| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Off topic: Phrases/examples we can use to educate a client. Thread poster: Ma.Elena Carrión de Medina
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Hello!
I was wondering if you´d like to share any phrases and/or examples you use to help your clients understand better your work as a translator/interpreter.
One of my favorites is, "Bilingualism on its own is not a guarantee of written fluency or skill in translation."
I found it on "Translation, getting it right", a guide to buying translations (downloadable at ATA´s website). And this phrase has also been an encouragement to some colleagues in my cit... See more Hello!
I was wondering if you´d like to share any phrases and/or examples you use to help your clients understand better your work as a translator/interpreter.
One of my favorites is, "Bilingualism on its own is not a guarantee of written fluency or skill in translation."
I found it on "Translation, getting it right", a guide to buying translations (downloadable at ATA´s website). And this phrase has also been an encouragement to some colleagues in my city to train themselves as translators, instead of just being bilinguals.
I guess there are many examples or comparisons we can use to educate clients -I can think of a few, but I´d like to hear your ideas or experiences.
Thanks in advance for sharing!!
Elena ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I translate the meaning, not just the words | Feb 17, 2011 |
-- My profile tag.
Then find some examples of the opposite that suit your language pairs and audience.
You shouldn't find yourself in anything, as the Danes say 
(= don't put up with any nonsense, don't accept anything unreasonable)
| | | | Nikita Kobrin 
Lithuania
Local time: 04:21
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
| My templates | Feb 17, 2011 |
Hi Elena,
I believe the topic you've started is a superb one. And very useful: I'd love to create a databank of educational phrases of my own so that I could use them as templates on different occasions during my communication with clients.
I will share some of those that I have already got:
Rates and Prices:
(Translation) The actual price depends upon the field, complexity, and file format of the source text. Please note: tex ... See more Hi Elena,
I believe the topic you've started is a superb one. And very useful: I'd love to create a databank of educational phrases of my own so that I could use them as templates on different occasions during my communication with clients.
I will share some of those that I have already got:
Rates and Prices:
(Translation) The actual price depends upon the field, complexity, and file format of the source text. Please note: texts submitted in non-editable formats (e.g. PDF, graphics, etc.) assume extra charge. Rush jobs also assume extra charge.
(Audio Transcription) The actual price depends upon the subject matter, complexity, recording format/media and quality, availability or lack of cover materials, etc.
(Voiceover and Narration) The actual price depends upon the nature of the text, purpose of the recording and target audience. For accurate Voiceover and Narration pricing it's necessary to submit for evaluation detailed job description including technical requirements and the script to be recorded.
Minimum fee (charged for short documents in order to cover operating and administrative costs): EUR X0.00
Pricing Method:
For accurate translation pricing it's necessary to submit the whole text for evaluation. The pricing will be based on source text word count (when the text is available in an electronic and preferably editable format) or target word count otherwise.
Pricing for Proof-reading/Editing, Audio Transcription, DTP, Voiceover and Narration to be agreed upon estimate of the time required.
Volume Discounts:
I don't offer volume discounts. The logic behind that is very simple: translation isn't wholesale of goods, it's quite different industry and if I offer volume discounts then while working on a large project I will lose several smaller projects with much higher rates and thus in the end the monetary result for me will be practically the same but with much more efforts in case of a large project at a lower rate. But my regular rates are quite competitive especially taking into consideration the high quality standards of my work. If you need high quality translations made in perfect idiomatic {Your Language} I'm at your command but if you are after cheap mediocre text rendering done within very short turnaround time you'd better find somebody else for the job.
Test Translation:
Do you expect me to do the test free of charge? Unfortunately I don't have time to perform free tests. Besides I believe there's no much need to do that for a professional linguist with an MA in Translation, 15 years of practical work in the translation industry and all-excellent customers' feedback. You can see customers' feedback on the following web page:
- http://www.proz.com/wwa/xxxxx
Instead of the test I can send you samples of my previous translations.
