As a translator, have you ever been asked by a small, inexperienced agency to do a sample translation because the agency is trying to win a new client and they’d like to see a sample of your work?

Free Sample?

This first ‘annoyance’ can happen in any industry, but today we’re specifically talking about the translation industry. As a translator, have you ever been asked by a small, inexperienced agency to do a sample translation because the agency is trying to win a new client and they’d like to see a sample of your work? Of course, the agency wants this sample at no charge to them. The annoying point here is that, as a translator, you only get paid for the work you do – you’re not a staff member at the translation agency, so why should the translator in question bear all the risk? It’s highly unlikely that the sales manager or project manager at the less-than-reputable translation agency would be donating their time to work on the project and perhaps reducing the number of hours worked on their timesheet because ‘this is just a sample job’. But, the translator is expected to do this work for free!

We’re Not Here to Fix Your Mistakes!

Sometimes when small translation agencies make a mistake they expect the translator to bear the brunt of fixing their mistake. If the project manager failed to correctly assess the scope of a translation project, it’s not the translator’s responsibility to make things right. Translators have many stories to tell of agencies who use translators as a solution to their dilemmas.

You’re Charging for What?

This one is a real pet peeve for translators - when clients (and especially agencies) query translators about charging for numbers, saying they’re not really words! Of course, the solution here is that, if clients or agencies don’t want to pay for numbers, then perhaps they should be left out of the translation altogether and the agency (or even the client themselves) may like to insert them wherever they think they belong. Obviously, this is a ridiculous solution, but the question should never be raised in the first place. And how many times have translators been questioned about charging for translating small words, such as ‘and’, ‘if’, ‘but’, ‘so’, etc? Perhaps they should be left out too, and the agency could insert them where applicable!

Misleading Information

Small or inexperienced agencies can often be misleading about the actual scope of a translation job; meaning they’ll tell the translator that the document is 200 pages long with a deadline for Friday when in actual fact it’s 400 pages long. Besides being entirely misleading, it means that the deadline agreed to can’t be met. There’s nothing to be gained by providing inaccurate information and the translator should not be held responsible for the delay in meeting the agreed deadline.

Assigning Translation Projects

If you were contemplating hiring a new sales assistant to work in your department store, would you hire the first person (sight unseen) who answered your advertisement without even checking their credentials? No, of course you wouldn’t. When agencies send job queries to translators with ‘to undisclosed recipients’ in the subject line, it tells the translator a lot about how the agency works. All translators are not the same – they have different credentials, different areas of expertise, different levels of experience, and so on; so hiring on a first-come-first-served basis is a strange way of assigning a job.

Please Don’t Forget Common Courtesies

How many times as a translator have you responded to a query about your availability and then never heard back? Isn’t this simply a matter of respect, or a common courtesy? We know this happens in all industries, but the question still stands: how difficult would it be to send a quick email back saying that the job has been placed elsewhere, but thanks for your interest. Are people really that busy that they don’t have time for these simple courtesies?

genThank goodness not all small translation agencies are the same and most are very respectful towards the translators who work for them!