0.02 $ MAX. - French-English - Technical

On 2002-04-03 19:48, Bertha wrote:

Each day there are more and more \"guys\" [ or \"agencies\"?] posting the same kind of jobs.





I don\'t often say very much, but now I feel I need to say a lot.



It seems to be getting worse and worse over the years -- agencies or outsourcers who (1) say nothing useful in their postings to let you know, first of all, what the job they offer is really like (as a result you can\'t really judge if you could do a decent job with the posted job or not or would really be qualified for it or not); (2) who offer peanuts for a job (like the job posted on Apr 7 for translation of a video script and 2 manuals or 68,750 words) and thus show they don\'t know much about what it takes to do such a job very well; and (3) who look for the lowest bidder willing to work for peanuts. (And there\'s the question of those of us who actually are willing to do that!)



I think this kind of business approach or tactic is slowly but surely going to cause the downfall of translation as a genuine profession worthy of the highest respect it should get from the business world. As long as trained or experienced translators are willing to work for peanuts, that\'s what they\'ll get... forever.



It\'s about time translators worthy of that name did something to show they take their chosen profession seriously, and quit tolerating these ridiculously worded job offers and stop being satisfied of working for peanuts. If world-wide we could realize what is happening to us and take a stance about our profession, translation could become what it deserves to be -- a genuine, recognized profession worthy of its pay.



(By the way, I work both as a freelancer and outsourcer/project manager. I have been doing it for over 25 years. I pay my translators very well, as much as I possibly can and sometimes more than they charge me [I would tell you how much here, but I\'m not sure it would be appropriate. If you want to know, just e-mail me ([email protected]) and I\'ll tell you.] So I know what I\'m talking about in relation to cost and profit ratio, and I leave to your imagination what most agencies make as a result of translators\' cheap prices.)



Dan Belgique


[addsig] ▲ Collapse