What makes a match? August 31, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.5 comments
The Medical Translation Blog has an excellent explanation of the difference between translation memories and terminology glossaries. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check it out.
I particularly like the comment suggesting discounts for matches aren’t such a good idea. In fact, Trados used to suggest a 30/60/100 scale: 100% for anything below 85% matches (some agencies use lower percentages for matches, but in my experience anything below 85% essentially needs reworking and our full attention so translators should be paid accordingly), 60% of the full word price for 99%-85% matches and 30% of the full word price for 100% matches and repetitions. In an ideal world translators wouldn’t offer discounts for matches at all. After all, we are the ones who shelled out the money for our expensive TEnTs (translation environment tools, aka CAT tools). Why should agencies expect to be able to benefit from our business purchases? It’s not like they expect discounts because we have the right specialized dictionaries on our shelves…
I know plenty of translators who do not offer discounts – period. It’s up to each individual translator to decide whether or not it makes sense for them to offer discounts on matches. I have some clients who do not demand discounts based on Trados analyses and some who do. It makes more business sense to work for ones that do not, but I also work for agencies that do require Trados and discounts. It all depends on how busy I am when I get the request and whether they provide a TM or expect me to use mine (which is a whole other can of worms)…
BTW, I have no problems offering a discount to agencies that provide me with a fully licensed copy of their required TEnT. I don’t have to pay for it, so I have no problem passing on a discount to the agency. I have one agency that provides me with their TEnT and a year license. Once the license runs out I simply get a new license code from them. I wish more agencies did this.
Paypal is not a good solution for translators August 19, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.7 comments
According to a recent blog post, Paypal adds new fees with no notice, Paypal quietly started charging new fees last month to its customers with personal accounts without notifying them of the change. As the blog post states, “The new fees apply to payments marked as “Goods” or “Services.” Such payments were previously free but will now be charged a fee of about 2.9% plus 30 cents.” This obviously applies to translators, since we provide services (and if you provide hard copies or files to clients one could conceivably argue we also provide goods). I have a personal Paypal account that I only use for eBay purchases and am the contact person for my translator association’s business account. I never received any notification of these changes for either account. According to a follow-up post published a week later in which Paypal tried to explain themselves and did not do a very good job, Paypal allegedly sent out an email “trumpeting how those with Premium or Business accounts no longer had to pay fees for personal transfers.” I can’t say I received this notice either…
The moral of this story is that nothing in life is free – and in light of our economic climate anything that used to be free will soon not be. When asked about banking and international business dealings, I never suggest using Paypal, because the fees can be so horrendous. For smaller amounts it isn’t that bad, but for large amounts it is a better idea to maintain a bank account in an alternate country and initiate occasional wire transfers. In my case, I maintain a bank account in Germany – but I am shopping around for a new alternative as well, because my German bank just started charging me a monthly fee of almost $10. Whatever I do decide to use, it certainly won’t be Paypal!
How do you handle time off? August 19, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.8 comments
The Urban Muse’s post today, Open Thread: How Do You Handle Time Off?, was extremely timely, as I was complaining on Twitter and LinkedIn yesterday about business being slow. Several people responded to my complaints via Twitter and e-mail to assure me that it was simply a summer lull. As an overworked translator this is the first time I have experienced a summer lull though, so it was a little disconcerting. That said, as soon as I voiced my frustration to the world a 3,000 word job landed on my desk. The fact remains that business is still slower than last year. I think there are several factors at play, including the fact that my favorite client hasn’t had any German-English requests in quite a while (I think their client hired an in-house translator). I know that things will pick up again in September though, so there is that to look forward to.
The Urban Muse had a good point though when she summed it up with “This time of year it seems like everyone is either on vacation or getting ready for a vacation. Even freelancers need time off, though it can be tricky for us to swing.” We need to take time off and relax. The Masked Translator wrote a good post back in February on stinkin’ thinkin’ called Freaking Out About the Economy, and I couldn’t agree more. I think the recession and all the negative talk has made me a little crazy. Things have definitely slowed down for me, but I still have work coming in – just not the big jobs I have gotten in the past.
Susan asks several very relevant questions in her Open Thread: Have you taken any time off this summer? And if so, did you check email or work while you were gone? I know I am guilty of this. I rarely go anywhere without toting my laptop with me. I have been known to work on the rare occasions I am away from home. I am accompanying a friend to Myrtle Beach in October. She is planning a conference for hospital administrators, and I am going to keep her company in the car. I am getting a free hotel room and access to the conference – and am planning on working from the hotel room. I also plan to network my butt off :-), but I have a big project starting up in September that will be spanning several months so working from the hotel is also a necessity. However, I have also booked a vacation to the Everglades for late February/early March (when I will be sick of winter and aching for warmth and sunshine). I’ll be enjoying the Everglades and the coral reefs on an “aquatic and birding adventure.” I will not be bringing my laptop with me and will set my autoresponder. I have found sending e-mail announcements isn’t the best way for me, because inevitably some client I didn’t think to inform (because I haven’t worked with them in a year) will inevitably contact me with a job while I’m gone. An autoresponder ensures everyone is aware of my absence and can contact someone else if it is urgent – or wait until I return.
