Translation - Language - Culture

Hiring wannabe translators or interpreters can be deadly

Here’s why it pays to always hire a professional and fully-trained translator or interpreter:

Defence Minister Peter MacKay has ordered officials to look into allegations that innocent Afghans may have been sent to jail due to botched translations by Canadian military interpreters.

Mr. MacKay's statement in the House of Commons Monday came as a counterinsurgency expert said U.S. forces have been plagued with the same concerns.

A former language and cultural adviser to the Canadian Forces said he witnessed at least two instances where innocent people were wrongly labelled as Taliban supporters because Afghan-Canadian interpreters did not understand what had been said.

A translator? Really?

This is from a job application that landed in my inbox the other day:

I am a qualified and Native Norwegian translator, working with 4 pairs of languages, English, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. I consider my work as accurate and dedicated, always bearing in mind the different cultural concepts of each language. I work on a daily basis and translate around 3000-3500 words per day. 

I have 11 years experience in Translaitn, Proofreading. I am actually wondering whether it would be possible to apply for a job of the languages of English, Sedish, Danish into Norwegian and vice-versa. Is there a possibility to register in your company and to save my data in your records for potential English, Swedish & Danish into Norwegian translation jobs? Can we rekindle our work taking into account that the centre of focus is on quality of translation work rather than quantity.

What could be more worthwhile to be mentioned in this respect is that I have been working hard over the last month to search for agencies and companies. I am lucky enough to find your company via translation sites and consequently the opportunity is, in effect, taken to apply if that is possible.

What’s wrong with this picture? Several things.

First, let’s start with this translator’s reading comprehension and literacy skills. What does it say on my website again?

Translators: Please refrain from sending in your CV. I am not an agency and I do not hire other translators.

So, that moron clearly cannot read. Let’s call him Dick.

Next, Dick’s native language may be Norwegian, but the guy lives in the United States. One would think that he’d had plenty of opportunity in Worley, ID, to practise and improve his English. Apart from blatant typos, which any spell-check would have caught, his “English” is so poor that his talking about “quality” rather than “quantity” is nothing if not proof of his oversized ego. Poor Dick, obviously, overestimates his language skills.

Also, if Norwegian is his native language, what’s Dick doing offering his services for translation into English and several other languages? I most certainly hope his Danish and Swedish, um, Sedish, are better than his “English”.

Finally, what does his “English” say about the quality of the M.A. program in English at the University of Oslo? He claims to hold an M.A. in English from said university. Is Dick’s “English” the kind of quality one can expect at that university?

Those who have known me for a long time know that I have always gone after wannabe and bogus “translators”. I no longer believe that associations like ATA in the US, for example, can really make a difference, but surely there must be some sort of mechanism we can devise and apply that would ensure that people like Dick were effectively banned and barred from calling themselves “translators”.

After all, allowing people like Dick to use this professional designation opens the door to fraud. A client who falls for his self-aggrandizement won’t receive a professional translation in return, but the kind of “English” you can see in the example above. That’s fraud, folks, simple as that. When you call yourself a professional translator, when clearly you’re not, it’s fraud.

Forget about accreditation and associations like ATA. Let’s focus instead on the product that is delivered to the client. Does it pass muster? Does it reflect the quality of a real professional? If not, the “translator” should be charged with fraud and, thus, wiped off the translation market.

Unfortunately, at least 85% of the translation services advertised out there today – and, frankly, I think the percentage is much closer to 95% – are fraudulent in nature.

There’s a recession? What recession?

I know, the title is not exactly fair to all those who have lost jobs over the last twelve months or so, or those whose jobs are on the line right now. But this recession has provided me with proof of something I’ve been saying all along: if there’s a recession-proof profession or line of work, it’s translation.

It seems that translators are especially busy during times of economic crisis. I’m currently booked solid straight into June, handling a 25,000-word project, a 15,000-word project as well as several “smallish” ones.

In my recent and current projects, I’ve also identified several that probably wouldn’t have materialized if it hadn’t been for the recession.

