| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Why do some agencies want free tests? Thread poster: John Fossey
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| Trusting one's judgment | Apr 5, 2018 |
[Not relevant to the topic]
[Edited at 2018-04-05 11:00 GMT]
| | | | MK2010 
United States
Local time: 02:05
French to English
+ ...
| If I had a problem with taking tests... | Apr 5, 2018 |
...I wouldn't have landed most of my biggest clients. It boggles my mind that people could have a problem with this. Yes, they want to see if we can actually translate. Yes, they want to know if our particular style is a good match for a particular project. They're doing their due diligence and so should we, incidentally.
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MK2010 wrote:
...I wouldn't have landed most of my biggest clients. It boggles my mind that people could have a problem with this. Yes, they want to see if we can actually translate. Yes, they want to know if our particular style is a good match for a particular project. They're doing their due diligence and so should we, incidentally.
I don’t mind at all doing translation tests (preferably paid), but what I really, really dislike is sending diplomas for courses I completed some 40 years ago! If I’m really interested in a job I'm happy to do a short unpaid translation test, providing we have already agreed on price and payment, and there is no deadline set for the test, so I can do it at my own pace. I would rather do a translation test for free than sending diplomas, references and the like and having to fill endless forms. Anyway, that’s how I got some of my best clients (direct clients and translation agencies) and some of my highest-paid assignments.
| | | | | Tests can help you secure your best lifelong clients | Apr 5, 2018 |
MK2010 wrote:
If I had a problem with taking tests, I wouldn't have landed most of my biggest clients.
+1
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| | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:05
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Unbelievably different experiences. | Apr 5, 2018 |
My biggest clients never asked for any tests or references.
The clients I passed tests for, well I never heard back from them again.
I can't believe experiences differ THAT much, but it may have something to do with the language pair. Whether their demand in a certain language pair is low or extremely high, they test everyone regardless. Same goes for the price, even if they don't like your price, they will still proceed and test you without sharing their thoughts about... See more My biggest clients never asked for any tests or references.
The clients I passed tests for, well I never heard back from them again.
I can't believe experiences differ THAT much, but it may have something to do with the language pair. Whether their demand in a certain language pair is low or extremely high, they test everyone regardless. Same goes for the price, even if they don't like your price, they will still proceed and test you without sharing their thoughts about the pricing. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:05
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Of course it's happening. | Apr 5, 2018 |
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
Only after I delivered and got paid for "proofreading" a terrible technical translation job, I learned that it was a small translation agency owner and translator's TEST for a big job with another agency. From that day on, I stopped taking translation tests seriously.
Yes, I and a couple of freelance colleagues once had communication via email to find out that about the same time we received from an outsourcer small pieces of a larger piece labeled "34", "35", "36" and so on, so that the client can easily combine them together in a numerical order. It was clear they were arranged in a logically narrative way.
[Edited at 2018-04-05 14:13 GMT]
| | | | MK2010
United States
Local time: 02:05
French to English
+ ...
| Par for the course | Apr 5, 2018 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Yes, I and a couple of freelance colleagues once had communication via email to find out that about the same time we received from an outsourcer small pieces of a larger piece labeled "34", "35", "36" and so on, so that the client can easily combine them together in a numerical order. It was clear they were arranged in a logically narrative way.
[Edited at 2018-04-05 14:13 GMT]
Yes, there are scammers out there, that does sometimes happen. But overall, there is absolutely nothing wrong with an agency or direct client wanting to verify that we are the right person for the job. The last time I took a test, it was for a book project that went on to be reviewed in major media outlets such as the New York Times, the Financial Times and the Washington Post. So yeah, I'm sort of glad I didn't have a problem with it.
We sit in doctors' offices located on prestigious university campuses with walls covered with diplomas and we still wonder if this particular doctor is the right one for us... and yet someone with a book to translate should just trust some random stranger on the internet to be the right person for the job?
Anyone who has spent any amount of time on these forums knows that a sizeable percentage of the people claiming native level fluency in a language have absolutely no business making that claim. Again, the way I see it, it's all just part of due diligence.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:05
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Nothing wrong of course. | Apr 5, 2018 |
But I can only judge based on my own experiences. If somebody else got projects out of free tests, how does that help me create opinion about free tests?
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Isn't it funny, most agencies "ought" to free-test translators, but not the other way round?
Working with direct clients I found out that middlemen (not clients) are prone to free-testing.
