| Stron w wątku: < [1 2 3] | Advice for project managers for (almost!) each language pair Autor wątku: CLS Lexi-tech
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Roberta Anderson 
Włochy
Local time: 23:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2001
angielski > włoski
+ ...
| the human factor | Mar 16, 2002 |
I knew something else would come to mind...
Apart from all the more technical and logistic isues to bear in mind in the PM/Translator relationship, let\'s not undervalue the Human Factor:
It is very important to consider and treat the translator as part of the team, and not just as a \"resource\".
- A friendly tone,
- a thank you on receipt of the completed task,
- words of congratulations for a job particularly we... See more I knew something else would come to mind...
Apart from all the more technical and logistic isues to bear in mind in the PM/Translator relationship, let\'s not undervalue the Human Factor:
It is very important to consider and treat the translator as part of the team, and not just as a \"resource\".
- A friendly tone,
- a thank you on receipt of the completed task,
- words of congratulations for a job particularly well done,
- a Team welcoming/thank-you message at the beginning/end of a project
can all do a lot for the translator\'s self esteem and quality of work submitted.
Again on side of quality, for related jobs try as much as possible to use the same translators: this will enhance the team feeling and the quality of the overall work over time.
This might appear to be plain common sense, but it\'s pretty rare to find... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Time for Free | Mar 16, 2002 |
hi,
....about texts translated with a CAT, but not only: I agree a tool speeds up translation, BUT a text full of graphics turns translators\' life&work into hell. We had a couple of good examples in Langit about Trados and SDLX, some other troubles with Déjà Vu... the bigger the document the more the troubles are, if the translator is not ready from the beginning to \"waste\" some time with copying, pasting, changing colors of a marked section, hiding the marked section..... See more hi,
....about texts translated with a CAT, but not only: I agree a tool speeds up translation, BUT a text full of graphics turns translators\' life&work into hell. We had a couple of good examples in Langit about Trados and SDLX, some other troubles with Déjà Vu... the bigger the document the more the troubles are, if the translator is not ready from the beginning to \"waste\" some time with copying, pasting, changing colors of a marked section, hiding the marked section.... This time, which should mean money for us, because it is extra work, turns out to be a free gift, nobody seems to be aware of or considers as real work.
The more a text is formatted (included references to other chapters with hyperlink a CAT can\'t elaborate  ), the more time a translator has to invest in adapting. I can\'t say that I am a friend of \"text-only\" documents, as graphics & pictures are sometimes a great help and reference, but I think a translator should get simple-format text to work on and the original well-formatted copy as \"reference\".
Giuliana
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| | | | Roberta Anderson
Włochy
Local time: 23:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2001
angielski > włoski
+ ...
| good point, Giuliana | Mar 16, 2002 |
PM\'s should be flexible enough to recognise that if a 1000-words job took the translator a whole day (because of formatting issues, numbers of references to deal with, research...), the fee should change from per word to hourly. It works 2 ways of course, and the translator should be able to warn the PM of this happening once he gets started with the job. Flexibility and trust.
On a similar topic, it is a good idea to establish a different rate for translation of sw strings... See more PM\'s should be flexible enough to recognise that if a 1000-words job took the translator a whole day (because of formatting issues, numbers of references to deal with, research...), the fee should change from per word to hourly. It works 2 ways of course, and the translator should be able to warn the PM of this happening once he gets started with the job. Flexibility and trust.
On a similar topic, it is a good idea to establish a different rate for translation of sw strings (as opposed to doc), which typically takes much longer than running text. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | tips for PMs | Mar 18, 2002 |
Perhaps this is too basic, but I have had PMs call me about this in the past.
Even though they may not know the source language, many agencies/Project Managers will check the target text against the source text in order to verify that a sentence or paragraph was not inadvertently omitted.
In this regard, they should be aware many languages have a standard (and often lenghty) closing for a letter that is often just translated as \"Sincerely\" or \"Cordially\" etc. i... See more Perhaps this is too basic, but I have had PMs call me about this in the past.
Even though they may not know the source language, many agencies/Project Managers will check the target text against the source text in order to verify that a sentence or paragraph was not inadvertently omitted.
In this regard, they should be aware many languages have a standard (and often lenghty) closing for a letter that is often just translated as \"Sincerely\" or \"Cordially\" etc. in English.