That said, I had a mini-vacation of sorts this past week. I had a couple slow days at the end of last week and early this week. Had I known it was going to be slow, I probably would have taken better advantage of them and actually done something fun instead of puttering around my apartment and checking my e-mail every hour to see if a job request had come in. In the meantime, I will be taking it easy next week, because Susanne III and several other friends are coming into town to celebrate my Big 40 next weekend. I’m kayaking with my dad on Lake Erie on the afternoon of the 26th. Susanne and Chuck arrive the evening of the 27th. We’re going to cruise the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie on the 28th. And I have to prepare for the big party I’m throwing on Saturday at some point. I’ll probably set my autoresponder on those days too.
So, dear readers, since everyone is different and I’m sure everyone struggles with this issue at some point, please share with us in the comments how you handle time off. Do you find it hard to take a vacation as a freelancer? How have you handled time off this summer? Do you tell your clients in advance or do you set your autoresponder?
Tips for clients – top 10 ways to keep your translator happy August 18, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.13 comments
I’ve been ruminating on why I love the clients I have and am willing to bend over backwards for some, while weeding out clients that I have been less than happy with this year. I have talked at length about some of these issues in the past, but here are some tips for clients to keep your translator happy.
1. Pay us a rate that is commensurate with our education and experience. Many translators have advanced degrees and oodles of experience in a variety of different fields. We should be paid accordingly.
2. Don’t ask us to cut our rates. We have a mortgage, rent, phone bills and electric bills to pay. Asking us to cut our rates by up to 25% is the surest way to lose us quick. Educate your client on the value of translation instead.
3. Don’t bother to ask for a volume discount. Words are not widgets. In translation more volume means more work – not less. Most people in the business world get paid time and a half for overtime. If your “volume” means we have to work longer than usual (such as 12-hour days to meet an insane deadline) an offer of one cent (or more) a word more would really be appreciated.
4. Don’t even bother to ask us to translate 10,000+ words a day. It’s simply not possible – nor is it healthy in the long run.
5. Pay us on time in accordance with the standard payment terms of 30 or 45 days. 60 days is unacceptable.
6. Don’t wait for your client to pay you before you pay us. Our contract was with you – not with your client. Get a short-term loan if you have to. My parents did it numerous times for their contractors when I was growing up and their client (the state) was late paying the bills. That said, if money is tight let us know and maybe we can work something out, but don’t just ignore us or tell us the check is in the mail when it isn’t.
7. Be appreciative and give us feedback. Most of us deliver our translations into a void. We assume no news is good news, but clients who thank us for our “outstanding work” and forward client feedback really stand out. I know I for one appreciate hearing feedback – both good and bad – because it makes me a better translator in the long run.
8. Allow the vendor-client relationship to grow with the economy. If the price of eggs, electricity and gas is going up, try to explain to your clients that the price of translation is also affected by inflation. Prices have been stagnant for too long.
9. Don’t pigeonhole us. Don’t just offer us mini-jobs or proofreading jobs all the time. Ask us to translate a text now and then and have the other translator proofread our work. Most translators earn more when they translate. We would appreciate a nice juicy translation every once in a while.
10. Be friendly and communicative. Don’t demand things and assume we are available to accept your job. If you are a favorite client and even if I am busy, I will usually bend over backwards to make time for you if at all possible. A simple hello and thank you is all it takes. It is the simplest way to gain our loyalty.
Feel free to add additional thoughts in the comments.
When you accept a job be sure you deliver it! August 11, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.7 comments
My latest tweet has inspired this post: R translators flaking at the moment? This is the 2nd time in 2 days I’ve been asked 2 help an agency when a transl8r bailed on a project.
I don’t understand this at all. I have only bailed on a job once in my 14-year career as a translator, because it was way beyond my capabilities. BUT (and this is a big but) I let my project manager know in plenty of time so she could find another translator. Yesterday I was contacted by an agency at around 2 PM because their translator had bailed on the job about 2 hours before it was due. I was glad to help them out and delivered the files this afternoon. Shortly after I delivered that job I returned to my office to find a voice mail on my cell phone from a completely different agency (that I consciously haven’t worked with in two years) asking if I could “help them out with a translation today” – at 4:30 pm. Sorry, I’m tired.
