| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | What do you do when an agency tells you that your translation stinks? Thread poster: Karina Perry (X)
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MariusV 
Lithuania
Local time: 11:12
English to Lithuanian
+ ...
| well, an interesting topic | Aug 25, 2006 |
I had several situations with "genius" proofreaders and such remarks "I feel that..." when even the texts "after proofreading" sent to me was "an assault to self steem" - the proofreader changed many sentences upside down and in some of the "changes" made by the "proofreader" were a couple of school-level grammar mistakes made by the "proofreader". The situation gets even more complicated in the cases when the client does not know the target language and cannot decide himself/herself who is bluf... See more I had several situations with "genius" proofreaders and such remarks "I feel that..." when even the texts "after proofreading" sent to me was "an assault to self steem" - the proofreader changed many sentences upside down and in some of the "changes" made by the "proofreader" were a couple of school-level grammar mistakes made by the "proofreader". The situation gets even more complicated in the cases when the client does not know the target language and cannot decide himself/herself who is bluffing ("Sorry, we do not know your language, but these are the remarks by one of our proofreaders").
I would suggest the following "strategy" (if you are really sure you are right):
1) It is not YOU who has to prove that your translation was really good - this is THEY who has (and I think interested at any cost) to prove that the translation quality was insufficient.
2) When evaluating the quality of the translation, the proofreader shall SUBSTANTIATE his/her point of view and corrections/changes for errors/mistakes (even if these are not real, but supposed ones) - why he/she thinks/treats it as an error/mistake, references, explanations, suggestions for corrections, even quotes from grammar books if needed (maybe not even for all "errors/mistakes", but at least some 10-20 of the "most common cases"). Such "substantiations" like "I feel/imagine that..." "Maybe it was a machine translation" (or a vision came to me that these were made by UFOs) are NULL.
3) If the proofreader was incorrect, counter-comment some 10-15 worst absurds of the "proofreader" and counter-comment these in a "dry" way - without any emotions, only with references, facts, grammar rules, etc.
4) Even if you cannot make a final compromise and points 1-3 do not work (but these should if the proofreader and the client are fair and unbiased), suggest your translation to be proofread by a competent INDEPENDENT proofreader (suggest several options/names of independent proofreaders, best would be someone from Translators' Association, or similar) + offer that the costs for an independent proofreader shall be covered by the party that "loses" the dispute based on the remarks of the independent proofer. If an independent proofreader confirms that the claims for quality were not substantiated and supports your side by clear and exact evidence, then invoice for your usual hourly rate for the actual time wasted, take a red pencil and cross out such a client from your client list - there are many possible clients in the world who deserve your time, effort, and a possibility to receive a professional service than those who want to find any possible reason as not to pay or reduce your payment for a good job (it seems that they are just want to do that).
[Edited at 2006-08-25 21:46] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | thanks for noticing. sorry :) | Oct 3, 2006 |
Sarah Downing wrote: Evija Rimsane wrote: Williamson wrote:
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I've noted two things about your profile - you offer translations both ways (Danish - English and English - Danish) and you've already put this translation on your list of achievements. Hmmm.....
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[Edited at 2006-08-17 06:37] Karina, hold on and don't give up  I just wanted to express my opinion regarding comment by Mr. Williamson. To be honest, I am a bit surprised of such a comment because -- do you Mr. Williamson know many translators (mother tongue - English) who are able to translate Latvian to English? I doubt!!! So, that's the answer, why many translators offer translations both ways... Cheers! [Edited at 2006-08-17 23:45] I just noticed that you accidentally wrongly attributed this comment to Williamson, when in fact - if you look back - it was said by Paula Rennie and Williamson was merely quoting her. As a journalist, I know how important it is to correctly attribute quotes, but that is important in everyday life too:-)
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