Not all clients are created equal July 14, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.4 comments
Maybe I’ve been spoiled by my wonderful clients, but I am always surprised when a less-than-wonderful client contacts me. Maybe I reacted differently than I usually would because I had just finished translating 3,904 words in six hours and was looking forward to some time off, but I like to think I would have reacted in the exact same way on any normal day. A client with whom I have never worked before called me at 5:15 p.m., which isn’t that unusual, about a potential job that they were looking to fill. I agreed to check my e-mail, take a look and get back to her. If I had heard the name clearly and not assumed it was a call from the client to whom I had just delivered the job, I probably would have told her I was busy. I was surprised to see it was from this other agency (BTW, why do all translation agencies have names that start with Tech, Trans or Lingo – and why can’t project managers speak slowly and enunciate their words on the phone?). Anyway, I received the following e-mail with four PDF attachments:
We have a new potential order that we need a translator for. This will be from German to English, and the turn around time will be for 7-16-09. I need a word count to determine the price for our client, please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you.
Do you see what irritated me? Trying to be diplomatic, I wrote back stating that she had not specified a deadline when we spoke on the phone, I was already booked for tomorrow, and I would need at least two days for the job. I then not so subtly (or I guess subtly because she missed it) referred her to ABBYY FineReader or PDF Transformer and Practicount to determine the word count, but estimated the files to be around 3,300 words. What can I say? I was feeling generous…
She responded with “Let me see if I can get an extension, but in the meantime if you can provide a word count that would be great. Thank you.”
Um, how can I put this diplomatically? Dear clients, it is not your freelance translators’ job to do the word counts or other project manager duties for you. If you want us to do word counts you should offer/expect to compensate us for our time. Also, if you want Word files back it would be very much appreciated if you could OCR the files yourself and send source Word files to us. Otherwise we reserve the right to charge you a surcharge.
As one colleague put it so eloquently on Twitter: “PDF xl8 – plus 20%. Doing her job counting? Your minimum fee. :)”
Translators should read Kevin’s eHow article on How to Profit from PDF Translation to get some good ideas on how to negotiate rates that involve PDFs. I personally prefer to OCR the files myself, because then I know what the source document looks like and can fix any potential incorrectly scanned words. If you don’t know how to OCR files and are attending the upcoming ATA conference, I invite you to attend Tuomas Kostiainen and my presentation, “Making Portable Document Formats (PDF) work for you” on Saturday, 10/31/09, from 9:00-10:30 a.m.
In the meantime I had accepted another job from another long-standing client and was no longer available for the rest of the week. I then politely let her know she should find another translator. I am so glad that I did not spend time OCRing the files and then running them through Practicount, because that would have been an uncompensated waste of my time.
Get thee a minimum price and use it July 10, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.2 comments
I subscribe to a payment practice listserv called Zahlungspraxis. Communication is in German, and it is a good way to keep up with the payment practices and behavior of German agencies and companies. I subscribe to Payment Practices too and there is some overlap, but Zahlungspraxis is free so it isn’t a big deal to subscribe to both.
There has been a bit of a row on the list over the last couple days between a German-Korean translator and an agency based in Cologne. The translator complained that the company had canceled the job within 20 hours of hiring her, while the company then responded by saying she had received the payment and they had never received the translation. It turns out they are fighting over €2,85 – 5 words! I couldn’t believe my eyes this morning when I read that. The way the translator phrased her original post made it sound like she had been slaving over her computer for 20 hours and then the agency simply canceled the job and told her she had never been issued a PO. Hey, it’s happened to all of us. I’ve had it happen to me once or twice. It’s frustrating, but that’s just part of doing business sometimes. Needless to say I have been paid for the work that I had done before the job was canceled, and the one time I wasn’t I simply refused to work with the agency again.
If it had been an existing customer I probably would have translated the 5 words for free, but that is a personal choice. In this case, it was a new client. She insisted on payment upfront, and the agency paid her. If you ask me, the agency acted in good faith and transferred the money to her in expectation that they would be receiving the translation. She should have sent them the translation anyway and then not complained about a measly €2,85 over an international listserv. There’s a little thing called libel…
The point that I would really like to drive home is that professional translators should not work for €2,85, $5 or any other insulting amount. You should set a minimum price and insist on it with clients. I won’t turn on my computer for €2,85. There are better things I can do with my time, like sit in the sun and read a good book. I have a minimum fee, and professional clients realize this and have no problem paying it. Attorneys, doctors and just about every other professional have minimum fees. Heck, I went to my vet the other day and was in the office for a whole 5 minutes and charged $250 for an exam, a bunch of shots and tests, and flea medication. You need to decide what your minimum price is and use it. You should either charge your hourly rate or, if you are so inclined, half your hourly rate (I have two minimum fees for my clients depending on how much time I actually spend on the job). Everyone is different, and you should choose whatever you feel is best for you. But please, don’t work for €2,85.
