Moron clients

Once in a while, translators will come across clients whose IQ is so low that it is surprising they're in business at all. This is particularly true of some translation agencies.

I recently did a translation for an agency in the U.S. I returned the file to them as requested. They had sent me a DéjàVu project file to work in, with several segments already pretranslated and locked.

Oh boy! Most of the pretranslated and locked segments contained major typos and mistranslations. I alerted them to that, but my instructions were not to touch those locked segments.

Now I get a report from the agency, in which they criticize certain "QA issues" and inform me that they had their desktop publishing manager, who happens to speak "German", go over it to make the necessary changes. They sent me that report, with lots of attached files to highlight the "typos" they found, to help me avoid these mistakes in the future.

Pardon my French, but this is bullsh*t. I looked at the files they attached (screenshots!). Someone at their end, a proofreader, their desktop publishing manager or even the client, had totally altered the version I had sent to the agency.

It's a good thing that I have proof, because I still have the original DéjàVu project file with my version.

One example:

Their version now reads in one segment, "...Insure that .... is not deleted ....". Someone at their end changed my version, because that's not what I wrote. Apart from that, in this case it must be "ensure", rather than "insure", but I am certainly not the one who wrote this rubbish.

Oh, and this is a true classic: their QA (their use of the term is a joke by itself) found that "expanded" was a typo. I don't know how else to spell the word "expanded" – and, no, the word isn't "expended" either in this context. But I suppose their "QA genius" probably thinks that "expand" should be spelled "expend".

I have also just sent this e-mail to the agency:

Just for the record: I have proof, because I still have the original version I sent you (as well as the email with the original file attached). This had better not be an attempt at wriggling one's way out of paying the translator by accusing him – FALSELY – of delivering a flawed product.

My advice to all translators: always keep copies of everything and, perhaps, include a clause in any agreements or contracts that you will not accept responsibility for any changes or modifications made to the document after you have delivered it.

I'll keep you posted on any further developments in the story.

Update: Just received word from the agency. In an attempt at an apology, they say that they sent out the accusatory e-mail to all members of the team (didn't come across as such in the e-mail I received). They also informed me that my invoice had already been sent for processing and that payment would not be denied.

So, I wrote back to them telling them to be more careful in the future about sending out such "QA alerts" when the responsibility for the quality issues and problems encountered rests so clearly on their own shoulders. I also emphasized the point that I would not accept responsibility for anything that happened to my file after I had sent it out by e-mail.

Let's hope they'll learn a good lesson from all this. As for my fellow translators out there, you should also learn from this: As translators we often (actually, most times) deal with people who have less education than most of us but still think they know more about language and translation than we, the professionals, do.

If there is one line of work where the old saying "The customer is always right" does not apply, it's translation. In fact, most times clients have it dead-wrong.