Also, some languages require a change in word order, meaning that it might appear that words have been omitted when in reality they have not:
(For example on a German death certificate:
Er is am He is on
21 Juli 1965 July 21, 1965
verstorben deceased
or
He died on
July 21, 1965
And most important, if you receive a compliment from a customer, please pass it on to your translator. It will make his/her day! ▲ Collapse
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PaulaMac (X)
francuski > angielski
+ ...
| Feedback please! | Mar 18, 2002 |
Hi Paola - when I worked for Lexi-tech (an extremely positive experience, by the way, for anyone thinking of applying for the in-house jobs in Ottawa), I would have appreciated feedback, good and bad!
Paula
| | | | | 12.418 english words= 13.755 spanish words | Mar 18, 2002 |
I finished a translation ENG>SPA just yesterday. From 12.418 original english words I ended up in 13.755 spanish words. Almost 11% more.
But there is something that also worries me: NUMBERS! Some days ago I had to do a translation that was filled with numbers. I spent hours and hours at the computer thanks to the unbelievable amount of numbers, dates, codes, commas, semi colons, etc, etc.
I did not complain for the pay was excellent, but what if another agency wan... See more I finished a translation ENG>SPA just yesterday. From 12.418 original english words I ended up in 13.755 spanish words. Almost 11% more.
But there is something that also worries me: NUMBERS! Some days ago I had to do a translation that was filled with numbers. I spent hours and hours at the computer thanks to the unbelievable amount of numbers, dates, codes, commas, semi colons, etc, etc.
I did not complain for the pay was excellent, but what if another agency wants me to do a translation like that for a lower pay?
What is to be done when a translation has so many numbers and figures?
And layout? I recently did a translation that required Microsoft Publisher. Everything went OK until I had to squeeze in a title in Spanish. The original in english fit the space perfectly OK, but two or three more spanish words were enough to get that into a complete mess! Microsoft Publisher is nice working with, but occassionally it does take time! I had a bunch of words forming a circle and another bunch forming a triangle! Jesus Christ, I did have to spend time on that thing! 
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| | | | CLS Lexi-tech
Local time: 17:02
angielski > włoski
+ ...
NOWY TEMAT | That's one of thing I would like to work on | Mar 20, 2002 |
Quote:
On 2002-03-18 21:24, PaulaMac wrote:
Hi Paola - when I worked for Lexi-tech (an extremely positive experience, by the way, for anyone thinking of applying for the in-house jobs in Ottawa), I would have appreciated feedback, good and bad!
Paula
I will never forget that I was and have been a \"pigiste\" and would have appreciated more feedback in many many instances (... See more Quote:
On 2002-03-18 21:24, PaulaMac wrote:
Hi Paola - when I worked for Lexi-tech (an extremely positive experience, by the way, for anyone thinking of applying for the in-house jobs in Ottawa), I would have appreciated feedback, good and bad!
Paula
I will never forget that I was and have been a \"pigiste\" and would have appreciated more feedback in many many instances (and I am also talking other agencies and Translation Bureau). No feedback, in a way, is good feedback. When you are not late, do a good job, ask for the right questions, the no news good news applies. Yet... Sometime, there simply isn\'t time. Today I walked into the Montreal office at 7 am and the manager was already there, working!
paola l m
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| | | | Terry Gilman
Niemcy
Local time: 23:02
Członek ProZ.com
od 2003
niemiecki > angielski
+ ...
| Validate at least a sample with the target audience | Mar 21, 2002 |
Okay, this is not always practical, but I\'d put it on the list (\"If time allows...\").
The Institute of Translation & Interpreting has issued a little CD-ROM-sized guide to buying translations by Chris Durban called \"Translation - getting it right.\" It\'s written for business buyers and was available free of charge. I don\'t know if it is mentioned on their site. I got co... See more Okay, this is not always practical, but I\'d put it on the list (\"If time allows...\").
The Institute of Translation & Interpreting has issued a little CD-ROM-sized guide to buying translations by Chris Durban called \"Translation - getting it right.\" It\'s written for business buyers and was available free of charge. I don\'t know if it is mentioned on their site. I got copies by calling (+49-(0)20-7713-7600), email: [email protected]
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