Directory search finds many for services we don't offer - ??? Thread poster: Ronja Addams-Moring
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I received an email about voiceover work today, which specified that a female voice in Finnish was needed, so it seemed plausible that the message really was meant for me. However, I am listed for "Translation, Editing/proofreading, Training" (have been from the very beginning and have IIRC never listed anything else), so the request surprised me. I wanted to be helpful and give them more than just a "sorry but no" answer, so I chose the menu Jobs & directories -> Translators & interpreters and ... See more I received an email about voiceover work today, which specified that a female voice in Finnish was needed, so it seemed plausible that the message really was meant for me. However, I am listed for "Translation, Editing/proofreading, Training" (have been from the very beginning and have IIRC never listed anything else), so the request surprised me. I wanted to be helpful and give them more than just a "sorry but no" answer, so I chose the menu Jobs & directories -> Translators & interpreters and entered these search terms:
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Voiceover
(no other search parameters chosen)
and to my astonishment I DO show up in the search results, and on the first page, too! Moreover, I semi-randomly checked six other people on the list, and only one of them listed voiceover in their services. This is not right, and does a disservice to those who search for voiceover pros and leads to nuisance messages to people who do not do voiceover work.
When I did further, more systematic searches (reported below), I saw someone I have worked with who was listed under Transcription, which they do not list in their services and AFAIK do not do, and another person listed under Interpreting, which they do not list in their services and AFAIK do not do. These two I found during my search round 2 (Source language: Finnish and Target language: Swedish).
Based on these results and especially the observations of also others getting wrongly listed, there is definitely something odd going on in the search function and/or the database - best of luck in finding what it is!
Systematic searches
I checked all Service types and for myself I got these results in two of my language pairs.
SEARCH 1
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
SEARCH 1a
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Translation
RESULT 1a: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 1b
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Interpreting
RESULT 1b: yes, listed = INCORRECT
SEARCH 1c
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Checking/editing
RESULT 1c: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 1d
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Voiceover
RESULT 1d: yes, listed = INCORRECT
SEARCH 1e
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Summarization
RESULT 1e: yes, listed = INCORRECT
SEARCH 1f
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Education
RESULT 1f: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 1g
Source language: English
Target language: Finnish
Service type: Transcription
RESULT 1g: no show = correct
SEARCH 2
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
SEARCH 2a
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Translation
RESULT 2a: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 2b
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Interpreting
RESULT 2b: no show = correct
SEARCH 2c
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Checking/editing
RESULT 2c: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 2d
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Voiceover
RESULT 2d: no show = correct
SEARCH 2e
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Summarization
RESULT 2e: no show = correct
SEARCH 2f
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Education
RESULT 2f: yes, listed = correct
SEARCH 2g
Source language: Finnish
Target language: Swedish
Service type: Transcription
RESULT 2g: no show = correct ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Are you "found" for services you don't offer? Search is inaccurate! | Mar 13, 2012 |
It seems that the problem of inaccurate Translator+interpreter search results is alive and well. If as a member you wonder, search for one of your own language pairs with a service you do not offer, and see what comes up. You may be surprised. I come up as offering voiceover and interpretation services in English -> Finnish, even though I definitely do not do either and have never listed them.
I sent in a support request today, when I got yet another email asking for a voiceover quo... See more It seems that the problem of inaccurate Translator+interpreter search results is alive and well. If as a member you wonder, search for one of your own language pairs with a service you do not offer, and see what comes up. You may be surprised. I come up as offering voiceover and interpretation services in English -> Finnish, even though I definitely do not do either and have never listed them.
I sent in a support request today, when I got yet another email asking for a voiceover quote - I hope the problem gets some attention now!
To give a hint about the size of the problem: I do not have to check more than four hits at most to find two faulty ones. At least all these members come up when searching for voiceover, even though none of them lists it as their services on their respective profile pages:
English -> French / voiceover found, even though it is not listed:
FX Fraipont http://www.proz.com/?sp=profile&eid_s=696296&view=profile
Proelec http://www.proz.com/profile/51358
English -> Spanish / voiceover found, even though it is not listed:
Smartranslators http://www.proz.com/profile/76374
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro http://www.proz.com/translator/669496
English -> Swedish / voiceover found, even though it is not listed:
Maria Bertilsson http://www.proz.com/profile/34103
Terese Whitty http://www.proz.com/profile/64870
Interestingly, also the test user Joe Member http://www.proz.com/profile/105688 shows up, when searching for voiceover Acoli -> Bengali, and one would think that test users would be blocked from searches altogether.
I use Chrome on Ubuntu, though I doubt that has any significance.
I hope this report, and my previous one, help in figuring out what is going on and how to fix the problem. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You did report 'voiceover' and 'interpreting' for English to Finnish | Mar 13, 2012 |
Hello Ronja,
I checked your profile and I see that you did actually report "Voiceover" as a service offered for English to Finnish. I also see you reported "Interpreting, Consecutive", "Interpreting, Simultaneous" and "Interpreting, Chuchotage/Whispering" for this pair. This is the reason why your profile shows up in searches for interpreting and voiceover services.
I suggest you go to the "Languages" section of your pro... See more Hello Ronja,
I checked your profile and I see that you did actually report "Voiceover" as a service offered for English to Finnish. I also see you reported "Interpreting, Consecutive", "Interpreting, Simultaneous" and "Interpreting, Chuchotage/Whispering" for this pair. This is the reason why your profile shows up in searches for interpreting and voiceover services.
I suggest you go to the "Languages" section of your profile, http://www.proz.com/settings/languages#pairs , and edit each language pair with the services you do offer by clicking on the small pencil next to them.
The services you report at http://www.proz.com/settings/freelancer/services#services and that show in your profile are general services. The ones reported for individual language pairs are specific ones.
Hope this explains.
Let me know if you need help editing your profile.
Lucia ▲ Collapse
| | | | | How did those get there? But all should be OK now | Mar 20, 2012 |
Thank you Lucia!
This was a very strange experience. I cannot for the life of me understand how I could have come to claim that I do interpreting services - especially something that I don't even know what it is ("chuchotage"). I had no memory of setting services for different languages separately - but I cannot claim that I would remember exactly what all things I fumbled with when I was new here, four years ago.
Also, when I tried to change the last language pair in m... See more Thank you Lucia!
This was a very strange experience. I cannot for the life of me understand how I could have come to claim that I do interpreting services - especially something that I don't even know what it is ("chuchotage"). I had no memory of setting services for different languages separately - but I cannot claim that I would remember exactly what all things I fumbled with when I was new here, four years ago.
Also, when I tried to change the last language pair in my list (English to Swedish), it took three tries to get the change to "take" (unchecking "Summarization", which I also have no memory of ever filling in). And yes, I did press "Save" - ??
Weird. But at least now the searches seem to work correctly, and I see only the services I want to see when I hover the mouse over my language pairs.
Thanks again! ▲ Collapse
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