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what's right with this here?
Thread poster: Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:07
English to German
+ ...
May 26, 2012

Anything? When will it end?

Example

Company A boasts on their profile page that they are European based and have worked for big European companies.

Blueboard page reveals location of person/Company A as a country in Asia.

Company A posts job (relatively big) for a translation from European Language X > European Language Y in a technical field, CAT Tool required, native speaker Language Y required

Proposed Rate: not much more than U
... See more
Anything? When will it end?

Example

Company A boasts on their profile page that they are European based and have worked for big European companies.

Blueboard page reveals location of person/Company A as a country in Asia.

Company A posts job (relatively big) for a translation from European Language X > European Language Y in a technical field, CAT Tool required, native speaker Language Y required

Proposed Rate: not much more than USD .01/source word. Contact directly.


You can substitute European with American in the above example and Asia with Eastern Europe and the field with medical. Same thing.

Seen many times here on proz.com

B

[Edited at 2012-05-26 18:13 GMT]
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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:07
Member (2008)
Italian to English
False May 26, 2012

Without knowing all the details, on the face of it this could be a case of providing false and misleading information, which in some jurisdictions is a crime. On the Internet, who knows?

 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:07
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
on proz.com May 26, 2012

Tom in London wrote:

Without knowing all the details, on the face of it this could be a case of providing false and misleading information, which in some jurisdictions is a crime. On the Internet, who knows?


I am specifically referring to posts that I have seen on proz.com.

B


 
apk12
apk12  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:07
English to German
+ ...
0.02 for EN to DE mentioned... May 26, 2012

there was an 0.02 "job" mentioned in a thread that was hidden a few minutes ago. 0.02 USD for EN to DE...

Who the heck would reply to something like this...

Why do such "outsourcers" stick to pages like this here - there are so many perfect trash places for projects in that price category, where an amazing bunch of "I cann do itt!" monkeys will happily post their "I am a proffessinal I cann do itt!" and send send it through Google Translate, where it belongs for such a
... See more
there was an 0.02 "job" mentioned in a thread that was hidden a few minutes ago. 0.02 USD for EN to DE...

Who the heck would reply to something like this...

Why do such "outsourcers" stick to pages like this here - there are so many perfect trash places for projects in that price category, where an amazing bunch of "I cann do itt!" monkeys will happily post their "I am a proffessinal I cann do itt!" and send send it through Google Translate, where it belongs for such a rate.

What are projects like this doing here at all.
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:07
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Common practice? May 27, 2012

These USD 0.01 - 0.02 jobs (?) appear more and more often, even here on ProZ.
What keeps amazing me is the number of quotes these jobs (if no direct contact method is stated) are getting. Apparently there are translators out there who can afford to work for such a "noble" price.


 
Vladimír Hoffman
Vladimír Hoffman  Identity Verified
Slovakia
Local time: 13:07
Member (2009)
English to Slovak
+ ...
Therefore, I would appreciate May 27, 2012

if Proz provided information on average quoted rates. I would still like to keep hope that most of the offers says "I can do this job, but for professional price of (say) EUR 0.06 per word." Or, at least, become informed on real situation.
Thayenga wrote:
Apparently there are translators out there who can afford to work for such a "noble" price.


[Edited at 2012-05-27 09:18 GMT]


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:07
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
nothing May 27, 2012

was the answer I was looking for.
It shouldn't be permitted at Proz.com.

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I am also referring to the fact that the same outsourcer uses two identities, one showing its location in a rich area of the world and one in a not so rich area of the world.

It seems this company wants to convince potential clients (possibly major companies) that it's located in a rich area of the world (and maybe it has its headquarters there -
... See more
was the answer I was looking for.
It shouldn't be permitted at Proz.com.

If you read my post carefully, you'll see that I am also referring to the fact that the same outsourcer uses two identities, one showing its location in a rich area of the world and one in a not so rich area of the world.

It seems this company wants to convince potential clients (possibly major companies) that it's located in a rich area of the world (and maybe it has its headquarters there - just for marketing), then goes ahead and outsources cheap "laborers" on proz.com to make as much money as possible. And I mean really cheap. In definitely not so cheap language directions.

Such practices must stop.

I am that close to deleting my profile. It's utterly disgusting to be associated with such practices.

I am surprised that this doesn't bother more.
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christela (X)
christela (X)
It does May 27, 2012

Bernhard Sulzer wrote:

I am surprised that this doesn't bother more.



But this has already been said years and years ago.

You don't see the people who left for this very reason. Others use pseudonyms.

We'll all feel better when proz will delete the whole jobs section and continue as a social website for translators.


 
Vladimír Hoffman
Vladimír Hoffman  Identity Verified
Slovakia
Local time: 13:07
Member (2009)
English to Slovak
+ ...
Sorry for (strong) disagreement, May 28, 2012

but I am not willing to pay more than € 100 a year for socializing. There are many free socializing networks for translators, for example LinkedIn groups. Moreover, although I would also prefer introduction of some bottom limit for bids, there is no reason for exclusion of bidding in general.


christela wrote:

We'll all feel better when proz will delete the whole jobs section and continue as a social website for translators.


