Wednesday, October 31, 2007

A Cautionary Tale: Shape-shifting Agencies

When last we left the Alpha and Omega Global Worldwide Translation Agency, they were busily engaging the best, most proficient translator a pittance can buy whilst assembling their crack team of assorted project managers, proofreaders, editors and supervisors.

[Important Disclaimer/Disclosure/Caveat inserted at the behest of my own legal team and for the benefit of all those truly professional and excellent translation agencies with which I have had the privilege to work or with whom am I yet to work: Alpha and Omega is merely a fictive representation of a subset of translation agencies. Although increasing exponentially in number, this subset is still, thank god, merely a subset.]

You, the client, located Alpha and Omega through their slick, sleek virtual omnipresence. Their content-rich website, strewn with an abundance of Fortune 500 logos representing the caliber of their numerous clients. And now you have been engaging in a pleasant back and forth exchange of emails with your very own “project manager” who assures you that all is progressing as to plan.

You try not to notice that this person appears to be emanating from a time zone quite some distance away from their much vaunted London “office.” Or that there seems to be some creeping confusion afoot as to who is doing what, odd questions about the “real” deadline and the fact that it’s taking longer and longer for your cheery PM to get back to you.

Time to peek behind the veil?

Would we be surprised to discover that the “owner” of the agency, a disgruntled former translator, lives in a small town in Umbria, his ex-girlfriend has a flatshare in London [the aforementioned “office”] and your trusty PM is balancing a 9-5 job at a shop in NYC, a toddler and her - or your, we should say - project. The harried translator is located even further afield, one of those unfortunate souls who was willing to work for 4 cents per word and whose native language is not what your contract stipulates. This is also contributing to the delays, since he is having to post every other sentence of your translation to various and sundry “term boards” for help with the sublimely obvious.

I am chagrined to report that, aside from some small changes as to locale, I have experienced and/or witnessed all the above over the last month alone. As can anyone, if they know where to look.

Truth be told, there are even worse scenarios, with one lone wretch struggling to perform all the above roles, trying to project what he perceives to be the gravitas, professionalism and competence of an “agency.”

But that is another day’s tale.

Monday, October 29, 2007

When You Should Use a Translation Agency, or not

Yes, as a freelancer I admit my overweening bias.

I would be a much happier and calmer person if everyone who required a translation would circumvent the agencies and deal directly with the translators.

That said, there certainly are times when it’s quite wise for a client to use an agency, primarily when the job is large, complex, requires translation memory tools, involves multiple languages and on a very tight deadline. Or, if your firm or organization simply doesn’t have the time, personnel or ability to organize any of those issues.

So, what exactly do you get when you work with an agency?

Well, first and foremost, higher costs [she notes innocently]. There are many ways to establish fees in the translation business, but the most common by far is by source word. That is, a certain number of cents per word, with the word count being taken from the text which is to be translated.

You will generally be assured that the price is dependent on a number of variables – word pair [some being more expensive than others, usually because they are less common], degree of technical difficulty and deadline. Some agencies will even give you their typical or base fees upfront on their website. The cheapest I have seen are around 15 cents per word, and I have seen them as high as 25 cents. I sense they can go even higher.

What else can you expect? Definitely a “project manager.” This is the person who will, yes, “manage” your project, shepherding it through the various complex stages required to produce a perfect finished product. More or less. She will find the perfect translator(s) who has dozens of years’ experience in your very field, work closely with said translator, fielding any problems or questions and ensuring timely delivery.

Depending on the nature of the agency, she may also be the person with whom you liaise.

You would also expect your project to be proofread by a similarly experienced, meticulous wordsmith. Depending on your requirements, there may also be the organizing and/or distribution of glossaries, translation memory and other aids.

How does any of this compare with what you could expect if you were to deal directly with a freelance translator?

Well, as a point of reference, why don’t we start at the beginning with the ever compelling issue of cost.

Money, or at least personal income, is still a delicate matter for most, not to be discussed at the dinner table let alone be revealed to the electronic universe. But translators do indeed post their rates, or at least the ones which they wish the electronic universe to see and to assume they actually charge and actually get. If there is indeed an average, “professional” rate for many of the most common language pairs, it is probably between 10 and 12 cents a word.

A very poorly kept [due to the fact that it is so widely discussed] trade secret, however, is that many, many translators routinely charge as little as 5 cents per word and some, shudder, even less.

But more about Dirty Little Secrets later.

Therefore we have, say, Alpha and Omega Global Worldwide Translation Agency [entreating the gods and all pro bono attorneys that such agency does not, in fact, exist] charging a client, say, 20 cents per word. They will then either reach into the infinite recesses of their freelance translator base or post their project on one of the large translation sites for “bidding.”

Yes, bidding. Whereupon the tens of thousands of registered site users will submit blind bids including their CVs but also, and of paramount importance, their “best prices.” Best prices obviously meaning those which are furthest down the price chain from the 20 cents they are charging the above referenced client.

So, assuming they are paying some lucky translator – who is, of course, highly trained with vast experience in said client’s very field – 5 cents per word, then that means they are charging the lucky client 15 cents per word for their services. And we can further assume that these services include the above noted “project manager,” the erudite proofreader, their business overhead and some sort of reasonable profit margin.

Now it may indeed be expedient for many clients to embrace this sort of model, but for many others it might be seen as, perhaps, an unwise use of resources. Those clients might be even more skeptical once we’ve taken a peek inside the Alpha and Omega Global Worldwide Translation Agency.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Translators: Cover Letters & First Impressions

Yes, sad, tedious, but ever so true: first impressions are everything, and in our business that means CVs.