There is also another good option. I perfectly understand that you can't risk your business reputation and sometimes money handing out a serious assignment to an unknown to you linguist but agencies quite often get very short documents with only 300 - 500 words to translate. Why not to use such a small job to test my abilities? Your risk would be next to zero and at the same time that would be a good chance for you to see what I can do. For me it would be just a normal job. All parties would be happy I think, wouldn't they?
If you absolutely need a test translation and ready to pay a special lowered rate of EUR 0.0X (USD 0.0X) per source word I can do it.
Please take into consideration that the test should meet the following requirements:
1. The volume of the test translation shouldn't exceed 200 source words.
2. The test translation should be professionally composed (i.e. it should include general description of the source text the test fragment was taken from, the target audience, preferable language style, etc.).
3. After test evaluation the results should be sent to me irrespective of their positive or negative character.
Payment (Invoice Notice):
In all cases, the customer will bear all money transfer fees. I pay only my bank fees and PayPal/Moneybookers’ funds withdrawal fee.
Total due within 30 days. Any overdue payment is subject to a late payment charge of 10% per month.
Quality issues (if any) should be raised by the customer not later than 10 calendar days after receipt of this invoice.
So these are some of my templates. I am very interested to see the templates my colleagues use in their business.
I also encourage native speakers of English to criticise the linguistic drawbacks of my current templates.
[Edited at 2011-02-17 14:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:21
French to English
+ ...
| But be careful of negative advertising... | Feb 17, 2011 |
Ma.Elena Carrión de Medina wrote:
One of my favorites is, "Bilingualism on its own is not a guarantee of written fluency or skill in translation."
Of course this is true, but it may not necessarily work as a marketing pitch. In fairness to those who do bang on about "native speaker", they do this because clients have it into the head that the thing they need is a "native speaker".
It's a bit like if you open a chip shop next to a factory but then above the counter put a big banner saying: "Warning: eating chips is not a guarantee of a healthy diet". It's possibly a true statement about the world, but not necessarily the time and place to make it if fundamentally the thing you want to do is sell chips.
So as well as "educating" clients in this way, you may also want to think of some more positive statements to use.
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| How about... | Feb 17, 2011 |
Having two legs doesn't mean you can dance.
Having two languages...
| | | | Nikita Kobrin
Lithuania
Local time: 04:21
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
| It's neither off-topic nor on a lighter side... | Feb 17, 2011 |
BTW Elena,
I don't quite understand why you have decided to put this thread to 'Off-topic Lighter side of trans/interp' space of the forum. I believe it's neither off-topic nor on a lighter side... Quite serious matter.
| | | | | Insight of the process | Feb 17, 2011 |
Received by fax or by phone, written by hand, color printed needs to be prepared for translation. These sofisticated electronic tools, you know...
| | | | | End customer | Feb 18, 2011 |
Only yesterday I had one of those calls...
- Good morning, could you please tell me how much you charge per page?
- Excuse me, sir, but how much does a car cost? You know, an engine, four tyres and a driving wheel... A car is a car as much as a translation is a translation...
He got my point in no time at all, I must say.
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| Don't blame the end customer | Feb 18, 2011 |
Iza Szczypka wrote: Only yesterday I had one of those calls... - Good morning, could you please tell me how much you charge per page? - Excuse me, sir, but how much does a car cost? You know, an engine, four tyres and a driving wheel... A car is a car as much as a translation is a translation... He got my point in no time at all, I must say.
From what you wrote above, I think this is the biggest problem and the hardest to solve.
And to be honest, I don't blame your end customer.
It's like suffering from appendicitis and asking the doctor how much it would cost to do the operation. And this would depend on the hospital you go to, IMO. Most of us set our own rates, and since we do not produce or manufacture the same product by mass production referring to your example of a car, it's totally understandable that your end customer had to call you and ask you for a definite price.
| | | | | If you think it's expensive... | Feb 18, 2011 |
This is from a famous oil well firefighter:
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."
—Paul Neal "Red" Adair
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Adair )
| | | | | Focus on the what, not the how | Feb 18, 2011 |
I find it interesting that most of the examples given address the "how" (how you arrive at a price, how you do your work, your background/years' experience, the software you use, etc.) rather than the "what" (what value you are delivering to the client, what problem you are solving for them, or how you will help them meet their business goals).
