| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Advice: Scientific translation project for novice translator Thread poster: Laura Venables
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| Not at all... | May 31, 2012 |
Aisha Maniar wrote: Siegfried Armbruster wrote:
I actually consider this a good project.
It will help you to learn that there are projects you can't handle and to respect your limits.
It will teach the agency that it is wrong to give a complex project to an unexperienced translator.
It might teach the end client that they get what the pay for.
These are all positive aspects, I can really not see any negative aspect in this project.
Just go for it. This is rather harsh on the original poster.
Of course this isn't harsh; sarcasm is a very useful form of humor.
Harsh would be not to react to Laura's post and let her get sucked into something that would be an absolute nightmare.
[Edited at 2012-05-31 11:57 GMT]
| | | | | This is a pretty extreme case... | May 31, 2012 |
...As you have been the first one to recognise in finding so many cons and - from what I can see - no pros (silly pun intended).
However, even in much less extreme cases, let your gut feeling lead you. The word "overwhelmed" is a red light for me. You won't be able to do your best work if you feel that way, not now and not later, either.
[Edited at 2012-05-31 11:58 GMT]
| | | | | Very intuitive... | May 31, 2012 |
verslanglais wrote:
...As you have been the first one to recognise in finding so many cons and - from what I can see - no pros (silly pun intended).
However, even in much less extreme cases, let your gut feeling lead you. The word "overwhelmed" is a red light for me. You won't be able to do your best work if you feel that way, not now and not later, either.
[Edited at 2012-05-31 11:58 GMT]
...but definitely a valid way to go about these decisions!
| | | | Laura Venables
Local time: 13:47
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Overwhelmed (but in the good way this time!) | May 31, 2012 |
I can't believe I have been given so much great advice and support. It's amazing!
Yes Peter it was indeed the agency that quoted me those words/day figures. I'm glad you say that it is not very realistic because the test translation they sent me was 1,000 words and that alone took me about 2 weeks! The company said they could maybe extend the deadline to the 20th but there is no room for negotiation on the price<... See more I can't believe I have been given so much great advice and support. It's amazing!
Yes Peter it was indeed the agency that quoted me those words/day figures. I'm glad you say that it is not very realistic because the test translation they sent me was 1,000 words and that alone took me about 2 weeks! The company said they could maybe extend the deadline to the 20th but there is no room for negotiation on the price so my next email to them will be the decline.
Aisha you are totally right about translation courses! It is all theory, practice and analysis with practically nothing about how the industry works, but they do set up events whereby established translators can share their experiences and expertise. It was these events that seriously made me question the project in the first place.
I was thinking of offering to do some translation for them for free on a non-deadline basis or asking if I could share the workload until I become more comfortable with the extensiveness of the projects they offer, but I guess that would be just as unrealistic? This job was supposed to be my summer plan, my dissertaion plan and the start of developping my own specialism so I am a tad 'desperate' to do what I can to try and make it work. ▲ Collapse
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| Not accepting this job is the only sensible thing | May 31, 2012 |
Hi Laura,
I hope you understood my last post as it was intended, just describing what will happen if you accept it.
It seems clear now, that you decided not to go for it, which is actually the only sensible thing to do.
This allows us now to help you with your current "plans". What do you mean by "your summer plan"? Do you need paid translation jobs to finance your living? If so, let's see if we can help you, but first:
In which area do you plan to specialize? If you wa... See more Hi Laura,
I hope you understood my last post as it was intended, just describing what will happen if you accept it.
It seems clear now, that you decided not to go for it, which is actually the only sensible thing to do.
This allows us now to help you with your current "plans". What do you mean by "your summer plan"? Do you need paid translation jobs to finance your living? If so, let's see if we can help you, but first:
In which area do you plan to specialize? If you want to develop into the direction of technical/scientific or medical translation, we might be able to help you. For legal, financial and general business you will have to look for somebody else.
What do you mean with your dissertation plan? Do you need a topic and some support while working on it. What did you have in mind? How much time are you planning to put into your dissertation, when does it have to be completed?
Feel free to give us some info here in the forum or if you don't want to do this, just contact me through my profile, if we can, we will help you.
Best
Siegfried ▲ Collapse
| | | | | No free lunch | Jun 1, 2012 |
LauraVenables88 wrote:
...I was thinking of offering to do some translation for them for free on a non-deadline basis or asking if I could share the workload until I become more comfortable with the extensiveness of the projects they offer, but I guess that would be just as unrealistic?
