| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Should I tell the client about bad translator he used? Thread poster: suongmai
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| Do report it! | Apr 5, 2013 |
Very many agencies lack sufficient capabilities (if they have any) to evaluate the translations they are buying for their customers, so our industry is in dire need of feedback in these situations, if we want to weed out bad translators in the long run.
My opinion is that you should at least offer the opportunity to get a report. Do not invest too much time unless the customer is really interested. What I do is prepare two or three examples with explanations of the mistakes, and rep... See more Very many agencies lack sufficient capabilities (if they have any) to evaluate the translations they are buying for their customers, so our industry is in dire need of feedback in these situations, if we want to weed out bad translators in the long run.
My opinion is that you should at least offer the opportunity to get a report. Do not invest too much time unless the customer is really interested. What I do is prepare two or three examples with explanations of the mistakes, and report that along with my delivery of the actual translation job, with a question of whether they would like a more comprehensive report on the issues seen in the reference material.
It is also best to avoid passionate expressions like "the other translator did a lousy job", or "the work is a mess", "never hire that person again", etc., since even the best translator can have a bad day. Simply report that you have found mistakes and that you will not reproduce the mistakes, but deliver a proper translation. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ana Cuesta 
Spain
Local time: 09:00
Member
English to Spanish
| I would follow nordiste's suggestion | Apr 5, 2013 |
nordiste wrote:
Since it is urgent, and a small job, you could :
translate following their recommendation, using the bad reference
and translate the way you would do it (without using the bad reference).
And you make a short comment to point out the differences in these 4 sentences.
You could also add that you had a look at their reference material and you think that some terminoloy choices are "questionable", maybe give an example or two, and that you will be happy to provide a more detailed comment if they like.
Hardly anything to object to such approach. Up to them which version to use. You don't force them to use what you believe is the correct translation but don't get forced to use their wrong terms either. And also up to them how to proceed from there once you have made them aware of what was going on.
[Edited at 2013-04-05 10:02 GMT]
| | | | | You should absolutely tell them. By not telling you are just promoting the deterioration of language | Apr 5, 2013 |
If it is really bad, it was most likely Machine Translation.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Very many agencies lack sufficient capabilities (if they have any) to evaluate the translations they are buying for their customers, so our industry is in dire need of feedback in these situations, if we want to weed out bad translators in the long run.
I once received a translation that, according to the PM, had been translated by one, and proofread by two other translators. Yet it was awful! I fixed it entirely, and advised her not to use the services of these three people, without advertising mine.
Considering that agency's payment policy, I'm not interested in working for them again. So they received a completely unbiased and free piece of advice. It will be up to them to act on it or merely ignore it.
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suongmai
Vietnam
Local time: 14:00
English to Vietnamese
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TOPIC STARTER | I finished the work | Apr 5, 2013 |
Thanks All,
The document isn't very difficult (only some kind of survey) so i translated my part which is good to use for the client.
And also i did the editing in track change so that he can see all the red.
I'm thinking what to say to him now since i do not want to bad mouth the other translator AT ALL, I just want to show him that the document can be done MUCH better.
That wasn't machine translation but probably was translated by student (some of my students c... See more Thanks All,
The document isn't very difficult (only some kind of survey) so i translated my part which is good to use for the client.
And also i did the editing in track change so that he can see all the red.
I'm thinking what to say to him now since i do not want to bad mouth the other translator AT ALL, I just want to show him that the document can be done MUCH better.