Let me give you a few examples:

Exhibit A:

A company in Canada that produces audio and hi-fi equipment determines that the Canadian market isn’t big or strong enough anymore. So, the company decides to start selling its products in a number of international markets, which requires the user manuals of its products to be translated into several languages. I’m currently translating some of their manuals from English to German, and more are coming in all the time.

Exhibit B:

A company in Canada that produces equipment and installations for playground and park facilities has felt a need to expand. I’ve just translated their main brochure from English to German, and I’m quite sure there’ll be follow-up work.

Exhibit C:

An investment company in Europe wants to expand. It’s been active in two European countries as well as in some areas of the United States. Now it wants to make inroads into Britain, trying to attract British investors for a new series of investment funds. I’m currently translating their main prospectus into English.

In short, this is, indeed, how things work. When the economy takes a nosedive, local or national markets aren’t strong enough to sustain all the existing businesses. The only way for many of them to avoid disaster is to seek out new markets in other countries – and for that, of course, they will have to avail themselves of the services of professional translators.

Added bonus for translators: once the recession has subsided, many of these companies will become permanent clients for many years to come.

Some people simply have no clue

First off, allow me to say that I love my clients. They're knowledgeable, professional, friendly and they know how to cooperate with translators.

But there are also many who don't have any clue as to what it is we translators and/or interpreters do. Take a look at a recent job posting on the TraduGuide website:

Do you translate movies off the screen as well?
There is no subtitles available for this movie as far as I know.
It was a tv movie. It can be translated to English, Polish or Russian. I speak these three languages.
I can provide with the movie od DVD or as .AVI
If you don't translate movies... could you tell us who does, please? [sic]

This is a private individual who's dying to see a certain movie that happens to be in French. Too funny. Well, I doubt he'll find any professional translator to agree to such a harebrained project, seeing how a professional subtitling job would cost him at least ten to fifteen times the price of a standard movie on a DVD.

As for companies providing these services, they only work for the movie studios, but not private individuals.

So, for this individual, who incidentally resides in Australia, I have only one, realistic, suggestion: Purchase all three levels of the Rosetta Stone French program, immerse yourself in the language, and then watch the movie.

Late payment - time to teach someone a lesson

Here's a story about a Montréal-based translation agency I have done the occasional little job for here and there over the last three years or so. I have worked for them a few times, and each time they needed to be reprimanded before they made payment.

Here's the latest on that "outfit":

This morning I get the following email from one of their PMs:

Can you please translate a text of 5250 words from German to English?

Nothing more, nothing less. So I replied:

As I have already explained to you several times on previous occasions, any request for a translation project MUST be accompanied by:

1) an indication of the subject matter AND the actual document to be translated (I never commit to anything unless and until I have seen the actual document in question)

2) all the information regarding the project, i.e., project number, purchase order (PO) and your expected delivery date.

I cannot possibly answer a question that is given in a complete vacuum of facts.

Well, they sent another message, with the file attached, and, wouldn't you know it, it ended up being only 260 words to be delivered the next day.

What they didn't know was that I set them a little trap. You see, they still owe me money (about $80) from a previous job done several months ago.

I did the small translation but didn't send it out to them. Instead, I sent them an email tonight and told them about the outstanding balance and that they would receive today's translation only once I had received payment for the previous invoice.

They needed their translation by 8am Montréal time, so I sent them the link to my online/PayPal payment page and told them to send the money ASAP and that they would get their translation as soon as I saw the notification of payment received in my inbox.

I also told them that from now on all payment would have to be made in advance because of their chronic tardiness when it comes to paying their translators.

The whole thing doesn't involve a fortune, but since they seem pressed for time with this most recent translation, I figured this would be as good a time as any to teach them a valuable lesson.

I'll report back and let you all know how this story ended.

Update:

Here’s the update I have promised you (sorry, I’ve been too busy to post here).

The next morning I received irate emails and voicemail messages from the agency. I repeated my demands: Settle your outstanding balance by PayPal ASAP, or you won’t get your translation today.

One of their managers sent me an email and lied to me by claiming that they’d never received my original invoice. Too bad for them, because I had both read receipts and actual acknowledgments of my invoice having been received all those months ago.