In my experience most (direct) clients do not really care about file formats, word counts, how many degrees you have, the software you use, ... See more I find it interesting that most of the examples given address the "how" (how you arrive at a price, how you do your work, your background/years' experience, the software you use, etc.) rather than the "what" (what value you are delivering to the client, what problem you are solving for them, or how you will help them meet their business goals).
In my experience most (direct) clients do not really care about file formats, word counts, how many degrees you have, the software you use, or even how many years' experience you have. They want to know how you will help make their job easier, make them look good to their management, help them meet their business objectives...They come to you with a problem and they are looking for a solution.
Client education is tricky...very difficult not to slip down the slope of sounding pedantic and getting into all kinds of translation-related details that we as translators might find fascinating but that clients don't give a hoot about.
I try to avoid client education at all costs and spend my time pitching *business value* to discriminating clients who already have a pretty clear idea of what they are looking for. The ones who need educating are usually a waste of time. ▲ Collapse
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Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
From what you wrote above, I think this is the biggest problem and the hardest to solve.
And to be honest, I don't blame your end customer.
I don't blame the customer in the least.
He may have needed a translation for the first time in his life, so I referred him to an experience which seems more widespread to me. I expected him to know there's a difference in price between a Mini and a Rolls Royce and between a new and old one. Even if they are still cars...
The comparison worked well with him.
[Edited at 2011-02-18 13:32 GMT]
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 03:21
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Completely agree. | Feb 18, 2011 |
Sara Freitas-Maltaverne wrote:
I try to avoid client education at all costs and spend my time pitching *business value* to discriminating clients who already have a pretty clear idea of what they are looking for. The ones who need educating are usually a waste of time.
You will probably spend more time educating them than doing the actual translation work.
When I hire a repair worker to fix something for me, they don't really spend hours explaining the process in great depth to me. Or if they do, they want to charge extra for it.
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 18:21
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Hm. I don't think that you can fight "mental templates" with even more templates. | Feb 18, 2011 |
It helps to get some thought processes on client side going, though.
Recently I dealt with a recently hired and apparently somewhat innocent PM at a long-term, regular agency client. "We are about to acquire a new client. They asked us for a test translation. Can you do that?" - "My pleasure, consider it done. What's the job number?" - "There's no job number. This is a test, and tests are for free."
Few days later, same candidate (5:30 in the morning): "I have a press ... See more It helps to get some thought processes on client side going, though.
Recently I dealt with a recently hired and apparently somewhat innocent PM at a long-term, regular agency client. "We are about to acquire a new client. They asked us for a test translation. Can you do that?" - "My pleasure, consider it done. What's the job number?" - "There's no job number. This is a test, and tests are for free."
Few days later, same candidate (5:30 in the morning): "I have a press release for a brand-new client. Can you get this done within the next 3 hours? It's only 500 words." - "You mean, according to your usual QA process? Including editing by the editor on the other half of this planet, plus the final check of this highly technical text on my side?" - "Yes. Is this too short? And why is your quotation so high? Do agencies really pay that much?"
"Tests", not "test". Sorry, typo.
[Edited at 2011-02-18 14:23 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Glad you asked... | Feb 22, 2011 |
You'll be the first to know that, not too long ago, I made a friend here on ProZ, and we decided to create a blog together. The first idea we had for an article was on this very subject. Have a look:
http://www.versdautreshorizons.com/
Scroll down for the English version; most of the blog is in French because our clients are French.
We haven't made any noise abou... See more You'll be the first to know that, not too long ago, I made a friend here on ProZ, and we decided to create a blog together. The first idea we had for an article was on this very subject. Have a look:
http://www.versdautreshorizons.com/
Scroll down for the English version; most of the blog is in French because our clients are French.
We haven't made any noise about it yet, but we are hoping to get some peer readership as well. Don't hesitate to let us know what you think!
[Edited at 2011-02-22 17:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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