The ethics of sample translations/Marketing yourself Thread poster: Sara Freitas
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I am just getting started and have some questions about sample translations. The fact is that when agencies don\'t have a specific job in mind and are just looking to expand their translator pool, they often ask for a \"CV\" and samples. I agree with some other postings on the site I\'ve seen that say we are service providers NOT job applicants, and after looking around on some sites including Monster, where freelancers\' concerns are addressed, I think I need a little \"marketing package\" some... See more I am just getting started and have some questions about sample translations. The fact is that when agencies don\'t have a specific job in mind and are just looking to expand their translator pool, they often ask for a \"CV\" and samples. I agree with some other postings on the site I\'ve seen that say we are service providers NOT job applicants, and after looking around on some sites including Monster, where freelancers\' concerns are addressed, I think I need a little \"marketing package\" somewhere between a personal CV and a full blown marketing campaign that I could send to agencies who request that. I was thinking of a one sheet CV-ish document (sort of like the ProZ translator pages) and a one page \"portfolio sheet\" with some samples. My main question is this...is it OK to use short (50 word for example) totally anonymous and decontextualized bits from past jobs without asking permission from the original customer? I want to put three short and very different bits on my portfolio sheet. I welcome any advice on this topic! Thanks!
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I think it really depends on the kind of information you are disclosing. If it doesn\'t harm your customers interests (say, a piece of a standard business agreement in which the customer\'s details are not shown), it shouldn\'t bother any one. If you feel unsure about it, it wouldn\'t be a bad idea to check with your customers whether they have a problem with it or not. One can never be too careful, but on the other hand there\'s lot of instances in which our personal data are used for commercia... See more I think it really depends on the kind of information you are disclosing. If it doesn\'t harm your customers interests (say, a piece of a standard business agreement in which the customer\'s details are not shown), it shouldn\'t bother any one. If you feel unsure about it, it wouldn\'t be a bad idea to check with your customers whether they have a problem with it or not. One can never be too careful, but on the other hand there\'s lot of instances in which our personal data are used for commercial purposes without our permission.
[ This Message was edited by:on2003-01-15 16:26] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Other sources for samples to your portfolio | Jan 15, 2003 |
Instead of excerpts from past jobs, you could look for similar texts from the public domain and translate them to display in your portfolio.
| | | | Sara Freitas
France
Local time: 04:29
French to English
TOPIC STARTER | Hepinize tesekkur ederim! Thanks all! | Jan 16, 2003 |
Thanks Ruben, GoodWords, and Tayfun (Turkiye\'de dort yil kaldim). I also received some e-mails through my profile from others giving advice. I think the public domain is key. For example, a paragraph that was already published in a journal 2 years ago seems pretty safe. I agree that a test from the agency is best, but I have been surprised at the number of \"send a sample\" requests I have seen lately, and I just want to be ready for those requests!! Thanks again!!
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Cidália Martins (X)
English
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I\'m beginning to put together a portfolio and I also worried about the issue of confidentiality until I realized that a lot of the work I did was for public distribution (newsletters, teaching materials, etc.) so there was no problem with using those samples.
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