I told him to stop lying to me and send his payment instead. A few minutes later, he asked for my PayPal email address so that he could send the money. Well, there you go!

About ten minutes later, I did get a notification email from PayPal that payment had been made, but the agency didn’t put it on its credit card but used the eCheck option instead, which meant that payment would take 6-8 business days to clear – and in the meantime, the agency could cancel the transaction quite easily once they had received my translation.

I told them that this wasn’t the deal, as I had demanded immediate and instant payment.

To cut a long story short, they never got my translation, so they had to find someone else on the fly to do it for them, and the eCheck payment did eventually clear.

But I’ll never work for them again, and I told them so in a very harsh email.

Readers can contact me privately if they want to know the name of the agency.

Why I am not renewing my ATA membership

Here's what ATA, the American Translators' Association, wrote in its newsletter sent out yesterday:

Thinking about whether to renew your ATA membership for 2009? For independent contractors and company owners alike, ATA membership is not a discretionary expense. It is essential to success in this market. Networking with your ATA colleagues lets you know where the jobs are and what others are doing in this tough economy. This is the time to stay informed, and ATA remains your best source of professional information.

I have come to consider ATA membership neither necessary nor essential to anything. I have had some serious concerns about the association for years, but time has finally come to bid them a fond farewell.

Now, what I am about to say here will look like sweeping generalizations, but please note that my comments, while, indeed, quite general in nature, should not reflect badly on all or specific ATA members.

ATA seems to be more an agencies' association, rather than one that supports the interests of freelance translators

Unlike Canadian associations, ATA membership is open to translation agencies. This creates an unnecessary conflict of interest. Can you imagine a labour union that would accept evil company bosses and other capitalist pigs into their fold? No, of course not.

Unfortunately, there have been many instances over the years that have thrown this conflict of interest in stark relief. On payment practices message boards and mailing lists, which freelancers around the world use to find out about the creditworthiness of translation agencies, I have seen tons of complaints about ATA member agencies that regularly fail to pay their freelance translators. Yet, despite official complaints made to the association's executive, ATA regularly accepts sponsorship money from such non-paying agencies for its own events, such as the annual conference or professional development seminars.

What is even worse, ATA's code of ethics does state that prompt payment to freelancers is a must, yet when translators complain to ATA that a member agency has not paid them, the usual advice from the association is to go "work it out amongst yourselves". Not only is this attitude unacceptable, but it also defeats the purpose of having, or belonging to, an association that is supposed to represent the interests of translators.

It is also this mingling with agencies that is the real reason why ATA keeps telling translators not to discuss their rates among themselves and/or in public, rather than the "fear" of being subjected to allegations or charges of price-fixing. All other professions (lawyers, doctors, accountants, etc.) and occupations (plumbers, bricklayers, carpenters, etc.) state their prices and rates openly. And let's not forget the labour unions: what is a collective agreement if not price fixing par excellence?

Those agency members wield considerable influence, and they are, naturally, afraid that they may have to pay higher – read: decent and professional – rates for the services of professional translators.

I still remember that one annual ATA conference years ago. I attended a presentation by a woman who managed an agency in Montréal. At one point in her presentation, as she explained how the process of dealing with clients and assigning jobs to translators worked at her agency, she mentioned that her agency charged a minimum flat fee for small jobs.

One of the ATA executives at the time, an agency owner, himself not known for punctual payment, according to various payment practices lists, jumped to his feet and screamed at the top of his lungs, "WE CANNOT DISCUSS RATES! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO REMIND YOU PEOPLE?"

Of course, he was afraid that translators listening to the presentation would get the "silly idea" of charging agencies, like his, for example, a flat fee for small jobs. The nerve!

No personal documents - learn to read, people!

It's amazing how many illiterates there are in this world.

On my business website, I leave no doubt as to where I stand on “personal documents”: I do not handle such documents. Period.

Still, every day at least five to ten people contact me, after visiting my site, to ask me to translate their personal documents. Apart from their problem with illiteracy, they also have a very warped sense of how long it takes to translate even a smallish piece of paper. Here's an email I received this afternoon (followed by a voice-mail message from the same German woman) (note that I have not corrected her spelling):

Is there any way I could bring you mine german drivers licence and get it translated into english. I don`t think it takes more that a couple minutes.