That wasn't machine translation but probably was translated by student (some of my students can do better job) or a very inexperience translator one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | NataliaAnne
Brazil
Local time: 04:00
Portuguese to English
| Back up your claims | Apr 5, 2013 |
The only thing I would add to this conversation is that I think it’s vital to back up claims of poor quality. Get a couple of examples and provide references to trustworthy dictionaries, grammar texts and/or other sources showing how and why the errors are just that. This grounds the whole matter in fact and avoids arguments. Yes, it takes a few minutes of your time, but I think it’s worth it. Remember that it’s very easy to prove the vast majority of errors and if you can’t, you may be ... See more The only thing I would add to this conversation is that I think it’s vital to back up claims of poor quality. Get a couple of examples and provide references to trustworthy dictionaries, grammar texts and/or other sources showing how and why the errors are just that. This grounds the whole matter in fact and avoids arguments. Yes, it takes a few minutes of your time, but I think it’s worth it. Remember that it’s very easy to prove the vast majority of errors and if you can’t, you may be looking at an instance of legitimate variation. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 15:00
Chinese to English
| Positive advertising | Apr 5, 2013 |
Don't think of it as reporting a bad translator, think of it as an advert for yourself. Explain (briefly) Why your translation is better, and why you should be the agency's no. 1 choice in the future.
Sorry about my last post - I hadn't fully understood what the situation was.
| | | | Rimas Kriukas
Lithuania
Local time: 10:00
English to Lithuanian
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| Do you know who (what) the translator was? | Apr 5, 2013 |
I have some experience when I was asked to proofread a translation from a translation company. When I started the job the translation seemed to be very strange, no person who has at least basic skills of English could perform a translation like that. It was easier to translate the text than to correct it. I decided to make one thing, of course it was not polite, but I became curious, so I typed the source language sentences into "google translator". It appeared that I was right - all the sentenc... See more I have some experience when I was asked to proofread a translation from a translation company. When I started the job the translation seemed to be very strange, no person who has at least basic skills of English could perform a translation like that. It was easier to translate the text than to correct it. I decided to make one thing, of course it was not polite, but I became curious, so I typed the source language sentences into "google translator". It appeared that I was right - all the sentences were translated with it. What do you think of that? As it happened only once, I would not like to say the name of the company.
It was not pleasant to make a "proofreading task", as you might believe. ▲ Collapse
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suongmai
Vietnam
Local time: 14:00
English to Vietnamese
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TOPIC STARTER | Not Google translation for sure | Apr 5, 2013 |
In my case, it wasn't google translation for sure, but it was translated based on some kinds of Machine translation like that. I think some one used machine translation to translate, and then edited it himself.
There are meaning in those sentences but as a vietnamese i would never use that kinds of sentences. Also the way he used words was not smooth and nature.
Anyway, i said to my client (agency) nicely that i think the quality of the reference document is poor and need to be impr... See more In my case, it wasn't google translation for sure, but it was translated based on some kinds of Machine translation like that. I think some one used machine translation to translate, and then edited it himself.
There are meaning in those sentences but as a vietnamese i would never use that kinds of sentences. Also the way he used words was not smooth and nature.
Anyway, i said to my client (agency) nicely that i think the quality of the reference document is poor and need to be improved. and I sent along with my editing for him to see. That's all.
And he thanked me and told me that it was his client (final one) who translated that one, and he would mention about the quality of translation for them. So i guess that is all. and that's good.
In Vietnam, labour is quite cheap so the companies usually hire some kind of new graduated students without experience nor skills to work in the office full time, and they have to translate/interprete also do tons of office work for about 250 - 300$ per month (generously). And of course you can see the quality. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Make an unsolicited bid | Apr 5, 2013 |
Do not be so forward as to tell your client how they were screwed over, but you should strongly suggest they conduct a service audit for past services. Submit a bid for this audit, and provide a few referrals to others who can conduct the same audit.
