| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | How about a "rate my translation" forum? Thread poster: philgoddard
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On the forums today, there's a question from someone asking: "Here's a bit of translation I've done, but I think it might be a bit wordy. What do you think?" And there's also another saying that a client has complained about a translation, alleging that it's been done by a computer.
I think it would be really helpful to have a forum where people could post short texts to get an opinion from colleagues.
It should be possible to post anonymously, and it would need to be... See more On the forums today, there's a question from someone asking: "Here's a bit of translation I've done, but I think it might be a bit wordy. What do you think?" And there's also another saying that a client has complained about a translation, alleging that it's been done by a computer.
I think it would be really helpful to have a forum where people could post short texts to get an opinion from colleagues.
It should be possible to post anonymously, and it would need to be carefully moderated to ensure that people were polite.
It might also be possible to include texts that are are too long for KudoZ - I often feel sorry for people whose questions get deleted because they're 20 words long, but they still need help from somewhere.
From ProZ's point of view, it would possibly generate significant extra traffic.
What do you think? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Emma Goldsmith 
Spain
Local time: 21:16
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
Great idea, Phil! With so many different language pairs, maybe there would have to be more than one forum. Also, I don't see why the poster should be anonymous, but the text certainly shouldn't contain any sensitive details.
You have my agree:)
| | | | Andrea Flaßbeck (X)
Germany
Local time: 21:16
English to German
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| Great idea II | Feb 23, 2011 |
Emma Goldsmith wrote:
Great idea, Phil!
You have my agree:)
Mine, too  .
| | | | Gene Brode (X)
United States
Local time: 15:16
Spanish to English
I was just reading a text today that I've been translating just for practice and had a few questions about it. I was going to use it as a sample on my profile and was actually wondering if there were a forum for this. Great idea.
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Simone Linke
Germany
Local time: 21:16
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
I vote yes, too.
There should be an option to post anonymously though. There was a thread in the German forums recently where people spotted a lot of severe mistakes in the samples in someone's profile and the result was that this translator apparently left the site for good.
Some people take criticism a bit harder and shouldn't be punished publicly forever. (remember, Google is watching )
| | | | | The Forum forum | Feb 23, 2011 |
The people had no forum in which to discuss the fora. So they set up the Forum forum for 'em.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Translation contests | Feb 23, 2011 |
philgoddard wrote:
I think it would be really helpful to have a forum where people could post short texts to get an opinion from colleagues.
I would participate in such a system, although I don't think it should be forum based.
Another similar idea may be to have a translation contest at least once every three months (but then the translator can't choose his own text).
Another related idea might be to have a system whereby a translator can post a translation and ask for fellow translators to critique his translation (short texts can be done for free, but longer texts can have an option available for translators to send a quote to the poster to provide a more lengthy comment for a fee).
| | | | philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I wasn't really thinking off a forum to show off how good people's translations were - and ProZ already has translation competitions.
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Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 15:16
Member (2008)
English to French
I think it would be a wonderful idea.
It would allow a lot of people to learn and grow and I enjoy reading other translators' work in my language pair - sometimes when I'm proofreading I'll see a particularly nice turn of phrase that's not part of my "go to" vocabulary and I'll jot it down so I can use it later.
On a side note I'm not really keen about translation "contests"; it implies that there is a perfect answer/translation and that everything else is wrong rather... See more I think it would be a wonderful idea.
It would allow a lot of people to learn and grow and I enjoy reading other translators' work in my language pair - sometimes when I'm proofreading I'll see a particularly nice turn of phrase that's not part of my "go to" vocabulary and I'll jot it down so I can use it later.
On a side note I'm not really keen about translation "contests"; it implies that there is a perfect answer/translation and that everything else is wrong rather than variations of style and other than giving one person bragging rights it doesn't really benefit the community much.
The only caveat would be, as mentioned by Simone, if someone uses this service to fix/create his or her sample texts and then uses them to advertise his or her services when in reality it was a collaborative effort. Doing so should probably be forbidden but I don't think Proz would need to actively police this; members could just point it out.
I'm also for the anonymity option since we translators can be a catty bunch and the purpose of this would not be to start a personal flame war. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:16
French to English
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I think there may as well be a designated place for this rather than people shoehorning their requests inappropriately into KudoZ/forums.
I think anonymity *could* be OK so long as it's not seen as a substitute for client confidentiality, which would also be a concern (I take it the idea would be to post redacted passages where need be). I don't know that its necessary though-- if it's supposed to be a brainstorming service for translators, the idea would presumably be that the tran... See more I think there may as well be a designated place for this rather than people shoehorning their requests inappropriately into KudoZ/forums.
I think anonymity *could* be OK so long as it's not seen as a substitute for client confidentiality, which would also be a concern (I take it the idea would be to post redacted passages where need be). I don't know that its necessary though-- if it's supposed to be a brainstorming service for translators, the idea would presumably be that the translations shouldn't be so lambastable in the first place, otherwise you just descend into a student homework service.