But cover letters are even more primary.

Given the number of freelance translators from all over the entire globalized universe who are apparently applying to every single agency and for every single “solicited” translation project, what in the hell is a girl [or boy] to do?!

First, it should go without saying that your cover letter should be absolutely meticulous in terms of spelling, syntax and punctuation. After all, you are selling your communication and linguistic skills. Your primary goal, however, is to catch the recipient’s attention so they do in fact read it rather than throw it into some virtual dustbin along with most of the others they’ve received.

Then make sure that your letter is specifically tailored for the particular job or agency. I, for one, have close to a dozen carefully crafted, tuned and targeted cover letters at my constant disposal. Unless you’re one of those focused souls who has only ever worked, or will work, in one highly specific subspecialty, then you should have a cover letter to suit each of your fields, sub-fields, micro-fields...

And more. Beyond making sure that your cover letter is clearly suited to the specifics of the agency/project in question, you can also take the extra moment to emphasize another of your deeply relevant qualities. One way to discover the relevance of your numerous sterling qualities is to have a good look at the agency’s website. Once beyond the boiler-plate superlatives [yes, they have “offices” everywhere, employ only the finest of translators, will do absolutely anything, are incredibly cheap because they really don’t have any old-school physical offices, have a precious and uncanny grasp of all language cultures and so forth], you can often get a sense of what their real priorities are or at least how they see themselves.

Perhaps they fancy themselves lean and mean [as you are swift and flexible] or upscale and “professional” [emphasize your (pe)degrees] or sleek, cool and technologically supreme [bullet point all the CAT tools you have in your arsenal].

It’s a simple, but important, concept. Basically, you’re just taking the time to do exactly what you would do if it were a non-virtual job interview: sizing up the office, personnel and culture. By reflecting that back, even in a small way, you’re making an immediate, and hopefully memorable, connection.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

The fine art of finding a translator

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

You have some words in Language A which are in dire and immediate need of being seamlessly transformed into Language B. Perhaps it’s a website, or an Annual Report. A birth certificate or an academic paper. A legal document or a love letter.

And your priorities are quite clear: fast, perfect and, most importantly, cheap. Received wisdom, however, holds that you can have one, maybe two, of those qualities, but never, ever, all three.

I shall, of course, beg to differ, based immodestly on my own many years of toiling in the trade. Yes, indeed, I, for example, am known to be fast, good and relatively cheap.

There are several vital steps, however, for ensuring a happy outcome. The first is to understand your role in the transaction. You are the client, you have a job (“project”) which needs to be done, and you require someone (a “provider”) to do it for you. Just like finding a contractor or a physician or someone to cut your hair.

Well, more or less.

But, instead of immediately hitting the Yellow Pages, asking for a referral from the equivalent of your family doctor or stopping the next person on the street whose hair you admire – take a deep cleansing breath and look inward.

Have a peek at your project, and ask it a few questions.

How many words are involved? Most software programs, like Word, have a word count mechanism.

What is the nature of the text – legal, financial, medical, technical, marketing, academic?

What is your sense as to level of difficulty? Would it require someone with extensive knowledge of a specific field, or could it be handled by someone with a good general background?

What is the format of the text ( the “source document”): Word Document, PDF, Excel, Powerpoint, a website, hard copy?

Do you have someone in-house who can handle proofreading and/or editing?

What is your realistic deadline
(preferably somewhere between tomorrow at 9 AM and when you retire)?

Do you have an absolutely fixed budget for the translation or are you in a position to solicit bids?

Once you have assembled all this information, you’re properly positioned to begin your search. Here are your most obvious options:

1. Referrals. Ask around. Colleagues, professional associations, even consulates often maintain lists.

2. Online translation “portals” which provide large (and I do mean large, some numbering in the tens of thousands) databases of available translation agencies and freelancers.

3. Translation agencies which, let’s face it, you’re going to find by googling, and, after wading through 269,861 hits for “translation, cheap, Urdu, engineering”, you’ll go with the first agency which responds with a quote.

4. Freelancers, ditto all the above, but at least you’ll probably be dealing with someone who is willing to give you their real name and some actually verifiable references.

The most important question at this point is whether to go with an agency or directly to a freelancer. Despite my obvious bias, there are clear advantages and disadvantages with both options, all of which we shall entertain ourselves with next.

Voice recognition

I did my first translations years ago and just for myself.

I was at university, less than pleased with my current lover, when I ran across a bevy of Latin American poets who took me by surprise.

Thanks to a much-feared (but not by me), renowned and endlessly fascinating professor, I was introduced to these astonishing ladies.

Juana de Ibarbourou, Alfonsina Storni and Delmira Augustini. Rebelde, Hombre Pequeñito, and so many other seductive, transgressive poems.

They seemed to speak directly to my heart, and in foreign voice. Not just the words of course, but the voz as well. Unlike any I had heard before, unique, distant, but ever so distinct.

Knowing nothing, I transcribed those words, for myself. Years later, when I began translating in earnest, I recalled their voices, and I remembered that what truly mattered was the unique voz, not the mere transcribing of words.


And I believe that still obtains, no matter the genre, subject, source or format. The sad truth is, however, that very few translators, and perhaps even fewer clients, seem to give it a thought. As if it matters not that a marketing text actually markets, an opinion text opines or a billet-doux woos.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

redux

Despite having forsworn this sort of thing – the conjuring of one’s own words and tossing them, Narcissus-like, into the virtual and endless reflecting pool - a new chapter seems to require

A New Chapter.