Please include a reminder about realistic deadlines Thread poster: Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
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Many posters go about their jobs like this: On Monday they know they have 5000 words to translate by Friday. Instead of allocating some reasonable time for the job, they push the auctioning and haggling part to the last, like Thursday, leaving the one final day for the actual work.
That this is hardly optimal or even professional should be pretty obvious. However, we do live in an era of deprofessionalization (and dumbing down) of the 'translation industry' to a point where agencies... See more Many posters go about their jobs like this: On Monday they know they have 5000 words to translate by Friday. Instead of allocating some reasonable time for the job, they push the auctioning and haggling part to the last, like Thursday, leaving the one final day for the actual work.
That this is hardly optimal or even professional should be pretty obvious. However, we do live in an era of deprofessionalization (and dumbing down) of the 'translation industry' to a point where agencies often don't know what they're doing.
Some posters, on the other hand, probably just insert any date that comes to their mind just to click through the job posting form and be done with it. Convenient to them, but not to the translator — you can't know how much time you're really supposed to have.
Consequently, please include a reminder to posters to take deadlines seriously and to allocate appropriate time — apart from choosing the best offer.
The other problem is financial in nature: They drag the reverse auction on to the last moment for their own benefit (looking for the best quality-to-price ratio or simply lowest price) and then they ask you to waive rush fees for them.
Right now, leaving job posters unattended with deadlines is like leaving children with matches.
Thanks. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Yes, I agree. Absolutely. | Aug 18, 2014 |
Everything is rush, and then it takes some companies ten hours to transfer the files. It should also be clearly stated that rush rates are 80% more, on average.
| | | | Giuliana Riveira 
Argentina
Local time: 14:35
Member (2014)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Absolutely agree | Aug 18, 2014 |
I agree with this. Some companies or individuals pretend to have a high-quality translation of 10,000 words in one day. That is physically impossible. Maybe they don't know, maybe they think we are machines, but we're not. I think they choose a certain delivery date just to try, because there's always someone who accepts it, but I don't think that's the way it should be done.
I agree with that remainder thing. Maybe Proz should make a survey to all its translators to see how many w... See more I agree with this. Some companies or individuals pretend to have a high-quality translation of 10,000 words in one day. That is physically impossible. Maybe they don't know, maybe they think we are machines, but we're not. I think they choose a certain delivery date just to try, because there's always someone who accepts it, but I don't think that's the way it should be done.
I agree with that remainder thing. Maybe Proz should make a survey to all its translators to see how many words can a translator do in one day and, after that, show the results to the posters everytime they have to choose a deadline, so they are aware of the time required to do a translation of, for example, 10,000 or 20,000 words.
On one ocassion it happened that someone posted a job on Friday morning and accepted my quote before noon, because it was "URGENT". Delivery was before Saturday morning (i.e. the same Friday). Of course, I thought I would do the job (in this case, proof-reading) throughout all the day, but the poster decided to deliver the files HOURS later, so I had to work until very late and in a rush to deliver the files on time. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Translators and job posters should be educated more on this matter | Aug 19, 2014 |
But I think translators are also greatly responsible for this. I know many translators (I can only say in my pair only) dont know about this, can't understand or care about the disadvantage of working on rush project without increasing the rate and just accepting an impossible deadline. Some return bad works, some even outsource it to many others at the same time so they can be on time.
I just dont understand if they are really intellectual or just self-acclaimed intellectual becaus... See more But I think translators are also greatly responsible for this. I know many translators (I can only say in my pair only) dont know about this, can't understand or care about the disadvantage of working on rush project without increasing the rate and just accepting an impossible deadline. Some return bad works, some even outsource it to many others at the same time so they can be on time.
I just dont understand if they are really intellectual or just self-acclaimed intellectual because they dont bother to dig into such matter or such forum like this. It just gradually destroyes the industry.
I am really tired dealing with such ones and even sometimes thinking of leaving the industry now. ▲ Collapse
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Darmali
Indonesia
Local time: 00:35
English to Indonesian
+ ...
| Can we have a 'PO issue' deadline? | Aug 19, 2014 |
I absolutely agree. Just saw a job posted yesterday:
Polishing job (English): 2,500 words, medical article.
Quoting deadline: Aug 21, 11.00 WIB (West Indonesia Time) (Aug 21, 04.00GMT)
Delivery deadline: Aug 21, 12.00 WIB (Aug 21, 05.00 GMT)
By 'polishing', I assume they mean editing (this is an Asian agency). However, the delivery deadline is still ridiculous, expecting editing of approximately 10 pages in one hour (it takes more than just one hour to read ... See more I absolutely agree. Just saw a job posted yesterday:
Polishing job (English): 2,500 words, medical article.
Quoting deadline: Aug 21, 11.00 WIB (West Indonesia Time) (Aug 21, 04.00GMT)
Delivery deadline: Aug 21, 12.00 WIB (Aug 21, 05.00 GMT)
By 'polishing', I assume they mean editing (this is an Asian agency). However, the delivery deadline is still ridiculous, expecting editing of approximately 10 pages in one hour (it takes more than just one hour to read it thoroughly), even if it is a general text, assuming that they issue the PO at 11.01WIB.
Would it be possible to have realistic deadlines and a 'PO issue' deadline? This way, the translator can add a rush fee or refuse the job if the PO is issued too close to the deadline.
Angela ▲ Collapse
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 19:35
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
| I support this | Aug 19, 2014 |
But at the same time we should not be too optimistic about the whole job posting system. I hardly quote on jobs here, but when I do it I tell the outsourcer how many hours or working days I would need after issuing of the PO. And I have learned not to trust the intelligence of the persons involved, so instead of "2 days" I usually write "48 hours". My day is over when I leave the office, not when the PM leaves his/hers.
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