Would be interesting to see how such a proposal could work in terms of allocating ProZ points, avoiding flame wars... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:16
French to English
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| P.S. for those working with French | Feb 24, 2011 |
For want of a better solution, I suppose I may as well mention that I run a French language forum that is designed for essentially anyone interested in French (so it tends to be students, plus I think a few translators). If people decided to post discussions there about translations to/from French then these would be very welcome:
http://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/
... See more For want of a better solution, I suppose I may as well mention that I run a French language forum that is designed for essentially anyone interested in French (so it tends to be students, plus I think a few translators). If people decided to post discussions there about translations to/from French then these would be very welcome:
http://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/
At the moment, posts asking for comments on translations tend to be from students, but if professional translators wanted to post there they'd be most welcome-- it would be great to see more professionals there.
However, I also agree that the forum format is not necessarily the best infrastructure for this type of thing... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Some more comments I | Feb 24, 2011 |
philgoddard wrote:
It should be possible to post anonymously...
I can see why some people might prefer to remain anonymous -- imagine making a glaring error in your translation that everyone will be able to see for all eternity. I don't think people who respond should be anonymouse, but I can see why the initial poster may wish to remain anonymous.
The problem with anonimity is that you would then need some kind of preocedure to ensure that the system is not abused. It may also mean that each critique text must be approved before it goes live.
What I would like to see, in case of anonymous posting, is that the initial poster is assigned a nickname or suchlike, so that we can "get to know" him and can see whenever he makes more critique requests. Also, there should be links from a poster's initial post to that same person's previous posts, even if it is done anonymously.
...and it would need to be carefully moderated to ensure that people were polite.
I agree that moderation should be stricter, but I don't think unpoliteness is the problem. The problem would be that discussions would veer off into long debates about things that are not relevant to the text being critiqued. I don't think one should protect the poster from unpoliteness. If the poster can't take negative, scathing criticism, he should not post.
I do think the moderators should have the ability to hide posts that do not discuss the text (or responses to the text), and I think it would be good if moderators could hide portions of posts, too (in cases where a user posts a useful critique but then adds an irrelevant comment, to which others are likely to reply).
It might also be possible to include texts that are are too long for KudoZ - I often feel sorry for people whose questions get deleted because they're 20 words long, but they still need help from somewhere.
I agree, but one has to be able to limit it, somehow. Two ideas come to mind: users can ask a certain number of critique requests per month, or users can ask for critique of a certain number of words per month (regardless of the number of critique requests). Then paying members can get a higher quota than non-paying members.
Arianne Farah wrote:
The only caveat would be, as mentioned by Simone, if someone uses this service to fix/create his or her sample texts and then uses them to advertise his or her services when in reality it was a collaborative effort.
True, but there is currently no way to tell whether a translator had had his portfolio texts extensively edited by someone anyway.
Neil Coffey wrote:
I think anonymity *could* be OK so long as it's not seen as a substitute for client confidentiality, which would also be a concern...
Yes, but I think when a user posts a text, he should just see a warning that posting the text may invalidate a confidentiality agreement he has with a client, if he is posting client text.
Would be interesting to see how such a proposal could work in terms of allocating ProZ points, avoiding flame wars...
We don't get points for posting useful advice in the forums, so I don't think one should get points for responding to critique requests either. The idea is that everyone learns something when they think together about whether a translation is good or not. This is an ideal opportunity to sharpen one's skills (even as a replying user) in the presence of one's peers.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:16
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Critique translations or supply translations? | Feb 24, 2011 |
philgoddard wrote:
It might also be possible to include texts that are are too long for KudoZ - I often feel sorry for people whose questions get deleted because they're 20 words long, but they still need help from somewhere.
True, but KudoZ posters typically do not supply their own translations -- they ask for translations by others.
I think there is room for both types of requests: an initial poster can ask that his own translation is critiqued (and this would result in comments and debate), or an initial poster can ask for multiple translations of his short paragraph (so that everyone can see different ways of translating it without having to wade through endless comments and debate about it).
What do you think?
| | | | Tatty
Local time: 21:16
Spanish to English
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| Would you really have time for this? | Feb 24, 2011 |
I think that if you want to discuss translations to death then you should go to translating classes where a fully qualified teacher could give you proper guidance. Alternatively I could look to teach translation. Anyway who would have time for such a thing?
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:16
French to English
+ ...
Tatty wrote:
I think that if you want to discuss translations to death then you should go to translating classes where a fully qualified teacher could give you proper guidance. Alternatively I could look to teach translation. Anyway who would have time for such a thing?
Well, it's up to you, but I'd say the idea is that you would make a bit of time for this because, even if you are commentating on other people's translations rather then having people comment on yours, you would learn from other people's comments (on the translation and on your comments).
The "fully qualified teacher" at your class is just another translator at the end of the day.
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