Job posters: 2 pages of free technical translation sample is too much Thread poster: megane_wang
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megane_wang 
Spain
Local time: 03:32
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
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Hi all,
There is currently a job posting that requests a sample translation of 2 pages for a technical translation. Of course for free.
The post describes a 100 page translation (no word count, of course; this may mean almost anything). The selected translator must translate everything (tables, figures...) and keep exactly the same format.
The poster also requests references, samples of other jobs, including original and translation (what for? Is a 2 page ... See more Hi all,
There is currently a job posting that requests a sample translation of 2 pages for a technical translation. Of course for free.
The post describes a 100 page translation (no word count, of course; this may mean almost anything). The selected translator must translate everything (tables, figures...) and keep exactly the same format.
The poster also requests references, samples of other jobs, including original and translation (what for? Is a 2 page test enough?). They still don't ask for a DNA sample because they don't know how to use it.
... so, since it's Friday, and everything outside tells me I should be anywhere else but in front of my computer, let me describe what I think about this.
You have a 60 page translation to be done...
... you ask for references, translation samples of the candidates and whatever comes to your head...
... you send 2 or 3 pages to the ones you think that simply know how to write (if there is a big figure in page 2, why not send 3? Otherwise it would be too short)...
... you receive approx. 50 quotes within a day...
... so, HOP! Job done.
... For free.
In this case, I could not send samples of translations protected by confidentiality agreements, but offered something that's posted in Proz... and I offered to do a 1/2 to 1 page specific test.
Well, I know I will not be selected for this job (the poster just declined my offer ).
But in any case, I still wonder if other candidates are so suspicious, or never think about these sort of things.
To those who systemmatically accept unreasonable requests I'll warn them that this is what we say, in Spanish "pan para hoy, hambre para mañana" (food for today, hunger in the future). You are free to do it, but it's also in your hands to say no; no excuses.
Have a nice Friday!!
Ruth @ MW ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You are absolutely right! | Jul 18, 2008 |
In May this year I received a "potential job" offer from a client in my country who asked me to translate 7 "urgent" pages as "sample translation" . Since I really wanted to get that job because I had been with no job for over two months and the offer was quite tempting, I worked really hard to present a good translation. The company then informed me that I had passed the test BUT that they had decided to lower the price to $0.01 psw and that I would have to work about ten non-stop hours daily... See more In May this year I received a "potential job" offer from a client in my country who asked me to translate 7 "urgent" pages as "sample translation" . Since I really wanted to get that job because I had been with no job for over two months and the offer was quite tempting, I worked really hard to present a good translation. The company then informed me that I had passed the test BUT that they had decided to lower the price to $0.01 psw and that I would have to work about ten non-stop hours daily. I was really upset, I felt cheated and fooled!
Fortunatelly a few days later I met a wonderful person who has been a member of Proz for six years. She helped me to become a member of Proz and she told me "never accept working on a translation sample that is over one page long, they might be just trying to get a free translation".
There is also an interesting experience shared by one of the members of Proz regarding this matter:
Test Translations—To Do or Not to Do? by Andrei Gerasimov
http://www.proz.com/doc/291
http://accurapid.com/journal/16tests.htm
If you have the time to read it you will find a point of view that I personally appreciated since I started getting all these "translation samples" that I did not know if I should take the time to translate or not.
The good advise of these sources has helped me become a little wiser now concerning "translation samples" and so far the ones I have done, which have not been over a page long, have helped me to get very nice customers who have expressed their appreciation for my work, and of course, they´re keeping me busy! Isn´t that what every translator wants??? ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I do agree with you | Jul 19, 2008 |
I do agree with you Megane. I think site staff should not allow such job postings. Working for free is slavery.
| | | | Uldis Liepkalns
Latvia
Local time: 04:32
Member (2003)
English to Latvian
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| Please contact jobs' moderators | Jul 19, 2008 |
In such cases please contact jobs' moderators- please note that many jobs go live without our vetting and so not always we manage to catch out such.
Uldis
megane_wang wrote:
There is currently a job posting that requests a sample translation of 2 pages for a technical translation. Of course for free.
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megane_wang
Spain
Local time: 03:32
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you Uldis... | Jul 20, 2008 |
... for pointing that out.
I actually forgot this exists / thought that there was nothing to say from the Proz.com side. But you're right, I'll keep it in mind next time !!
Ruth @ MW
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