“A couple of minutes”? Clearly, she lives in a fantasy world (what sort of people do we allow to immigrate to Canada?).

At least she had the “courtesy” to announce her dropping by; most people simply show up and expect to have their documents translated ASAP. This is why the address I publish is a mailing address only (a mailbox), with my actual residence a well-kept state secret.

This habit to show up unannounced is one of the reasons I stopped offering “personal documents services” many years ago. Who wants to have perfect strangers in one's home? Some of them might be criminals (actually, at least some of them are, according to statistics). Besides, to provide that service, I'd have to take out additional insurance for my home regarding “commercial foot traffic”, and I would have to have my residence re-zoned by the city to allow for such traffic.

No way, it's not going to happen. And to all those illiterates who keep contacting me about personal documents, stop wasting your time. All emails and voice-mail messages regarding personal documents are deleted and never answered.

Bad translations cannot be salvaged

This morning I found in my inbox a message from one of my regular agency clients in Germany. They asked me to edit a translation (an annual report) of close to 35,000 words (for Monday morning!), because their client had rejected the original translation as being complete rubbish.

When a translation has been well done, it is possible to proofread 35,000 words over the weekend, but not in this case. Since most of it, if not all, would have to be completely rewritten or retranslated, there would not have been enough time to complete the assignment for Monday morning. Besides, rotten translations cannot be salvaged. Only a complete retranslation from scratch will provide the necessary remedy.

The agency has shot itself in the foot, and demonstrated mismanagement of resources and short-sightedness on its part. Mismanagement because, as I told them, they should have contacted me for the original translation since annual reports, such as this one, are among my specializations. But instead of coming to me first, they must have picked some wannabe translator who didn't know at all what he or she was doing.

Short-sightedness because the client will never return to this agency for future work. What is more, the client may spread the word and tell other companies not to use this agency's services. To add insult to injury, the client may well decide in the end not to pay for the translation at all.

I had to turn down their request, given that it was an impossible task. Although no action on my part was required, since the agency had already found another sucker, er, proofreader to handle the project by the time I accessed my e-mails at the start of business (the agency had sent me the original request at three o'clock in the morning my time, completely ignoring the eight-hour time difference and adding "a quick reply would be appreciated").

Regardless, the translation, once edited, will not to be to the client's satisfaction; lousy translations put through the wringer again never are. Besides, any professional translator would decline such a job offer, because all such a futile attempt at salvaging a bad translation will do is harm the translator's own good name and reputation. In other words, thanks, but no thanks.

When a journalist hands in an article to his editor, the latter will invariably make some changes here and there. If the article is complete rubbish, the editor will throw it back in the journalist's face and demand a "complete rewrite" (followed, perhaps, by those magical words, "Or you're fired"). Editors know that there is only so much you can change to turn an article into good copy; if the "rubbish factor" exceeds a certain percentage, it's either a full rewrite or the end of the writer's career. How come, then, that translation agencies and their project managers still cling to the fallacy that a bad translation can be "repaired" through nothing more than editing, rather than a complete "rewrite", i.e., retranslation?

Freelance translators: Lenders of last resort?

The world is in the grip of a serious global financial and economic crisis. Some talk of a major global recession, while others see another Great Depression headed our way.

One thing is certain, though: These are extremely tough economic times for everyone. Companies are going bankrupt or laying off thousands of workers, and with the flow of credit seizing up, there is not much economic activity to speak of.

Translators, of course, are affected by this as well. When companies either shut down or pare back their operations, there is not as much demand for business plans, contracts or marketing copy to be translated, regardless of the language pairs involved.

But there is no doubt that freelance translators are the weakest link. Unlike agencies or direct clients, they usually do not have the kind of financial cushion that their clients have. During good times, freelance translators are frequently made to wait for payment – 30, 45, 60 or more days – and effectively turned into zero-interest lenders for agencies and direct clients.

