| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | A request for a sample translation that may be a scam Thread poster: Tom in London
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| Just done a free 644 words test translation!! | Sep 21, 2011 |
I have registered in Proz.com only since a few weeks, I am still learning how all the stuff works, and unexpectedly I received a proposal from an english agency, they got directly in touch with me because my speciality fields met the requested features, that's why I haven't thought immediately about a possible scam.
Before sending me the test document to translate they sent a contract asking me to read and possibly fill it with my rates and send back...so I've done.
Finally I ... See more I have registered in Proz.com only since a few weeks, I am still learning how all the stuff works, and unexpectedly I received a proposal from an english agency, they got directly in touch with me because my speciality fields met the requested features, that's why I haven't thought immediately about a possible scam.
Before sending me the test document to translate they sent a contract asking me to read and possibly fill it with my rates and send back...so I've done.
Finally I received the test translation document (644 words): the deadline was very short (less than two days), I've done and sent it last friday, but I didn't receive any feedback yet.
I wonder when I have to start worrying...
[Modificato alle 2011-09-21 13:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You are not cynical at all | Sep 21, 2011 |
I have done so many translation tests and samples without any feedback, I can't even track the number of them......
Tom you are not cynical, I believe nowadays anything may happen.
The last test I had done was the editing of a machine made translation, and I believe that some other colleagues from ProZ had done it too. I don't know if the others had feedback or if they got the job, but 10 days had passed and no news. So, (why not?), the person who send us the test might have compare... See more I have done so many translation tests and samples without any feedback, I can't even track the number of them......
Tom you are not cynical, I believe nowadays anything may happen.
The last test I had done was the editing of a machine made translation, and I believe that some other colleagues from ProZ had done it too. I don't know if the others had feedback or if they got the job, but 10 days had passed and no news. So, (why not?), the person who send us the test might have compared the results from all of us and used the best...... I don't mean that he/she did it, but why not ???
In general terms I agree with the rest ▲ Collapse
| | | | Laurent KRAULAND (X) 
France
Local time: 11:58
French to German
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| The thing is... | Sep 21, 2011 |
Charlie Bavington wrote: Neil Coffey wrote:
if they're really trying to pull the scam you suggest, I think they're about to learn that the complexity of managing a project with 16 translators won't make it a very worthwhile one... My sentiments exactly. I would think that anyone who actually wanted to get that kind of volume done for free would be better off assigning it to a relative newcomer in a distant country and just not pay for it.
that nobody WANTS a bad rating here on the BB or anywhere else.
| | | | | It happened to me recently and in the past and I am of the same opinion. | Sep 21, 2011 |
Tom in London wrote:
I've just received an invitation from an agency to send them my details for a job consisting of 4,000 words to be translated and adding that "the chosen Translator will be required to do a sample translation of 250 words."
Call me cynical, but if I split up a text of 4000 words into 16 chunks of 250 words and then invite 16 translators to do each chunk as a "free sample translation" hey presto; with perhaps a little final polishing my job is done!
Am I too cynical?
[Edited at 2011-09-19 13:06 GMT]
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| Hmmmm, not so sure | Sep 21, 2011 |
Laurent KRAULAND wrote: Charlie Bavington wrote: Neil Coffey wrote:
if they're really trying to pull the scam you suggest, I think they're about to learn that the complexity of managing a project with 16 translators won't make it a very worthwhile one... My sentiments exactly. I would think that anyone who actually wanted to get that kind of volume done for free would be better off assigning it to a relative newcomer in a distant country and just not pay for it. that nobody WANTS a bad rating here on the BB or anywhere else.
Well plenty of agencies have bad BB etc. ratings and yet continue to trade, so I guess some, at least, can't be that bothered by a few bad ratings. And I'm sure we've both seen threads where people have worked with low-rating agencies despite being fully aware... even if that decision is subsequently one they regret. And the translation business as a whole is notoriously fragmented, as, say Common Sense Advisory often point out, and Henry himself has said that proz is involved in maybe 1% of the market only. In other words, it seems you can survive with a bad rating.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but this whole idea that free tests are used as a matter of course seems largely spread by those convinced that Beelzebub himself is pulling the strings behind every agency in the known universe. It's a kind of reverse engineering - "hmmm, I don't like the idea of free tests, what nefarious purposes can I devise to justify this dislike.... I know, cobbling together an entire document from free tests".
Whereas I would contend it is more logical to put yourself in the position of an individual determined not to pay for work, and think how best that would be achieved. I would further suggest that simply refusing to pay (optional extra: challenge the quality) and using geography to lessen the chances of any comeback is the simplest route. The scenario outlined would require someone a) determined not to pay AND b) concerned about their reputation, which is, I would think, a less likely scenario than just the first factor alone. There are lots of reasons not to do free tests - I just don't believe this is a particularly convincing one.
That said, a situation where the "test" is the whole job (unbeknowst to the testees) - yeah, I expect that happens.
| | | | Kaj Genell
Sweden
Local time: 11:58
English to Swedish
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| On suspicion: abstain | Sep 22, 2011 |
I would on the bare suspicion it was scam, free work or something like that, immediately abstain, since suspicion in iself makes one feel bad, and that is worth very much not to be subjected to. ( I recently tooka test, that indeed looked very real to me. Waiting for the answer, though ...)
Thus: taking care of the mental state is the most important here. I think.
K.B. Genell
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 11:58
Spanish to English
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| Send it by fax | Sep 22, 2011 |
If it looks, feels and smells like a scam, it's probably a scam, but the thing to do is send them the translation by fax using some odd fun script that won't scan easily. If you can be bothered, you can even send it handwritten.
You've done their test, but they can't use it to pull a fast one. If they complain, eet ees a scam. How's that?
Mervyn
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