for now
Cheerio as they say in Glasgow
Ségolène
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Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 01:10
Member
Italian to English
| | Non ragioniam di lor | Dec 3, 2011 |
Hi Ségolène,
Don't waste any time over clients who exclude - before they even know what the market offers -what is usually a (very) basic requirement for a translator. Sector knowledge is obviously important too, of course, and in some cases a non-native sector specialist may be able to produce a better translation than the native speakers who are available. But anyone who excludes native speakers a priori is probably looking for a cheap option.
Take Dante's advice.
Cheery bye - since you're an adopted Weegie  ,
Giles
[Edited at 2011-12-03 20:46 GMT]
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José Henrique Lamensdorf
Brazil
Local time: 20:10
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
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| | Sometimes they are careless | Dec 3, 2011 |
Pooling two job posts together, I've seen a request for an English to Portuguese translator, native speaker of Polish, and living in China. Chances of finding such an individual should be zilch.
It was obvious to me that the poster missed the shot, as PT/PL are adjacent on the drop-down list, and the outsourcer himself was in China.
I usually point that out to the pertinent jobs moderator, and they are usually quick in advising the job poster, when I am prevented to see the job poster because I don't live in China nor have Trados. Otherwise I e-mail them directly.
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Katalin Horvath McClure
United States
Local time: 19:10
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
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| | There are no jobs moderators anymore | Dec 3, 2011 |
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I usually point that out to the pertinent jobs moderator, and they are usually quick |
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AFAIK, jobs moderators are a thing of the past.
Now it is all handled by staff, via support requests.
Katalin
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The Misha
United States
Local time: 19:10
Russian to English
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| | Fight, really? | Dec 3, 2011 |
Ségolène Neilson wrote:
You have to fight this too!
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No, you don't. Not that I disagree with anything said here, but if I want to outsource my Russian to English translation to a, say, native speaker of Greek, it's my God-given right. I may have a reason or just be plain out dumb, but I don't owe anyone an explanation. Just so we are clear on that.
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Phil Hand
China
Local time: 07:10
Member (2011)
Chinese to English
| | Just to play devil's advocate | Dec 4, 2011 |
In the French-English pair, price wouldn't be much of a consideration, surely? Just as a suggestion, here's a possible situation in which the requirement Segolene cited might arise: suppose a company wants to translate some business correspondence, and decides that it would be more effective to have one person translate both ways to avoid any inconsistency in terminology; they then make the decision that their French>English is more quality-critical (for publication, for example), so they ask for an English native speaker.
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José Henrique Lamensdorf
Brazil
Local time: 20:10
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
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| | Correct, Katalin! | Dec 4, 2011 |
Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I usually point that out to the pertinent jobs moderator, and they are usually quick |
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AFAIK, jobs moderators are a thing of the past.
Now it is all handled by staff, via support requests.
Katalin |
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... which makes it more efficient, as the staff can contact the job poster directly by e-mail.
Though some support tickets - typically for easy-to-implement site improvements - are left collecting dust for ages, the staff is quite efficient in handling these job issues, so their priorities are properly selected.
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Kirsten Bodart
Germany
Local time: 01:10
Member (2011)
Dutch to English
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| | I sa one recently too | Dec 4, 2011 |
but that was the opposite. However, it was about a lit text or something else up that street which that translator wanted to be translated by a French native first. Obviously not to miss the finest details.
For most texts this is not necessary, but what I see sometimes on KudoZ is frankly shocking. I sometimes wonder at their Dutch knowledge.
However it tend to be certain countries which are used to employing non-natives (like Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, etc.) who traditonally have employed translators on the basis that they have a degree in it. The idea of the internet being worldwide has not really sunk in yet.
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The translation workplace 