Bonus TGIF: United breaks guitars July 10, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.5 comments
I don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but this is a very catchy tune. It’s gotten 900,000 hits on YouTube since it was uploaded on July 6. I saw it a couple days ago and can’t get the song out of my head (in German we call it an Ohrwurm). As Dave Carroll explains:
In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise.
The video was shot in 12 hours with friends dressed up as flight attendants and musicians. Volunteer firemen played the baggage handlers who are shown playing catch with the guitar case and tossing it like a hammer throw. Since the clip started generating publicity online, his schedule has been packed with interviews and requests for the band to perform. Taylor Guitars in California called him and offered to see if it could repair the damaged guitar. They also promised him a discount on his next purchase. And now the happy ending – United has since bought the video from him (hopefully for lots more money than the initial claim) and will be using it “for training purposes to ensure all customers receive better service from us.”
Since we travel more than most average citizens I’m sure you have all experienced luggage hassles. I remember being forced to check my soft-sided carry-on, which contained a six-pack of Radeberger beer for my Dad, in Frankfurt. They slapped a Fragile sticker on it, and it made it safe through Chicago. But when it got thrown onto the luggage carousel in Cleveland I saw a shadow forming around it. Yes, the bottles had shattered – and the suitcase still faintly smells of beer nine years later. Feel free to share your luggage horror stories in the Comments.
TGIF: How to clean your computer July 10, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
I figure if you are overworked like me you tend to ignore your computer. When I am busy I tend to let the files accumulate in my Attach folder and My Documents. Ideally I would zip the files up and archive them away once I’ve invoiced the job, but that is easier said than done. I try to keep up with it, but tonight I found myself archiving files from the middle of June all the way up to now. I then ran Ccleaner (formerly known as Crap Cleaner) to get rid of lots of temp files and speed up my computer. I try to do that once a month. Tonight I cleared out 414 MB of temp files, cached files, cookies, links, etc.
You should also try to thoroughly clean your computer once a month. Since I have a dog who sheds really fine hair, my computers tend to accumulate lots of dust in all the vents and the fan. I thought it would be fun to find a funny video on how to clean your computer. That was easier said than done, so you’ll have to settle on this one. This little video was made by a system admin to tell his father how to clean his computer. It is painful at times when he is trying to be funny, but it is in fact informative. I thought it would be helpful to all of you who are afraid to dive into the computer and give it a good dusting. I know I used to be afraid of touching the inside of a computer. Hopefully this will teach you a lot. Have a great weekend!
Translator gear at CafePress July 8, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Marketing ideas.5 comments
CafePress has lots of fun translation-related gear available. CafePress is an online site for all kinds of customizable gear. You can buy it, design it, or sell it on CafePress. You can get all kinds of fun stuff, including t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, mousepads, messenger bags, tote bags, mugs, bumper stickers and more! I don’t know who to thank, but there are now a lot of translation and language-related items available. This could be a fun way to start conversations and possibly gain some new clients. I treated myself to a t-shirt, a hoodie and a messenger bag a few days ago, and the package arrived this afternoon. I will be styling all my purchases at the ATA conference in New York City in October as well as around Cleveland in the next few months. Be sure to check it out!
Voting has begun on the Top 100 Language Blogs July 8, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.add a comment
Voting has begun on the Top 100 Language Blogs for 2009 at lexiophiles.com. I’m not mentioning this to campaign for anyone to vote for me (although it is an honor to be nominated, so thank you). I think it might be a great opportunity to check out all the blogs that have been nominated and maybe find one or two (or more) new gems to follow. 473 blogs have been nominated this year in four different categories. Be sure to check them out! You might find a new favorite.
TGIF: 4th of July fireworks July 3, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
I know most of you aren’t located in the United States, but I have fireworks on the brain. I have been busy the last couple days translating 6,000 words of cooking instructions and ingredient lists. The agency gave my client an extension, but I still wanted to get it done by Thursday night so that I could enjoy the holiday weekend. I didn’t manage to do that, because I was downtown last night listening to the Cleveland Orchestra and watching the fireworks afterward. The file is now delivered, and I’m heading out for the weekend. I hope you all have a great weekend. To those of you in Europe suffering from the 30°C heat – stay cool!
TGIF: Do you suffer from grammar obsessive disorder? July 3, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, TGIF.add a comment
Here is a cute little video on grammar obsessive disorder, in which the folks at Ragan Communications “look at the symptoms of this scourge of professional communicators and offer help on how you can cope with its virulent manifestations.” You know you have Grammar Obsessive Disorder when…
Onlinetranslationopensource.quebecblog.com July 1, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.3 comments
Does anyone know who or what is behind http://onlinetranslationopensource.quebecblogue.com/? It appears to be translating posts from other blogs (including mine) and then translating them back into painful, unintelligible English. My guess is that they are using open source feed readers and machine translation tools. If that is the case, it is a good example that our jobs are not in jeopardy any time soon.
Musings from an overworked translator 