Grad students and Academics
Thread poster: Oliver Pekelharing
Oliver Pekelharing
Oliver Pekelharing  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:31
Dutch to English
Sep 25, 2013

There is a job post up at the moment for 'grad students and academics' (http://www.proz.com/translation-jobs/816757) which pretty much says it all. Does anybody actually buy this stuff?

edit: so the link doesn't work so delete this post.

[Edited at 2013-09-25 22:09 GMT]


 
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:31
Swedish to English
+ ...
Link works Sep 25, 2013

If you remove the bracket at the end of the link.

 
Neil Coffey
Neil Coffey  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:31
French to English
+ ...
Puzzling... Sep 25, 2013

Let's put it this way: I don't think many people actually working in academia will be fooled...

 
Dr Sarai Pahla, MBChB
Dr Sarai Pahla, MBChB
Germany
Local time: 08:31
Member (2012)
Japanese to English
+ ...
Confused Sep 25, 2013

At the risk of exposing my sheer ignorance - I assume the poster is trying to say that professional translators are going to be too expensive. At least 70% of my work is from academics who are happy to work with professional translators or reputable translation agencies, so perhaps they are just looking to get cheap labour (but charge their end-clients the same price as the professional translators whom they think are too expensive).... See more
At the risk of exposing my sheer ignorance - I assume the poster is trying to say that professional translators are going to be too expensive. At least 70% of my work is from academics who are happy to work with professional translators or reputable translation agencies, so perhaps they are just looking to get cheap labour (but charge their end-clients the same price as the professional translators whom they think are too expensive).

The whole thing is worded far too vaguely for my liking...
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changwinnie
changwinnie  Identity Verified
United States
Chinese to English
$1 a page Sep 26, 2013

I actually wrote them, and the response email was a form letter several paragraphs long that said knowledge is important and should cross barriers (essentially what the original post said), and that you will be paid $1 a page. He also referred to this as "extra cash." I googled this "project manager," and he does work for a translation company in Chicago. My suspicion is that the translation company will charge its academic customers a full amount (maybe even marked up for specialized knowledge/... See more
I actually wrote them, and the response email was a form letter several paragraphs long that said knowledge is important and should cross barriers (essentially what the original post said), and that you will be paid $1 a page. He also referred to this as "extra cash." I googled this "project manager," and he does work for a translation company in Chicago. My suspicion is that the translation company will charge its academic customers a full amount (maybe even marked up for specialized knowledge/style), while paying translators next to nothing. I've been out of academia for a year, so while this kind of "work for free" thing is common for academia, I hope it won't catch on in the translation industry.Collapse


 
James McVay
James McVay  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:31
Russian to English
+ ...
Job cancelled Sep 26, 2013

I exchanged a couple of emails with Mr. Garcia yesterday. I got the impression that he is actually trying to help out with some ambitious academic translation project that has little or no funding. He didn't post the announcement as coming from his agency, after all. He told me he is hoping to work with grad students, not professional translators.

I told him IMHO his approach was all wrong, that few grad students have the skills called for, and qualified professional translators nee
... See more
I exchanged a couple of emails with Mr. Garcia yesterday. I got the impression that he is actually trying to help out with some ambitious academic translation project that has little or no funding. He didn't post the announcement as coming from his agency, after all. He told me he is hoping to work with grad students, not professional translators.

I told him IMHO his approach was all wrong, that few grad students have the skills called for, and qualified professional translators need to make a living and won't work for a dollar a day. I pointed out that ProZ.com is a site for professionals and therefore not the right place to reach the grad students he's targeting.

I see the announcement is gone today...
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Grad students and Academics







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