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I don't want to be part of such a site (ad for file conversion and MT services for translators) Thread poster: Siegfried Armbruster
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I don't want to be part of a site that puts the ads or links to ads such as the following on its homepage:
...... has been created to make your translation work easy. All you need to do now is just translation, leave the rest to us. We provide fully formatted and machine translated file for any language pair that would save your time and you can complete your project with much less effort. We can format and machine translate any file format like doc, pdf (scanned too), excel and ppt. We also provide conversion service for scanned pdf files and format the file after conversion. All this is provided at a very low cost. Pay much less and increase your translation speed up to almost 40%. Please see our latest work to get a broader idea.
This add/link to this add shows up on the upper right corner of the homepage together with adds from other companies. You will notice, when you see it.
This is not even correct English, what kind of image does Proz transport to the public by accepting this kind of adds
I don't want to be part of this and I don't want Proz to show the world such an image.
[Edited at 2012-10-20 18:25 GMT]
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2012-10-22 13:33 GMT]
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János Untener 
Hungary
Local time: 21:33
Member (2010)
English to Hungarian
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| It is not about me, it is about our online reputation | Oct 20, 2012 |
Hi Janos,
it is not about me, it is about the reputation of the site and its users.
Don't complain about chinglish, bad translations and low rates if the site advertises such ads.
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But you know what they say... everyone has a price, some just go cheaper than others.
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Georgia Morg (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:33
Portuguese to English
| transport to the public | Oct 20, 2012 |
now what kind of English is that?
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:33
English to German
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In memoriam | A dedicated section might be helpful | Oct 21, 2012 |
There IS a market for cheap, low quality, quick-and-dirty language services. But neither services nor jobs in this segment should appear next to regular, professional linguistic services. Many newspapers for example structure their classifieds and display ads accordingly and provide dedicated sections for "Thrifties", "Bargains", "10$ or less" or similar. No decent paper would ever place a job ad "Babysitter wanted" next to "Senior Controller position in multinational investment firm".
... See more There IS a market for cheap, low quality, quick-and-dirty language services. But neither services nor jobs in this segment should appear next to regular, professional linguistic services. Many newspapers for example structure their classifieds and display ads accordingly and provide dedicated sections for "Thrifties", "Bargains", "10$ or less" or similar. No decent paper would ever place a job ad "Babysitter wanted" next to "Senior Controller position in multinational investment firm".
My suggestion:
A dedicated BudgetZ (or "ThriftieZ", "BargainZ", CheapskateZ" "Nobody readZ it anyway") section here on ProZ.com where interested and potential customers can look for cheapo-machine translation, and where vendors can offer their wonderful machine-based concoctions. On this terrific playground all kinds of companies can exchange 0.0001/word "jobs" and advertise their services as shown in the above sample and ProZ.com will not lose any revenue.
A unambiguous headline and disclaimer will clearly distinguish these kinds of services from professional translation and new and strict ruleZ at ProZ.com will automatically filter all requests for ridiculous rates into this section and to all "translators" who voluntarily have registered with this section.
Just an idea.  ▲ Collapse
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Nicole Schnell wrote: There IS a market for cheap, low quality, quick-and-dirty language services. But neither services nor jobs in this segment should appear next to regular, professional linguistic services. Many newspapers for example structure their classifieds and display ads accordingly and provide dedicated sections for "Thrifties", "Bargains", "10$ or less" or similar. No decent paper would ever place a job ad "Babysitter wanted" next to "Senior Controller position in multinational investment firm". My suggestion: A dedicated BudgetZ (or "ThriftieZ", "BargainZ", CheapskateZ" "Nobody readZ it anyway") section here on ProZ.com where interested and potential customers can look for cheapo-machine translation, and where vendors can offer their wonderful machine-based concoctions. On this terrific playground all kinds of companies can exchange 0.0001/word "jobs" and advertise their services as shown in the above sample and ProZ.com will not lose any revenue. A unambiguous headline and disclaimer will clearly distinguish these kinds of services from professional translation and new and strict ruleZ at ProZ.com will automatically filter all requests for ridiculous rates into this section and to all "translators" who voluntarily have registered with this section. Just an idea.
I second Nicole!
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:33
Hebrew to English
I'm going to give you some advice that was recently given to me (on this very site):
You know that you can leave the site, right?
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Textklick
Local time: 20:33
German to English
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In memoriam | Macy’s and Wal-Mart. The soukh in the basement? | Oct 21, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote:
A dedicated BudgetZ (or "ThriftieZ", "BargainZ", CheapskateZ" "Nobody readZ it anyway") section here on ProZ.com where interested and potential customers can look for cheapo-machine translation...
There’s some kind of logic in that, Nicole, but I don’t see it working.
A Gucci ‘boutique store’ on the 4th floor at Macy's? Sure!
A Walmart bargain basement downstairs?
No way.
The kind of people who want to buy quality solutions and services at knockdown prices are still going to prefer to shop where the quality guys go.
Conversely, vendors of crud solution and services also surely want to be up there, selling to the great and good and not trading off a market stall?
One way or another (not a simple task), there has to be more vigilance paid to the kind of advertiser that ProZ wishes to associate itself with. Some kind of screening procedure? Otherwise, there is not only the danger of the market-leader advertisers reconsidering their options, but the danger of ProZ completely losing credibility as a serious and professional business portal.
No patent solution. Just an alarm bell.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:33
English to German
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In memoriam | Rather this kind of comparison: Nordstrom's and Nordstrom's Rack | Oct 21, 2012 |
Textklick wrote:
The kind of people who want to buy quality solutions and services at knockdown prices are still going to prefer to shop where the quality guys go.
