| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Super short deadlines Thread poster: Aleksandra Kloc Raspini
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I keep getting job offers from one agency, with volumes of approximately 10000 words or more that they require to translate within 48h or sometimes even 24h. They also underline that human translation and not MTPE is required. It's clear it's not humanly possible... I was wondering if you guys get similar offers?
| | | | Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 16:57
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| If you really want to work with them, throw a counter-offer... | May 29, 2021 |
Tell them you can do XY number of words by their deadline. Sometimes they split that work among several people just to meet the deadline. The results are appalling, of course, but they don't care much. The most important thing is that they presented an impossible as possible to the client. Translators will take care of the rest.
| | | | | It's not impossible | May 29, 2021 |
10000 words in 48 or even 24 hours is not impossible. Speed comes with experience. However, if I were to take such a job, I would certainly make sure the text is fully legible, well-readable and requires no more than a token amount of research or technical work on my part. I would charge a rush rate, too.
| | | | | Lunch may be for wimps but... | May 29, 2021 |
Anton Konashenok wrote:
10000 words in 48 or even 24 hours is not impossible. Speed comes with experience. However, if I were to take such a job, I would certainly make sure the text is fully legible, well-readable and requires no more than a token amount of research or technical work on my part. I would charge a rush rate, too.
Impossible to do to a high standard, though. And why would you ever want to?
OP:
I would never say how much I could do in those 24 or 48 hours (I don’t like splitting jobs). Instead I would tell them when I could do the full 10,000 words for.
I have one client that always asks for stuff tomorrow but almost always agrees to delivery next week.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 16:57
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Probably a direct client? | May 29, 2021 |
Ice Scream wrote:
I have one client that always asks for stuff tomorrow but almost always agrees to delivery next week.
It happens all the time with direct clients. Never had it happening with an agency though.
Nb. Nobody likes splitting jobs. Imagine a 100k word project and you get the last 20k batch from the document. In order to know what is going on in the last batch, you would need it to analyse the first 80k words and 1) not being paid for it, 2) not having the time to analyse it as the deadline is tomorrow. It’s a crazy proposition but not uncommon with agency clients.
Agree with this part:
Ice Scream wrote:
Impossible to do to a high standard, though. And why would you ever want to?
[Edited at 2021-05-29 17:40 GMT]
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Probably a direct client?
No, it’s an agency. One of the big nasties, too. You just need to find a little niche where they don’t have anyone else.
My direct clients rarely ask for stuff tomorrow. If they haven’t booked me in advance, they just ask when I can deliver and say thank you.
Apart from the time pressure, the other reason to avoid these 10,000 word jobs for tomorrow is that they were probably written in a hurry too, making your life even harder.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 16:57
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Direct clients are definitely more flexible with deadlines.
I have some agency clients in pretty common fields (eg. tourism) who always ask me to propose a tentative date for deadline. It’s not a small niche and I am absolutely sure they have plenty of others who would do it at a cheaper rate than me. So, it’s not always about the niche.
No, they are not always written in a hurry. I fell into this trap a couple of times not knowing I am a part of a “split job” p... See more Direct clients are definitely more flexible with deadlines.
I have some agency clients in pretty common fields (eg. tourism) who always ask me to propose a tentative date for deadline. It’s not a small niche and I am absolutely sure they have plenty of others who would do it at a cheaper rate than me. So, it’s not always about the niche.
No, they are not always written in a hurry. I fell into this trap a couple of times not knowing I am a part of a “split job” project and it was nasty. I was simply contacted by an agency with a 20k job by XY deadline (it was tight but achievable at high tempo of work). Once I accepted it and confirmed my involvement, they started sending “batches” (the scenario I explained in the previous post), and I realised I received the last batch (the worst thing you can get in such a scenario). I had to proceed as I already accepted the job. It was a large multi $B pharmaceutical giant and the text was of very high quality in the US English. What happened here is that they were late with their translation process/protocol so contacted several agencies and this one was “smart enough” to offer them 100k words in a week and they got the contract.
[Edited at 2021-05-29 18:01 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Shameful and disrespectful... | May 29, 2021 |
I's clear that kind of tender is not serious coming from a translation agency which would pretend to be recpectful whith their translators.
I totally share Aleksandra's opinion and astonishment about such unrealistic deadlines, because translating 10,000 words source within 24 even 48 hours of time is, humanly speaking, absolutely unfeasible if you make a point to deliver a high level human translation - unless working night and day without resting like a workaholic. Even ants and b... See more I's clear that kind of tender is not serious coming from a translation agency which would pretend to be recpectful whith their translators.
I totally share Aleksandra's opinion and astonishment about such unrealistic deadlines, because translating 10,000 words source within 24 even 48 hours of time is, humanly speaking, absolutely unfeasible if you make a point to deliver a high level human translation - unless working night and day without resting like a workaholic. Even ants and bees get some rest...
More than that: I find it this kind of tender is purely and simply shameful and should be declined once and for all and without any further explanation except this one: "You must be kidding???". As for me, I don't even answer such a disrespectful tender. I've just got such an offer not later than this afternoon (saturday): 12,000 words source to be delivered on next Tuesday 09:00 CET time. Guess what? I haven't taken even one second to answer such a joke.
I deeply feel committed to a single basic rule, which is a corner stone to our wonderful profession: translators are - and must stay - above all human beings, not machines.
If lame-duck agencies want to get 10,000 words being translated within 12, 24 or 48 hours, without having any human consideration to their translators, there is one way left for them: turning themself towards machine translation to do the job and deliver a crap f***g translation to their end clients.
I'm ready to bet this kind of thug agencies will not last long...
[Modifié le 2021-05-29 20:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Thank you for your feedback... | May 29, 2021 |
... just wanted to add that the agency specializes in legal translations so high quality work is a must... I congratulate those who manage to deliver quality translations in such a short time.
| | | | Gerard de Noord
France
Local time: 16:57
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
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| The deadline is near, and everybody starts panicking | May 29, 2021 |
A perfectly respectable company places an interesting job with their preferred translation agency, with a perfectly respectable deadline. That translation agency ranks the job and passes it on at their rate plus their margin. Two other agencies do the same. At one moment both the deadline and the net profit have reached their limits. I always stay away at that moment.
Cheers,
Gerard
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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If it is a highly formulaic repetitive generic text in a familiar field, it is quite doable.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 10:57
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| When someone wanted to assign me a large job with same day turnaround, | May 30, 2021 |
I would let them know that I would not have time to review my own translation. It turned out they assigned the job to me anyway.
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Thankfully, I’ve not been asked such super short deadlines. I’m not fond of tight deadlines and my long-standing customers know that. 10,000 words in two days? My polite answer will be a resounding no!
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like to read those 10,000 words translated in 24 hours... just for a laugh.
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Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:
like to read those 10,000 words translated in 24 hours... just for a laugh.
... though I wouldn’t very probably go further than the first page!
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Super short deadlines | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
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