If you accept a translation job you should do everything in your power — even if you have to pull an all-nighter — to deliver that job on time. Apart from hospitalization, grave illness, death and perhaps computer troubles (although I had computer troubles today and still managed to find a way to translate about 3,500 words for Agency #1 and deliver them on time) there is no other excuse.
I am always surprised to hear stories about fellow translators flaking out on agencies and clients, but obviously it happens a lot or it wouldn’t be such an issue. Whatever you do, please try not to be one of those translators. Your clients and agencies will love you for it. Reliability is a major plus in their eyes and could give you the edge over another translator when they are deciding who to contact.
The Perfect Storm August 7, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.4 comments
The term ‘”the perfect storm” has come to mean how circumstances and bad judgments come together to create havoc and death. In my case there was definite havoc – and most likely the death of any chance of ever working with this agency again. Let me tell you the story of my Perfect Storm this week. Heed my warnings, my friends, and make sure that this does not happen to you.
I took Monday off to recover from walking 60 miles in 3 days over the weekend in the Cleveland Breast Cancer 3-Day. It was an absolutely amazing experience. I ended up walking 55 miles out of 60, but then again no one said we had to walk all 60 miles. We had already done the hard work of fundraising (I raised $3,215) and raising awareness. It was a good decision on my part to take it easy on Day Two, and that and all the training I did over the last 24 weeks resulted in the fact that, apart from some blisters on the balls of my feet Sunday night, the blisters had subsided and I was feeling good on Monday. I had my auto-responder on for my e-mail accounts, but I did not think anything of it when the phone rang at around 5:30 p.m.
It was a project manager from an agency that I have long admired and never worked with before asking if I could translate a little over 7,000 words of real estate/business by Thursday. I told her no and explained that I was out of the office that day. She then somehow talked me into accepting it for delivery on Friday. I gave her my backup e-mail to view the file, because I did not have my work computer on, which also complicated things. I knew things were going to be tight, but she assured me there were plenty of reference materials and glossaries so I accepted.
I already had two smaller jobs lined up for Tuesday and Wednesday from the week before for two of my favorite agencies, one medical report and some legal documents. I figured I could start working on the job on Wednesday and would be in good shape by Friday.
My first inkling that things were about to go south was when I tried to OCR the large PDF files so that I could import them into a TM and leverage them for the translation. I don’t know why, but ABBYY FineReader had problems with the 80-page files. The consistent capital letters in the headers came out a garbled mess of capital and lower case letters. Worst of all, the program was dropping “i” and “l” in the middle of some words (like financial) for absolutely no reason while duplicating them perfectly in others. I spent an exorbitant amount of time fighting with the OCR and then gave up and saved them without spellchecking. Then I tried to align them in WinAlign… and soon gave up.
I also copied out my portion of the 175-page document and discovered there was a discrepancy, so I wrote the project manager to ask why the word count was 3,000 words off and specified exactly where I understood I was to start and end. It turns out the page numbers she was referring to were in the FOOTERS of the document and not the page numbers in Word itself, but that is just indicative of the communication problems we had from start to finish.
At that point the project manager called me to ask how things were going. When I asked how much of the reference material was repeated in my file she told me “none.” Oh crap. I felt the bottom of my stomach drop and started getting a panicked feeling. I expressed my panic to her at that point, because it was now Thursday morning and I was just getting started on the file. I asked her to find someone else for the remaining 3,000 words, but she never told me that she had. She asked me to deliver what I had finished in the morning and let her know if I could do more. I ended up translating 4,500 words yesterday (Thursday) and delivered them this morning. I then got back to work and translated 700 words this morning when she called to confirm delivery and told me to stop.
I realize that this was not my finest moment and tried to apologize and explain that the job was characterized by lots of miscommunication on both sides. I understand my actions put her in a bind, and I do not fault her for the fact that I kept translating. I do, however, wish she had told me she had indeed found someone else to take a portion of it instead of saying “stick to the original plan,” which indicated to me that I had to translate the entire 7,000 words. I probably would have slept a lot better last night, for instance.
So, kids, if your gut tells you to say no to a project, by all means say NO and do not let the agency talk you into accepting it. You will only be hurting yourself and the agency. And if you truly screw up like this, accept any accommodations the client suggests without complaining, in this case billing for a lower word count than you submitted. I screwed up and have to pay the consequences. It happens to the best of us.