They say 'a standard procedure'? Nice try.--or catch.
| | | | IrinaN
United States
Local time: 01:05
English to Russian
+ ...
| You've said it | Apr 5, 2018 |
MK2010 wrote:
Yes, they want to know if our particular style is a good match for a particular project. They're doing their due diligence and so should we, incidentally.
One of my favorite agency's policies effective after winning a large, complicated project is to assign a chief editor first and he would be given carte blanche putting together a team of oldtimers and newcomers, if necessary.
I have been working for them for ages yet, when a certain new project arrived (within my working fields but not my specialties), the editor, who'd heard a few good things about me but never actually worked with me, sent me a test! (free:-) ). I respected his approach. It was in our mutual interest to be sure from the start that we want to work together. With my experience, there are only so many stylistic changes I can tolerate, I am not a rookie. It turned out to be a great project and a pure pleasure to work with the terrific professional.
| | | | Jan Truper
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2016)
English to German
DZiW wrote:
Isn't it funny, most agencies "ought" to free-test translators, but not the other way round?
Working with direct clients I found out that middlemen (not clients) are prone to free-testing.
They say 'a standard procedure'? Nice try.--or catch.
I have occasionally countered the "a free test is our standard procedure" mantra with the argument that "it's my standard procedure to receive a test bank transfer before accepting any work from an agency".
At this point in my career, I am in the fortunate position to have have a stable and broadly spread client base, and usually there's paid work for me to do if I want it. If there's ever a job hole, I welcome it for leisure activities. I am sure there are many translators in a similar position, and any agency requiring a free test is bound to not getting any such steadily working translators on board.
These days, I only do free tests if the agency requiring it dangles a mighty fine and big carrot in front of my nose (it needs to be a respected agency with good ratings, there needs to be a specific project on the horizon, the rates and payment terms have to be to my liking, etc.). Funny thing is, I often have encountered agencies demanding a free a test without even showing any sort of carrot at all, saying "we can only tell you our rates once you passed the test and have signed the NDA". Well, have a nice day.
In conclusion, as to the original question "why do some agencies want free tests", I can only assume that oftentimes they are just looking for fresh translator meat to dictate their terms to. Bend over now, you'll bend over later.
I have also encountered free test requests where I was reasonably certain that the whole dance served only as a sort of occupational therapy for employees of the agency, to keep them busy with something when they didn't have any real projects to work on.
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:05
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Clients demanding free tests and good clients are not mutually exclusive sets | Apr 6, 2018 |
SusieSmith wrote:
I am another translator who does not mind free tests at all, but I do have couple of conditions.
Firstly, the test must be short - certainly under 350 words.
Secondly, I would only consider doing a test for a reputable translation company with good ratings on the Blue Board.
I think every one of my major clients - vaguely defined as a client that regularly offers me monthly flows of work in the four-figure (£) range - required a free test.
If I had refused these tests, I would not have been considered as a supplier, and presumably I would have been spending a lot more time over the past couple of years twiddling my thumbs, or complaining on ProZ forums about a lack of work.
But as Susie says, the test must be short and you must have confidence in the bona fides of the agency.
Regards,
Dan
[Edited at 2018-04-06 07:38 GMT]
| | | | | Test translation - Length | Apr 6, 2018 |
SusieSmith wrote:
I am another translator who does not mind free tests at all, but I do have a couple of conditions.
Firstly, the test must be short - certainly under 350 words. If well-designed, that is plenty to tell whether a translator is skilled in their field.
From my recent experience as an outsourcer: a carefully selected 100-150-words test piece, with several covert pitfalls, snares and booby traps, is quite sufficient to screen out 'bad apples'.
Secondly, I would only consider doing a test for a reputable translation company with good ratings on the Blue Board.
+1
I would much rather do that than send them references from my clients (who I do not want to have to bother).
+1
| | | | Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 14:05
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
DZiW wrote:
Isn't it funny, most agencies "ought" to free-test translators, but not the other way round?
Working with direct clients I found out that middlemen (not clients) are prone to free-testing.
They say 'a standard procedure'? Nice try.--or catch.
A hospital will interview prospective doctors. You do not have that luxury. The effort that a client would put in to vet a translator is directly proportional to its own resources in the field.
And really, this is a big reason why companies prefer to buy translations through an agency - the agency does the vetting for them.
[Edited at 2018-04-06 09:24 GMT]
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