(Explanation to guys, non-shoppers and to all the others who are not familiar with Nordstrom's: A department store chain, positioned between mid-tier retailer Macy's and high-end, luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. Average income of shoppers: 100,000/y)
Nordstrom's has a number of special retail outlets, called the Nordstrom Racks, where you can buy luxury designer labels at discounted prices, say 70% off.
Both lines of outlets, the classic Nordstrom shopping temples with the piano player in the lobby, a glass of champaign while you wait for your receipt and the pretty boxes and totes and with armchairs in the ladies' rooms where you can rest after peeing, as well as the inornate Nordstrom's Racks, where hysterical women with crazed eyes rummage through the shelves like rabid hyenas and trample all over the Guccis and Balenciagas that were dropped on the floor - those are two lines by the same brand, and they don't hurt each other.
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nordiste
France
Local time: 21:33
English to French
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| the "Connect!" jobs were supposed to be the solution | Oct 21, 2012 |
Nicole Schnell wrote: There IS a market for cheap, low quality, quick-and-dirty language services. But neither services nor jobs in this segment should appear next to regular, professional linguistic services. Many newspapers for example structure their classifieds and display ads accordingly and provide dedicated sections for "Thrifties", "Bargains", "10$ or less" or similar. No decent paper would ever place a job ad "Babysitter wanted" next to "Senior Controller position in multinational investment firm". My suggestion: A dedicated BudgetZ (or "ThriftieZ", "BargainZ", CheapskateZ" "Nobody readZ it anyway") section here on ProZ.com where interested and potential customers can look for cheapo-machine translation, and where vendors can offer their wonderful machine-based concoctions. On this terrific playground all kinds of companies can exchange 0.0001/word "jobs" and advertise their services as shown in the above sample and ProZ.com will not lose any revenue. A unambiguous headline and disclaimer will clearly distinguish these kinds of services from professional translation and new and strict ruleZ at ProZ.com will automatically filter all requests for ridiculous rates into this section and to all "translators" who voluntarily have registered with this section. Just an idea.
Connect! jobs were supposed to be for premium quality jobs.
"Connect! is ProZ.com's next-generation sourcing platform, designed to help serious outsourcers find specialized linguists for their premium projects, quickly and efficiently. "
See http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/1220/
Seeing the last offers I got from Connect! ... I am not sure it was really successfull ...
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:33
English to German
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In memoriam
Textklick wrote:
One way or another (not a simple task), there has to be more vigilance paid to the kind of advertiser that ProZ wishes to associate itself with. Some kind of screening procedure?
Remember the uproar about those ridiculous, animated and misspelled "Belly Fat" ads a few years ago on this site? I also recall something about "Eastern European women want to marry you', or so. But hey, the ad in question is language related! Ohboy, ohboy.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 12:33
English to German
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In memoriam | Internal elitism doesn't work - we want elite clients but we have to remain user-friendly | Oct 21, 2012 |
nordiste wrote: the "Connect!" jobs were supposed to be the solution Connect! jobs were supposed to be for premium quality jobs. "Connect! is ProZ.com's next-generation sourcing platform, designed to help serious outsourcers find specialized linguists for their premium projects, quickly and efficiently. " See http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/1220/ Seeing the last offers I got from Connect! ... I am not sure it was really successfull ...
Yes, and it has dried up. I guess, because clients were burdened with too much homework. Not user-friendly. Then came the craze with the Red P-Thing. Clients are deceived to believe that ProZ.com is a linguistic institution that is authorized to certify translators in terms of quality. To this day I have not applied for it. It reminds me of the BBB - the Better Business Bureau. As long as there are no complaints and nobody has ever filed a lawsuit against you and you have never been to prison, you simply pay $500 or 600, and Woosh!, your business is BBB-certified, and you can display the logo on your website. It doesn't prove that you are top-notch - it simply proves that you are normal and that you managed to provide the most basic and average prerequisites to run a business.
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| There's good advice and there's bad advice, Ty | Oct 21, 2012 |
Those who advocate that users/members who comment about quality issues leave the site are unprofessional and probably incapable of providing quality. It's a good sign when a member/user/customer complains - it means they expect more/better and subsequently hold the provider in higher esteem. People who don't complain signal low expectations. Complaints give providers the opportunity to understand market demands/expectations and rise to the challenge - or not. Professionals use such an opportunit... See more Those who advocate that users/members who comment about quality issues leave the site are unprofessional and probably incapable of providing quality. It's a good sign when a member/user/customer complains - it means they expect more/better and subsequently hold the provider in higher esteem. People who don't complain signal low expectations. Complaints give providers the opportunity to understand market demands/expectations and rise to the challenge - or not. Professionals use such an opportunity to improve their services/skills. Amateurs tell you to take it or leave it. ▲ Collapse
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:33
Hebrew to English
Catherine Brix wrote:
Those who advocate that users/members who comment about quality issues leave the site are unprofessional and probably incapable of providing quality. It's a good sign when a member/user/customer complains - it means they expect more/better and subsequently hold the provider in higher esteem. People who don't complain signal low expectations. Complaints give providers the opportunity to understand market demands/expectations and rise to the challenge - or not. Professionals use such an opportunity to improve their services/skills. Amateurs tell you to take it or leave it.
I totally agree, I just hope the person who originally gave me that advice reads your post....
[Edited at 2012-10-21 11:27 GMT]
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