 
José Carlos Ribeiro
José Carlos Ribeiro  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 09:07
English to Portuguese
+ ...
ProZ complied... but not that much! Jun 1, 2012

Sometime ago ProZ asked us what we thought should be done with cheap job offers.
Unfortunately the solution they adopted was too timid and most problems remain.
I suggested that poster should fill in a MANDATORY rate field so that I could opt-out, in my profile, of emails with rates lower than my minimum.
Posters could also be informed of the percentage of translators who would receive their offer, allowing them to learn to raise their rates to a feasible level.
One other
... See more
Sometime ago ProZ asked us what we thought should be done with cheap job offers.
Unfortunately the solution they adopted was too timid and most problems remain.
I suggested that poster should fill in a MANDATORY rate field so that I could opt-out, in my profile, of emails with rates lower than my minimum.
Posters could also be informed of the percentage of translators who would receive their offer, allowing them to learn to raise their rates to a feasible level.
One other thing would be to display the IP and location of the poster.
These actions would not eliminate bad apples, but would greatly reduce them.
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Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:07
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
USD .01/word - anybody? Jun 1, 2012

José Carlos Ribeiro wrote:

Sometime ago ProZ asked us what we thought should be done with cheap job offers.
Unfortunately the solution they adopted was too timid and most problems remain.
I suggested that poster should fill in a MANDATORY rate field so that I could opt-out, in my profile, of emails with rates lower than my minimum.
Posters could also be informed of the percentage of translators who would receive their offer, allowing them to learn to raise their rates to a feasible level.
One other thing would be to display the IP and location of the poster.
These actions would not eliminate bad apples, but would greatly reduce them.


Thanks José,

Currently, most jobs offered on the job board are below average.
I don't care what policies are currently specified by Proz.com, but USD .02/word for English>German, in any working field, with the audacity of requiring a CAT Tool, is unprofessional, unacceptable, hilarious, and sad. I know Proz.com has the policy - "not to interfere with the business between outsourcer and translator"- but at some point, you've got to interfere or intervene or call it what you will, otherwise you have lost my respect, totally.

Just show a sign and point translators to the average rate page - on every job post - so they know at least how "much" they are being taken advantage of and have no excuse.

B

[Edited at 2012-06-01 05:06 GMT]


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:07
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
a professional rate it's not Jun 1, 2012

Vladimír Hoffman wrote:

if Proz provided information on average quoted rates. I would still like to keep hope that most of the offers says "I can do this job, but for professional price of (say) EUR 0.06 per word." Or, at least, become informed on real situation.
Thayenga wrote:
Apparently there are translators out there who can afford to work for such a "noble" price.


[Edited at 2012-05-27 09:18 GMT]


Hi Vladimir,

Thanks for your comments.
Just to clarify: EUR 0.06/word is not at all a professional rate/price in my language combinations, English > German and German > English.

Best,

B


 
Marie Wagner (X)
Marie Wagner (X)  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 13:07
English to French
+ ...
Ridiculously low rates Jun 1, 2012

I have no idea whether this is possible, but the system should be set in such a way that all those people who expect to become rich over night and offer almost free work, should not even be able to get in and post anything. It gives a bad name to all the others and those "translators" who bid should not be allowed on such a site because they are worse than amateurs. If someone wants to do voluntary work it is fine, but one has to live and pay the bills; ProZ is not a sweatshop. It should be made... See more
I have no idea whether this is possible, but the system should be set in such a way that all those people who expect to become rich over night and offer almost free work, should not even be able to get in and post anything. It gives a bad name to all the others and those "translators" who bid should not be allowed on such a site because they are worse than amateurs. If someone wants to do voluntary work it is fine, but one has to live and pay the bills; ProZ is not a sweatshop. It should be made clear. all those scams may then get less important and prevent us all from wasting time.

Once again, I am not smart enough in IT, but I am sure that something can be done, till those people find how to go round the system anew. But at least for some time, we may have serious opportunities.

Marie Wagner EN>FR>EN
Malta
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XXXphxxx (X)
XXXphxxx (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:07
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Spelling it out Jun 1, 2012

We go round in circles and stumble across the same towering obstacle every time, which is that the primary focus of the site is to generate site traffic by attracting the greatest number of people. Our profession is like a very squat pyramid, i.e. very bottom-heavy; if you rule out all those bottom-feeders who are willing to provide the slave labour, and the unscrupulous outsourcers along with them, the site becomes more professional, which is what many of us want, but fewer numbers is a less at... See more
We go round in circles and stumble across the same towering obstacle every time, which is that the primary focus of the site is to generate site traffic by attracting the greatest number of people. Our profession is like a very squat pyramid, i.e. very bottom-heavy; if you rule out all those bottom-feeders who are willing to provide the slave labour, and the unscrupulous outsourcers along with them, the site becomes more professional, which is what many of us want, but fewer numbers is a less attractive proposition to the advertisers.

[Edited at 2012-06-01 08:05 GMT]
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Vikki Pendleton
Vikki Pendleton  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:07
Member
German to English
+ ...
difficulty of national living standards Jun 1, 2012

I struggle to know what a 'professional rate' to charge is. I'm new to freelancing. I looked at the average rates on the site and picked those as my starting point.

However it is being brought home to me that those average rates include people living in different countries all over the world, in some of which it is perfectly easy to live like a king on 0.02USD/word.

My rates don't start anything like that low, but it would be useful to know the range of acc
... See more
I struggle to know what a 'professional rate' to charge is. I'm new to freelancing. I looked at the average rates on the site and picked those as my starting point.

However it is being brought home to me that those average rates include people living in different countries all over the world, in some of which it is perfectly easy to live like a king on 0.02USD/word.

My rates don't start anything like that low, but it would be useful to know the range of acceptable professional rates in my country or at least my economic area...

[Edited at 2012-06-01 12:23 GMT]
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