Musings from an overworked translator

Dealing with time zone differences October 21, 2008

I had an “urgent job inquiry” in my e-mail in box yesterday morning from an agency in Germany. The time stamp was 4 a.m. I had woken up earlier than I normally do and was already at my computer drinking my first cup of coffee. I responded saying I would be happy to translate it but wouldn’t be able to start it until Tuesday – and that I would understand if they decided this time frame wasn’t acceptable and found someone else. They responded saying they had already found someone. I got the impression that they had found someone within an hour of sending the e-mail.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves: agencies who ignore time zone differences. Did they expect me to be at my computer at 4 a.m. just waiting to respond to their e-mail? I love working with European agencies, because with the exchange rate the pay is good and I can translate the text and have it in their in box in the morning when they get into the office. But the time zone thing can really be annoying. I wish some agencies would institute a policy where they will contact Translator Group Europe if they need a response right away and Translator Group U.S. if they have a few hours to wait for a response.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky though. At least they didn’t call me on the phone…

What’s the rush? October 14, 2008

I can’t remember the last time I received a job inquiry where the PM said “you know, we have plenty of time for this one. No need to hurry.” In fact, I think I’ve only had this happen to me one or two times. It seems like every single job inquiry I get lately is extremely urgent and needs to be finished tomorrow – or if the call comes in on a Friday by Sunday night. And don’t even get me started about the “we have 10,000 words that need to be translated by tomorrow, how much can you take?” inquiries. I can’t imagine that all these texts are as urgent as the client makes them sound to be. After all, the financial world isn’t going to come crashing down if a CV isn’t translated by tomorrow. But then again…

Why do agencies feel the need to push their translators to their limits and deliver texts within unreasonable deadlines? It is up to us to know our limits and say no if an agency request is unreasonable. I don’t think that is right. The client takes four weeks to write a software manual, article, or computer game and then expects it back – in perfect English – within a day or two. I’m sorry, but that is just unrealistic! Unfortunately, that is the way things are in the T&I industry, and most agencies don’t explain to their clients that the rule of thumb should be that it takes just as long to translate a text as it took them to write it.

The agency should value their translators enough to not want to endanger their health. Instead, it is up to us to say no, but that is a hard thing to do sometimes. For example, I am working on a job that isn’t particularly large – just 8,000 words. However, it needs to be done asap, because it needs to be translated into several other languages based on my translation. Never mind the fact that the client promised it would be 70,000 words, which were to be split amongst four translators, and it ended up being 8,000 – all of which were assigned to me… My forearms are throbbing at the moment. I need to finish this job and then go slather them with my tendinitis ointment and bandage them up for a few days to give them a rest.

And, let’s be honest, who among us really charges rush rates? It’s great in theory, but in practice not so much… I for one rarely charge a rush rate, since most of my jobs need to be finished “am besten gestern” (preferably yesterday). The only time I even think to charge a rush rate is when a client needs the text within a few hours, but then again I am rarely able to accept a last-minute job like that in the first place because I am usually booked for a couple days in advance now. I feel stupid asking for a rush rate for “business as usual.” I have, however, started charging clients extra for weekends. It’s the only way to ensure I can actually have one.

To all you PMs and agency owners reading this: if your agency routinely tells your clients “it isn’t possible within that time frame” or routinely offer rush rates for jobs, please give me a call. You will quickly become my favorite customer!