Translator ranked #3 in 10 Best and Real Work at Home Jobs July 30, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.3 comments
Thanks to the Administrator of the German Language Division for pointing this Yahoo Finance article out. Being a translator has made it into a list of the top at-home jobs. You can check out the article here, but for those of you who don’t have time to read the interesting article here’s our relevant portion:
3. Translator
Those with fluency in more than one language translate audio files or documents, not just word for word but often with cultural differences in mind. “Companies can access home-based translators with hard-to-find language skills without being held back by geographic location,” says Fell.
Foster’s site lists 15 companies that seek home-based translators. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-09, which groups translators and interpreters, notes a projected employment increase of 24 percent over the 2006-to-2016 decade, much faster than the average for all occupations.
The national mean hourly wage for translators and interpreters was $20.74, with a mean annual wage of $43,130 as of May 2008, according to estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some industries pay significantly higher, with the highest paying jobs generally in the management, scientific and technical consulting services areas, in which the mean hourly wage was $56.50 and the annual mean wage was $117,530.
I don’t know about you, but it’s nice to know I earn a little over the mean annual wage while enjoying the convenience of working from home.
Ten tips to stay motivated July 27, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.2 comments
Freelance Folder has a really good post today called “Ten Tips to Stay Motivated – Even When You Really Don’t Feel Like Working. It comes at a really good time for me, because I am drowning in work and it is 80 degrees and sunny out – perfect summer weather if you ask me. I am also just a couple days from walking 60 miles in the Breast Cancer 3-Day. We start at 6 a.m. on Friday morning, so there won’t be a TGIF video this week. I’ve been suffering from lack of motivation for a little while now, which is why there also wasn’t a TGIF video last week. I just forgot in all the translating I’ve been doing. I am working on some legal documents that will probably end up being around 22,000 words once everything is said and done – and I started working on them on Thursday. The due date was today (yeah, right). The most likely date I deliver the files will be Thursday evening. The PM is aware of this and has given her okay. I wish I had read the aforementioned blog post last week. It might have really helped me stay on course. The basic tips are:
- Remind yourself of the reason that you freelance.
- Make sure that your work environment is comfortable.
- Change your work environment.
- Schedule breaks.
- Plan a reward for yourself.
- Alternate projects.
- Picture the work already completed.
- Have regular routine.
- Take care of your health.
- Develop a support group.
But I highly recommend reading the whole post for some new ideas.
ProZ.com implements Turn-key Translation Service July 20, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.10 comments
I can’t get upset about anything ProZ.com does. I am not a paying member, nor do I ever plan on becoming one. I steer clear of Henry D. and the ProZ.com staff and booth at the ATA conference every year (you can tell they are with ProZ.com because they all wear black bow ties and black suits). I can honestly say that I have never respected ProZ. I feel it has driven translation prices into the ground and encouraged a bottom feeder mentality among translators and clients alike. I never understood the point of bidding on jobs, because jobs almost always go to the lowest bidder and not to the most qualified. ProZ.com’s founder Henry is also known for making up lots of rules as he goes (see I’ve got a rule for that). Locking discussions on the forums is another trick the ProZ.com staff is good at.
The latest brouhaha is about its turn-key translation services, in which ProZ.com is functioning as an agency. As they claim, “[t]urn-key translation offers an easy way to get quick translations done via the world’s largest network of professional translators… The system automatically handles routing the work to the most suitable translators, delivering the completed work back to you, and paying the service providers.” The system does not calculate any taxes and many translators are questioning prices, invoicing, etc. Kevin Lossner is doing a better job following this issue than I am. You can read all about it here. ProZ.com then made it worse by locking a discussion on the service and then locking a follow-up discussion because it was “against policy” to start another discussion after the initial discussion has been locked. Sounds to me like the ProZ.com staff gathered up their toys and went home to play by themselves.
What I want to know is why do translators continue to put up with the abuse from ProZ.com? If you are unhappy with their policies, stop paying to be members. It’s as simple as that.
P.S. If you liked Rules, Rules, Rules you might also enjoy PointZ, PointZ, PointZ.
ProZ.com does some tweaking – and I like it July 16, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Marketing ideas.add a comment
Hi folks, if you have your resume posted on ProZ.com but aren’t a member, be sure to head on over there and update your profile. They have opened some features (like the availability calendar) to non-paying members. I updated my location, my rates, and my availability. It had been a while since I’d updated the profile. I didn’t do everything they suggested (like add a sample translation), and I certainly don’t waste my time earning KudoZ points. I have been enjoying various discussions (like this one) on the forums recently though. The availability calendar is a great feature that allows you to show your availability – 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% or not available. I’ve been thinking about implementing one on my website, but it looks like I may not have to! Be sure to go update your ProZ.com profile and check out all the changes. ProZ.com, I like the changes. Thanks!
Musings from an overworked translator 