When translators are usually the last to get paid, it should not surprise anyone that by the time payment finally arrives, most of it, if not all, will go towards overdue utilities bills, credit cards and the taxman. This leaves very little room for savings, no matter how frugal the translator is. Apart from the standard expenses, translators are also faced with steep costs for investments into their own business: specialized dictionaries tend to cost an arm and a leg due to small print numbers, and software, such as CAT, which is de rigueur, can set you back a thousand dollars or more.

Getting paid on time is a big problem for all freelance translators, with many clients delaying or defaulting on payment. This is why there are several online groups and websites where translators can share information on bad or slow payers so as to warn each other.

In this current economic climate, the payment issue will, sadly, only get worse, but not better. One translator, for example, has therefore changed his practices with respect to payment:

Because of this trend, I've revised my terms of service. In addition to requiring individual clients to pay in full in advance, I'm now requiring that if a company is not a member of ATA or a similar association or is not rated on Payment Practices, it must pay 50% in advance for at least the first project. I can still see some problems with this policy, but for now I feel that it protects me against a complete non-payment situation.

Why not? When you go into a store and make a purchase, the store owner will get his money right away, either in the form of cash or a guaranteed payment via your credit card or debit card issuer. Why is it, then, that a translator asking to be paid right away is such a problem for so many clients?

Agencies for the most part will refuse to make any prepayment, even if it is as low as 50 or 25 percent. Nor will they agree to pay the translator immediately upon receipt of the finished translation. Direct clients are usually more amenable to the suggestion of a prepayment, deposit or "retainer".

But when a translator is not paid right away for his or her work, he or she automatically becomes a lender at zero interest – not exactly a fair practice. When the agency does not pay for 45 or 60 days, it effectively obtains an interest-free loan from a freelancer, who does not have the financial resources the agency enjoys, for 45 or 60 days. Payment practices lists and message boards, incidentally, are full of reports about agencies that do not pay for 120 days or longer.

When it comes to asking for a deposit or retainer fee (after all, this is what lawyers do, and therefore should be a legitimate practice for translators who are just as professional), translators must start holding firm. Too many clients regularly get away with "murder", because translators are afraid to ask for prepayment.

New clients, in particular, should never get away without making some sort of deposit first. Only once a payment history has been established should clients be granted more favourable terms, such as payment within 30 days (the absolute maximum, by the way).

Speaking of 30 days' payment terms, in the EU there is a directive that obligates companies to pay off their contractors within 30 days. However, most European companies do not comply with this law, because the authorities have done absolutely nothing to enforce it. But any European agency or client that fails to pay a translator within 30 days is technically in breach of the law and therefore a fraudulent outfit for all intents and purposes.

The conclusion is straightforward and simple: don't be afraid to ask for your payment upfront. You may lose some potential clients, but overall you will come out the winner, because you will spend less time chasing after delinquent clients.

I don't care for alphabet soup

Nothing says to stakeholders "Go away and don't bother us" like a business report full of arcane internal acronyms that only few company insiders understand.

That acronym-itis has become really bad over the last ten years or so. It is hard to find any company report or document that does not make excessive use of such "code language" – even if it is intended for an external target group of readers.

While most people probably don't care (they'll just skip over anything they don't understand), translators are the ones that suffer the most, because they are expected to make heads or tail of these acronyms and find a suitable "translation" in the target language.

Today I received a job from one of my regular agency clients (a PowerPoint file – they are the worst cases of acronym-itis), but the client, as always, has failed to supply the agency, and me, with a glossary of all those secret codes.

So I informed the agency that I would leave all acronyms as-is, because I am a translator and not a professional crossword-puzzle solver.

Most companies, apparently, are not interested in communicating with the outside world; hence, their secret language. Unless they provide us, their translators, with a decoding key, we shouldn't be expected to spend hours trying to crack DaVinci's Code.

I suggest that all translators should take this approach. Do not translate acronyms and other unfathomable abbreviations (except common ones, of course, that anyone could be expected to know) unless the client provides a detailed glossary.

Perhaps, they will catch on once they're stuck with vital business documents parts of which don't make sense at all in the translation.