| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Two agencies, one end-client Thread poster: Oliver Pekelharing
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| Quality issues | Mar 23, 2011 |
Jabberwock wrote:
I am surprised nobody mentioned it before: if the first agency lost that part of the contract, it might mean the client was not satisfied with the quality they provided. I do not imply that it was your translations in particular that they rejected, as the TM probably contains works of many people.
But there are many other factors which could make the customer choose another agency: rates (the second agency could have less overhead), quality of service in general, physical distance to the second agency, personal friendship between the customer and agency managers, and of course the quality of the translators to other languages or previous translators of the poster's language.
| | | | | Same person, same terminology=almost certainly the same sentence | Mar 23, 2011 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Essentially, everything that you got from agency A and did not create yourself does not belong to you and can't be used unless agency A gives permission for it (and who knows what might happen if you simply ask them)... no matter how much you may think it would benefit the end-client. Theoretically, everything that you had created yourself belongs to you, but then confidentiality is still an issue (so you can consult it but you can't re-use it). Basically, you can't use anything for the new client that you did not get either from the new client or from public sources.
Exactly.
You can of course consult your own translations and use the same approaches and terminology in future translations. Since you are the same person that was working for the first agency, the result will probably be very similar if not identical in many sentences, but nobody can blame you for that, can they?
| | | | Roy OConnor (X)
Local time: 16:14
German to English
| Not really a problem | Mar 23, 2011 |
Providing Olly has generated the TM and there are no specific agreements to the contrary, I don't see any problem in using the TM for the second agency.
I find it hard to imagine that there might be a confidentiality issue in this case as in order for a segment of the TM to find its way to the second agency, it has to be a pretty good match of the source text supplied by that agency, i.e. the content is already known to (and provided by) the second agency. The TM segment only change... See more Providing Olly has generated the TM and there are no specific agreements to the contrary, I don't see any problem in using the TM for the second agency.
I find it hard to imagine that there might be a confidentiality issue in this case as in order for a segment of the TM to find its way to the second agency, it has to be a pretty good match of the source text supplied by that agency, i.e. the content is already known to (and provided by) the second agency. The TM segment only changes the language not the content, so nothing new or unknown is revealed. Therefore there is no infringement of anyone's confidentiality.
I would create a new TM for the new agency, but use the old TM as look-up. ▲ Collapse
| | | | NMR (X)
France
Local time: 16:14
French to Dutch
+ ...
| One solution | Mar 23, 2011 |
Is to ask agency B to provide documentation which already has been translated into your language. They can ask their client for this. If this documentation contains the same texts as the texts you already translated for agency A (this should be verified), you can use your own TM.
If not, I would use the TM for some time but slightly change style and using synonyms.
In each case, I would duplicate the TM: one for agency A and one for agency B. After some time I would de... See more Is to ask agency B to provide documentation which already has been translated into your language. They can ask their client for this. If this documentation contains the same texts as the texts you already translated for agency A (this should be verified), you can use your own TM.
If not, I would use the TM for some time but slightly change style and using synonyms.
In each case, I would duplicate the TM: one for agency A and one for agency B. After some time I would delete the old segments in agency B's TM. (easy, in Wordfast) ▲ Collapse
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Jean-Pierre Artigau (X)
Canada
Local time: 10:14
English to French
+ ...
| Origin of TM | Mar 23, 2011 |
Could this TM be originally from the end client? I would try and ask the new agency if there is a TM available for that work, just in case...
| | | | | Thanks for the input | Mar 23, 2011 |
Thanks for the input everyone, that's helped me to straighten things out.
1. Non-disclosure: The TM is dedicated to the end-client, so there can be no non-disclosure issue.
2. Ownership: I don't know who officially owns the TM.
3. Agreements: I have no specific agreements with either agency about TMs/glossaries (as far as I know; haven't looked up the small print for a long time now!). Officially they will fall under the standard non-disclosure agreements, see item 1.
4. ... See more Thanks for the input everyone, that's helped me to straighten things out.
1. Non-disclosure: The TM is dedicated to the end-client, so there can be no non-disclosure issue.
2. Ownership: I don't know who officially owns the TM.
3. Agreements: I have no specific agreements with either agency about TMs/glossaries (as far as I know; haven't looked up the small print for a long time now!). Officially they will fall under the standard non-disclosure agreements, see item 1.
4. Quality: I am sure the end-client did not change their contract with agency 1 for quality reasons. I know the TM and glossaries to be reliable (as far as TMs go) and definitely useful when translating for the end-client, who sets great store by uniformity in terminology and style. Which leads to 5.
5. End result: It goes without saying that the end-client would benefit if the two or more agencies they use agreed to share TMs and glossaries, however I know that this situation occurs all the time (how many different agencies work for any one government department, for example? Easily between 10 and 20, I'd say.) and I suspect the practice of sharing TMs between agencies is uncommon if not non-existent.
So I think I'll drop agency 2 a line and let them know what the situation is and let them decide if they want to do anything about it.
Thanks again for your thoughts on the matter. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Steven Capsuto 
United States
Local time: 10:14
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Something else to check | Mar 23, 2011 |
Olly Pekelharing wrote:
So I think I'll drop agency 2 a line and let them know what the situation is and let them decide if they want to do anything about it.
Look at your agreement with agency 1. It may forbid you from revealing to a third party (such as agency 2) what end clients you have worked for. It probably also prohibits letting the end client know that you did work for them and forbids discussing that work with the end client.
| | | | | Thanks Steven | Mar 23, 2011 |
I won't be mentioning any names!
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