Makes you wonder.....
Thread poster: Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:47
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Mar 7, 2018

Just received a job offer (translation/proofreading) and my eyes fell on this sentence:

'Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required'

Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


 
Iseult Harrington
Iseult Harrington  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:47
Spanish to English
+ ...
Of course it is required, that goes without saying, but if this is an agency..... Mar 7, 2018

Robert Rietvelt wrote:

Just received a job offer (translation/proofreading) and my eyes fell on this sentence:

'Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required'

Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


...it could be a convenient way of washing their hands of any liability or responsibility to pay, as they can use the excuse that you were informed that they would be passing it directly onto the end client without performing any of the checks that agencies supposedly do, which could make the process of claiming payment for the job much more difficult if there were to be any issues....just my two cents....

[Edited at 2018-03-07 09:18 GMT]


 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:47
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
The opposite, but only before globalization Mar 7, 2018

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Just received a job offer (translation/proofreading) and my eyes fell on this sentence:
'Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required'
Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


I had a few - not many - cases like this, before globalization.

Direct clients, of course.

They said:
"Just make it quick and complete. No need to polish the translation beyond spell checking. This is not exactly the same product we'll be launching here, so our engineering and marketing folks will merely use your translation as a template to redevelop the material for our local version. Don't waste time to make it perfect."

Nowadays, product customization for each country is passé.


 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:47
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Too bad Mar 7, 2018

José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Just received a job offer (translation/proofreading) and my eyes fell on this sentence:
'Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required'
Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


I had a few - not many - cases like this, before globalization.

Direct clients, of course.

They said:
"Just make it quick and complete. No need to polish the translation beyond spell checking. This is not exactly the same product we'll be launching here, so our engineering and marketing folks will merely use your translation as a template to redevelop the material for our local version. Don't waste time to make it perfect."

Nowadays, product customization for each country is passé.


Would have been a perfect match for MT.

[Edited at 2018-03-07 10:33 GMT]


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:47
French to English
yes Mar 7, 2018

Robert Rietvelt wrote:


Would be a perfect match for MT.

which explains why we don't get that any more!


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 12:47
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
The wording is odd but the meaning is clear Mar 7, 2018

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required.
Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


This is known as interpreting too literally. It is clear what the client meant.

We can split hairs about his actual words and make fun of the unintended implications that would have been there if the client had literally meant what he had said, but ultimately we all understand what it means, right?

It means: "We normally use a separate editor who checks your translations before we deliver them to the client, but in this case there is no separate editor, so your translation will go directly to the client."


 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:47
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Not entirely true Mar 7, 2018

Samuel Murray wrote:

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required.
Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


This is known as interpreting too literally. It is clear what the client meant.

We can split hairs about his actual words and make fun of the unintended implications that would have been there if the client had literally meant what he had said, but ultimately we all understand what it means, right?

It means: "We normally use a separate editor who checks your translations before we deliver them to the client, but in this case there is no separate editor, so your translation will go directly to the client."



This is a translating/proofreading job (read my first thread) from an agency, so they are looking for a translator and a proofreader, after which the text will be corrected once more by a corrector of the end client.

So, there is a 'seperate editor'.

[Edited at 2018-03-07 11:43 GMT]


 
Mair A-W (PhD)
Mair A-W (PhD)
Germany
Local time: 12:47
German to English
+ ...
client review Mar 7, 2018

Samuel Murray wrote:

Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Client would be reviewing this translation internally, so quality is absolutely required.
Are there any situations quality is NOT required? Not in my book!


This is known as interpreting too literally. It is clear what the client meant.

We can split hairs about his actual words and make fun of the unintended implications that would have been there if the client had literally meant what he had said, but ultimately we all understand what it means, right?

It means: "We normally use a separate editor who checks your translations before we deliver them to the client, but in this case there is no separate editor, so your translation will go directly to the client."



This is not how I read it. Some (many?) businesses do have an internal proof-reader/editor/whatever who checks the translation before publication, independent of the agency's processes. So I read the email sent to Robert as "the client will actually be looking at your work, not just posting it blindly on their website (or whatever)".

Of course, I agree with the original point -- this shouldn't require extra quality efforts as the quality should be there anyway...


 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:47
Spanish to English
+ ...
How to protect yourself Mar 8, 2018

Without knowing the actual circumstances of the end client, it is impossible to discern what really was meant here, but I tend to agree with Mair's reading.

Accordingly, my response to this offer (assuming that I were inclined to otherwise accept it) would be as follows:

I welcome quality reviews of my work, and I will immediately address any serious claims of errors in any translation that I deliver. In this context, I ask that you explicitly agree to the following und
... See more
Without knowing the actual circumstances of the end client, it is impossible to discern what really was meant here, but I tend to agree with Mair's reading.

Accordingly, my response to this offer (assuming that I were inclined to otherwise accept it) would be as follows:

I welcome quality reviews of my work, and I will immediately address any serious claims of errors in any translation that I deliver. In this context, I ask that you explicitly agree to the following understandings prior to my accepting this job):
1.
If the end client has specific preferences regarding terminology, I expect these preferences to be communicated to me before I begin the translation and not after I've started it. I also do not expect to spend time making any preference-based changes after I have delivered the translation. Still less will I accept any claim that not adhering to the client's unstated preferences somehow constitute "errors" on my part.
2.
Any claim of a defective translation used as the basis for discounting or denying payment must be based on clear and convincing evidence of multiple and pervasive errors in the translation.

*******
Making the agency agree to these understandings will protect you not only against having to spend time changing text that is not wrong, but will put both the agency and end client on notice that you are not prepared to waste your time or renounce all or part of your fee on account of any B.S. thrown up by a malicious and/or incompetent proofreader.

The above may sound defensive to the point of hostile and paranoid, but I personally see the kind of communication that Robert has received as a red flag that could well be intended to set him up for a later claim for discounting or renouncing his fee on the basis of the end client's arbitrary preferences. Such wariness also comes from having witnessed first hand - and having read a goodly number of second-hand accounts -providing abundant evidence that there are some agencies out there that are far from being exemplars of moral rectitude in their dealings with freelancers.

And if the agency will not agree to the above stipulations? Well that would be just one more red flag....

[Edited at 2018-03-08 14:30 GMT]
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