| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | Please get a native speaker to review your English profile Thread poster: Daina Jauntirans
|
|---|
| Not arrogance - professional standards | Mar 20, 2013 |
Gitte Hovedskov Hansen wrote:
If this thread had simply asked: Is it worth having your foreign-language tagline checked by a native speaker of that foreign language? we could have had a nice discussion about pros and cons.
[Edited at 2013-03-19 13:50 GMT]
What could possibly be the cons?
I agree with Marie-Helene's and Kevin's assessments above. Kevin, I don't do proofreading for translators/clients I don't know either. I do some proofreading for a German client who writes in very good English, but he always gets me, a native speaker, to proof his press releases and marketing materials. This is pretty standard procedure, and I don't quite understand why there is so much resistance to it in this thread.
I am not a perfect speaker or writer of German. In putting together my website, I had a German native speaker translate my English text into German. That is my professional face to the world. Do I have every e-mail I exchange with clients proofread? No. That is between my client and me. We are able to communicate well about jobs based on my imperfect German (or their imperfect English for that matter).
PS This thread was framed as a general discussion, no names mentioned. I think it brings up a larger issue and was in no way intended to shame anyone.
| | | | | Well, I am an English speaker | Mar 20, 2013 |
Jessica Noyes wrote:
Hello, Gitte,
I also experienced the emphasis on English, and "English native speaker" as condescending, although I doubt that it was intended that way. It seems obvious to me that all of us should be seeking proofreading of *all* the materials we place on line. I am a native English speaker, and I asked another English native speaker to read through my profile for errors. (I also asked a native Spanish speaker to correct my Spanish language profile.)
I am an English speaker, so I limited the post to English, but of course it applies to any language.
| | | | Giles Watson 
Italy
Local time: 09:25
Italian to English
In memoriam | People learn | Mar 20, 2013 |
Marie-Helene Dubois wrote:
I don't think that it's our job to point out to colleagues when they have made a mistake because I think that if they have, this probably accurately reflects to clients the quality of their work.
I can see your point M-H, and I might be tempted to take a similar view if Proz were a professional association, rather than a marketplace.
True, it is not our job to proofread taglines and most of the time, I ignore them too. On occasion, though, I have emailed translators whose dodgy slogan has been featured on the Proz homepage when I was logged on. As far as I remember, none claimed to translate into English and even if they had, it wouldn't have bothered me. In all cases, the translator has replied politely in decent English, adding a smidgeon to the total sum of human happiness (well, the translator's and mine at least).
My own tagline is in Italian because nearly all of my potential customers are Italy-based and Italian-speaking but if a native Italian speaker were to point out that it could be improved in some way, I would be genuinely grateful.
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 15:25
Chinese to English
| All publicity is good publicity | Mar 21, 2013 |
Giles Watson wrote:
Personally, I'd be OK with A, grateful for B, irritated about C and deeply unamused at D.
If you make a tagline public on your Proz profile, I don't think you have much place being offended at it being discussed in another part of Proz.
I just got fisked on a Chinese thread (I was trying to make up example sentences to illustrate a grammar point, and apparently I failed badly!) I didn't mind any of the responses, except from one unpleasant individual, who chose to generalise from "you've written a terrible Chinese sentence" to "your Chinese is terrible". That was offensive. Discussion which focused on the particulars of what I'd written? Informative and useful.
So while I understand your point, I think that anyone who puts themselves out there in the public domain has to be prepared to be discussed/dissected/criticised.
| | |
|
|
|
Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 09:25
Italian to English
In memoriam | Sitting on offence | Mar 21, 2013 |
Phil Hand wrote: Giles Watson wrote:
Personally, I'd be OK with A, grateful for B, irritated about C and deeply unamused at D.
If you make a tagline public on your Proz profile, I don't think you have much place being offended at it being discussed in another part of Proz.
Hi Phil,
Please don't put words into my mouth!
I said "deeply unamused", not offended.
So while I understand your point, I think that anyone who puts themselves out there in the public domain has to be prepared to be discussed/dissected/criticised.
Absolutely.
However, your over-direct Chinese correspondent was, objectively, being very rude. Whether he succeeded in offending you depends on how you reacted.
None taken 
Giles
| | | | | Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Please get a native speaker to review your English profile | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