If you attack another company's level of service, you also invite retaliation and clients will be more likely to avoid you both
| | | | | Sample the worst if too long | Apr 6, 2013 |
You did not tell us, or I missed it, how long is the reference document. I assume that it's disproportionately long compared to 4 sentences to translate, and if you proofed with track changes you would spend a lot of unpaid time. In that situation, I would pick the worst 3 examples I can find and explain each one in a client e-mail. Back-translate, explain how they will introduce complette confusions or counter-sense, etc. Just write that mail carefully, making sure it's easy to see the errors... See more You did not tell us, or I missed it, how long is the reference document. I assume that it's disproportionately long compared to 4 sentences to translate, and if you proofed with track changes you would spend a lot of unpaid time. In that situation, I would pick the worst 3 examples I can find and explain each one in a client e-mail. Back-translate, explain how they will introduce complette confusions or counter-sense, etc. Just write that mail carefully, making sure it's easy to see the errors and to be shocked by them. Conclude by saying the reference material includes *many* such errors (a quantitative estimate is good too at this point). This will probably take another 20-30 minutes of your time, then leave it at that, it's the client's problem now, and don't spend that time on this problem again with the same client. Sometimes people are just stubborn. Or the CEO's nephew wrote that piece and they are sooooo sure he is the next Viet Nobel Lit prize winner, etc. ▲ Collapse
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 09:00
Spanish to English
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| Depends or relationship | Apr 6, 2013 |
I think it depends on the relationship you have with your client. In general, I have a friendly and more or less informal relationship with my clients, so I would normally have no problems about telling them "you realise that this previous translation is not very good, or up to my own standards".
The only thing that might vary when telling them this is how politely I couch the language, as I do tend to be quite blunt.
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suongmai
Vietnam
Local time: 14:00
English to Vietnamese
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TOPIC STARTER | The reference document is one page | Apr 6, 2013 |
and it is in target language (vietnamese) already.
It took me about 45 mins to proofed it with track change, and i told my client that i just did it quick and pointed out those mistakes that can be seen right away, even though that document can be improved much more.
This is a new client and so i do not know about them, but he seems nice and provided right away a very nice WWA to me.
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NataliaAnne wrote:
The only thing I would add to this conversation is that I think it’s vital to back up claims of poor quality.
This led me to re-read the original post, and then I realized the OP was hired to translate (not review/proofread) something while using a bad translation for reference.
This has happened to me too. I simply tell them the reference material has been badly translated, so that I simply ignored that while doing my translation assignment.
The client may - at their choice - ignore that bad quality or become concerned. In the latter case they may ask the "nitpicking" translator for either some hints, or a complete review.
Phil Hand wrote:
Don't think of it as reporting a bad translator, think of it as an advert for yourself. Explain (briefly) Why your translation is better, and why you should be the agency's no. 1 choice in the future.
Cast the first stone...
I wouldn't say my translation is necessarily better. In fact, if the subject matter is e.g. medical stuff for practitioners in that area, one of my self-declared off-limits areas, chances are that my translation will be worse, technically. Yet it may be language-wise poorly written. In this case I'd suggest the client to get adequate proofreading.
Then I'd wait for them to ask me, "Can you do it?". If it doesn't fall into any of my five non-working subject areas, yes I can.
An experienced translation outsourcer/client will know that proofreaders often - as we put it in Brazil - "change six for half-dozen" to show they are absolutely necessary. Likewise some translators are prone to make harsh comments on their colleagues' work, if they can get more translation (not proofreading) jobs from doing so. Experienced clients have learned to ignore such attempts, considering them unethical.
This may be the source of endless translator-reviewer quibbling, often via client. When I get teamed up in this setting, I want my teammate to know right from the start that, if I change anything, it's not because s/he is wrong (though it may be the case), but because I think WE can make it better, and that they have exactly the same right to do it on my text.
| | | | | By all means report it | Apr 6, 2013 |
Actually, in your language pair, the other parties may not be at all equipped to judge the translation. Moreover, the agency may not have done this translation, the reference may have been provided by the end client. You should report it to the agency, backing up you reasons. They will then decide whether or not to discuss it with the end client.
Moreover, it will show that have have given serious thought to the reference material they provided which shows that you are a conscientio... See more Actually, in your language pair, the other parties may not be at all equipped to judge the translation. Moreover, the agency may not have done this translation, the reference may have been provided by the end client. You should report it to the agency, backing up you reasons. They will then decide whether or not to discuss it with the end client.
Moreover, it will show that have have given serious thought to the reference material they provided which shows that you are a conscientious professional.
[Edited at 2013-04-06 15:09 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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