Free work is slavery. A translation without deadline means that it is useless.
If you wish to practise translation for free or low rates, contact well-known NGOs or organisations sur as "Translators without borders". The feel-good factor is more appealling than delivering free services to commercial businesses.
Ultimately though, the purpose of being a translator is to earn a living. And as a freelancer, you have expenses, overheads and taxes to pay, so you have to offer sustainable rates.
Philippe
| | | | Laura Venables
Local time: 13:47
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Bye bye summer plans . . . | Jun 1, 2012 |
Hi Siegfried
Yea I absolutely see what you meant by your post now and I really appreciate what you were trying to show me.
Basically, my situation at the moment is that I have broken up from uni for the summer and I was hoping to get some serious translation experience in before September (when uni starts again). I am not relying on it as income because I have a part time in a call centre (blech!) and I ... See more Hi Siegfried
Yea I absolutely see what you meant by your post now and I really appreciate what you were trying to show me.
Basically, my situation at the moment is that I have broken up from uni for the summer and I was hoping to get some serious translation experience in before September (when uni starts again). I am not relying on it as income because I have a part time in a call centre (blech!) and I figured I would have to go voluntary anyway because of my lack of experience. I WAS hoping that this 'job' would fulfil several purposes:
1) To allow me to start improving my understanding of scientific and technical fields
2) To get me a lot of experience in translating in that field
3) To allow me to use part of the translations I would have done as part of the dissertation I will have to write next summer (consisting of a 6,000 word minimum translation and a 6,000 word commentary on it). I have plenty of time but I welcomed the opportunity to get a good head-start. It can be a translation of anything, but as I hope to eventually specialize in more scientific fields, I figured this job would have been ideal.
However, because of the way things turned out, I am not feeling as optimistic about developing specialisms in scientific, technical or medical fields. I may be wrong, but I get the impression that due to the highly specialised nature of these fields, translation agencies or even translation companies prefer translators to have a degree or many years of experience translating in them before accepting to work with them. However, without the specialist knowledge, I feel slightly at a loss as to how to gain experience (voluntary or otherwise) and the prospect of starting to learn more about such areas, without the specific direction I would have had through the job, is a little daunting.
Philippe, I know a little about translating for charities and NGO's and they would be great! The downside is the vast nature of topics that could be covered when I have such a particular focus. I would certainly wouldn't turn down any work from them though considering my current situation. I completely see your point too about the 'feel good factor' so thanks for putting me straight there ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some math regarding deadlines | Jun 1, 2012 |
LauraVenables88 wrote:
... the test translation they sent me was 1,000 words and that alone took me about 2 weeks!
Let's do the math:
If it took you 2 weeks to do 1,000 words, how long would it take you to do 89,000 words?
Let's put it in algebraic terms:
2/1,000=x/89,000
Solving for x:
x=89,000(2/1,000)
x=178 weeks
It would take you 178 weeks (3 years, 5 months, 16 days) to do the corresponding 89,000 word text.
And that is not taking into account the extra time required to do formatting for formulas, etc., as it has been mentioned on this thread.
If it took you 2 weeks to do 1,000 words, probably that fact alone should have told you that the ridiculous deadline they gave you for the big job was clearly undoable, not to mention the insulting rate they offered you.
By the way, a 1,000 word test is not precisely a short one. Did you get paid for it? (This is just a philosophical question, probably I can guess the answer, but I hope I am wrong!)
[Edited at 2012-06-01 17:38 GMT]
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Laura Venables
Local time: 13:47
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER
No you're right Miguel I didn't even think about that! Is it ever OK to do a test translation for free?
| | | | Rolf Kern 
Switzerland
Local time: 14:47
English to German
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In memoriam | Forget this job | Jun 1, 2012 |
Doing a test translation for free is a good thing, but this job is an absolute nonsense.
[Bearbeitet am 2012-06-01 21:42 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:47
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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These posters seems very mad. I share their feelings and 2nd them.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:47
Member (2008)
Italian to English
jyuan_us wrote:
These posters seems very mad.
I disagree - they seem very sane.
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| Translating a big project | Nov 22, 2012 |
You are warned on site about translating big projects. You might have been keen to do it as it could involve a lot of money and might bring you clients but you might do the work for nothing and have problems chasing for payment. Now take it as useful experience. Good luck!
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