Future of translation? Thread poster: Katarzyna Slowikova
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Recently I got the following offer which made me appreciate the fact I've now nearly completed my leaving of the sinking ship of this profession.
Here it goes:
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Hi Katarzyna,
I hope this email finds you well.
I would like to tell you about one new project from [the biggest online retailer ever]. We are looking for translato... See more Recently I got the following offer which made me appreciate the fact I've now nearly completed my leaving of the sinking ship of this profession.
Here it goes:
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Hi Katarzyna,
I hope this email finds you well.
I would like to tell you about one new project from [the biggest online retailer ever]. We are looking for translators for MTPE and review in language combination EN-PL. This project is only for one day on August 15th.
Regarding the volume and compensation, here are the details. The volume is higher than the capacity of a single person, so we are building teams and you can apply based on your daily capacities.
Regarding the MTPE compensation, we are applying the client's TER model. It is described in the attachment [the "significance" of the changes is of course quantified as a percentage of changed letters]. Here are main points:
The client is paying 25% for the read through. If you don't change anything in the segment, the rate is 25%.
The remaining rates depend on the significance of changes applied. You can see the details in the attachment.
Naturally, the final volume paid is calculated after the job is done. [emphasis mine - how very natural, LOL]
I would like you ask you if you are interested and available for this project.
If you are interested, please provide us with the daily capacity of the words you can absorb [?? So we don't translate anymore, we just "absorb" words? And spew them out at the rear end, in a different language?] and your rates for review, MTPE and translation.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you
Best regards
An Eastern European agency
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I am posting it very consciously in the Scams section, even though the client probably imagines it's the most fabulous offer ever and translators will be falling over themselves to apply.
Hope nobody in their database was desperate enough... though I'm probably naive.
[Edited at 2022-08-14 23:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga 
Germany
Local time: 00:35
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Don't they always? | Aug 15, 2022 |
Katarzyna Slowikova wrote:
I am posting it very consciously in the Scams section, even though the client probably imagines it's the most fabulous offer ever and translators will be falling over themselves to apply.
Hope nobody in their database was desperate enough... though I'm probably naive.
[Edited at 2022-08-14 23:17 GMT]
Indeed, quite a few agencies, no matter where they are located, do believe that their offer is "God's gift to translators", and that translators are willing to fiercely fight over... peanuts.
So you get paid after the job is done and, of course, approved by the client. This brings back the old, yes, almost saying. Try to go to the bakery and get a loaf of bread or a piece of cake and tell the baker that you will pay after you have consumed whatever you bought. Of course only if it's good and then only 25% of what s/he is asking for it.
Sounds ridiculous? Well, so does any such job offer like the one Katarzyna received.
| | | | Sadek_A
Local time: 02:35
English to Arabic
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"Absorb" is definitely the right word here; because, with "Client is paying 25% for the read through. If you don't change anything in the segment, the rate is 25%", they are certainly inviting all sorts of "absorbers" to take their money away in return for nothing. They don't even need to be ones who have studied the language, or know it at all; all they need is to be good spongers with good absorption.
- A middle-school-graduate, couch-potato, grown-up person just logging off a mul... See more "Absorb" is definitely the right word here; because, with "Client is paying 25% for the read through. If you don't change anything in the segment, the rate is 25%", they are certainly inviting all sorts of "absorbers" to take their money away in return for nothing. They don't even need to be ones who have studied the language, or know it at all; all they need is to be good spongers with good absorption.
- A middle-school-graduate, couch-potato, grown-up person just logging off a multiplayer game. His friends to him: What the F, man? Where you going? Him to friends: I just got a notification from a translation company to absorb a little! Friends to him: Do you know anything about translation? Him to friends: No, but neither do the owners/operators of the company, and your potato buddy in here needs a new console! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Call any vegetable... | Aug 15, 2022 |
I mean, does anybody notice how certain people are working to turn the rest of us into vegetables? And this involves primitivizing our language to a level where we won't be able to discern between a high-quality translation and pure MT output. Let them work with pure MT, why bother hiring MTPE people. I'm sure most proz here would turn down such an offer with resentment (and give them a fine riposte in the reply letter – at least that's what I'd try doing, while remaining as polite as a princ... See more I mean, does anybody notice how certain people are working to turn the rest of us into vegetables? And this involves primitivizing our language to a level where we won't be able to discern between a high-quality translation and pure MT output. Let them work with pure MT, why bother hiring MTPE people. I'm sure most proz here would turn down such an offer with resentment (and give them a fine riposte in the reply letter – at least that's what I'd try doing, while remaining as polite as a princess). I wonder what kind of people those agencies are targeting, maybe modern precariat who are busy getting lost in translation. ▲ Collapse
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This offer reminds me of the ISAAC project. Has “he” had any offspring?
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 18:35
Spanish to English
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| It's all over now, baby blue.... | Aug 15, 2022 |
Katarzyna Slowikova wrote:
Recently I got the following offer which made me appreciate the fact I've now nearly completed my leaving of the sinking ship of this profession{...}
Best would be to put on your lifejacket and take the leap before you receive offers that are even worse than the one you pasted into your post....
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Teresa Borges wrote:
This offer reminds me of the ISAAC project. Has “he” had any offspring?
I had a similar association - I think the common denominator is both are from those huge online monsters that think (probably rightly, alas) they can impose whatever ridiculous conditions suit them most.
| | | | | This is not a scam | Aug 16, 2022 |
It may be a crappy job, but it's not an attempt to defraud you.
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Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 18:35
Spanish to English
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| The sad truth of the matter | Aug 16, 2022 |
Denis Fesik wrote:
I mean, does anybody notice how certain people are working to turn the rest of us into vegetables? And this involves primitivizing our language to a level where we won't be able to discern between a high-quality translation and pure MT output. Let them work with pure MT, why bother hiring MTPE people. I'm sure most proz here would turn down such an offer with resentment (and give them a fine riposte in the reply letter – at least that's what I'd try doing, while remaining as polite as a princess). I wonder what kind of people those agencies are targeting, maybe modern precariat who are busy getting lost in translation.
I strongly sympathize with your comments here, but it seems that there are many freelancers willing to accept the kinds of offers under discussion. If most were not so willing, we wouldn't be seeing a proliferation of such jobs.
My guess is that those who generate these opportunities expect that lots of the recipients will send their emails to trash, a few will send back a snarky response, and - alas - many will communicate with surpassing alacrity their eagerness to take on the work under the terms indicated.
This is the sad truth of the matter.
[Edited at 2022-08-18 16:49 GMT]
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philgoddard wrote:
It may be a crappy job, but it's not an attempt to defraud you.
How do you know that, if they calculate your "compensation" (another piece of newspeak) only after you deliver?
You have no way to know how the percentages are applied - do they apply them to whole words or characters and what counts as a word (numbers?) or a character (spaces, commas, ...)?
Since the work was surely done in an online tool provided by the client, I wouldn't be surprised if even the agency knew nothing in this matter.
In short, the client has 100% control here, you have zero.
It's not just any crappy job, it's an attempt to reduce you to a cog in their machine.
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