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correction of 15000 words of machine translation ?
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Thread poster: MariusV

correction of 15000 words of machine translation ?

MariusV

Lithuania
Local time: 06:21
English to Lithuanian
+ ...

Oct 26, 2009

Hi folks,

What do you think about such a job? Esp. about poster's remarks for "non-cosmic" rates?

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Job type: Translation/editing/proofing job
Languages: Lithuanian to English
Preferred specific fields: Medical: Cardiology, Medical: Pharmaceuticals, Medical: Instruments, Medical (general)
Delivery deadline: Dec 1, 2009 19:00 EET (GMT+2)

Job: Automatinio vertimo klaidu ištaisymas, tekstas apie gydomaji masaža
Sveiki,
Ieškau nelabai brangaus vertėjo kuris galėtu ištaisyti gramatines ir minties klaidas išvertstame tekste per google automatini vertima apie gydomaji masaža
Kosminiu kainų prašau nesiulytu nes darbas nėra sudėtingas. Šiuo metu reikia ištaisyti 70 straipsniu apitkriai 15000-20000 tūkst žodžiu

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[a rough translation of the Lithuanian sentences as posted in the job]:

Job: Correction of errors in automatic (machine) translation, the text is about therapy massage
Hello,
I am looking for a non-expensive translator who should correct grammar and "thought errors" of a google machine translation about therapy massagePlease do not offer cosmic prices as the job is not a difficult one. At present, I need 70 articles to be corrected with an app. volume of 15000-20000 words.

Andrzej Mierzejewski

Poland
Local time: 05:21

Member (2004)
Polish to English
+ ...

Cardiology, pharmaceuticals, medical instruments...

Oct 28, 2009

Each of those areas requires a very high level of expert knowledge. Machine translation is likely to produce just bullshit. Quite probably, the corrector will have no other way than translate all texts anew by her/himself. I have no idea what a 'non-cosmic' rate should be for this job in your language pair but I guess that the poster expects an expert to work for peanuts.

I know, everybody likes to buy cheap and sell expensive, that's business basics. Still, translators work with their brains rather than muscles. We should value our knowledge, skills and time. Otherwise, we will agree for hourly rates lower than those for cleaning office rooms.

AM

Cathy Flick

United States
Local time: 23:21

Member (2003)
Russian to English
+ ...

70 articles about 250-300 words each... nightmare!

Nov 2, 2009

Just handling 70 different articles is going to be very time-consuming. So if I were asked to do such a job, the first thing I would do is offer a lower price only if the client puts all 70 of them in a single file...

I would also need to see samples, to see how good or bad the machine translation is. But when I edit human translation, I do it by the hour with a cap at my full translation fee - so I imagine I would do the same (at least) for machine translation. Then I would add a surcharge for every individual file to encourage the client to put them all in one file. I would base the surcharge on the estimated extra time it would take for handling each file throughout the process. Think of all the time it takes for repeated opening and closing, and packing things up for delivery, and word counting each file if not charging hourly, and tracking your progress for each file/including such information in the invoice if by the word, and heaven forbid you need to make a universal change in all 70 files after you've fixed 52 of them.... You will definitely need a massage yourself after all that!

Of course, obviously the client wants a very cheap quote, so all of this is probably moot. But I've seen how much extra time handling just 10 small files in a job can be. Sometimes I'll just put them all in one file myself if that's feasible and then cut them apart just before delivery, but it's still a lot of extra time involved.

Peace, Cathy Flick

Ph.D. Chemical Physics/M.A. Physics/B.S. Chemistry
Scientific Translator since 1978
Russian/French/German/Spanish/Italian into US English

Sushan Harshe
India
Local time: 09:51
English to Hindi
+ ...

Editing Machine translation is as equal as new translation!

Nov 3, 2009

Hi Buddy;

Still it is not time to look at machine translation as a translation (by a lower grade translator?). Where there is proofreading offer for a machine translation better stay away, bcoz it is more hectic then doing translation job.

Think twice before accepting such a big job at lower rate, just because you are told that this is proofreading job.

I know you will find yourself in trouble!;-)

Laurent KRAULAND

France
Local time: 05:21

Member (2007)
French to German
+ ...

"Cosmic" prices?

Nov 5, 2009

MariusV wrote:

Hi folks,

What do you think about such a job? Esp. about poster's remarks for "non-cosmic" rates?

Apparently the job poster asks interested translators to work for... stardust (instead of the proverbial peanuts). Plus I find that posting a job on ProZ.com and saying, I quote, "Please do not offer cosmic prices as the job is not a difficult one." is making fun of potentially interested translators. If the job is not difficult, why does the job poster feel the need to outsource it? Lack of time, lack of knowledge? Sounds like someone who has accepted an assignment over their capacities/expertise and tries to get rid of it by outsourcing it.

[Edited at 2009-11-05 06:05 GMT]