Taking blame for another person's work
Thread poster: Baran Keki
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 18:12
Member
English to Turkish
Feb 22, 2020

I received a job offer from a well-known European translation agency last week. Having not had any work for over a week, 2700 words of legal translation sounded very inviting and I took it without giving it much thought. But, it turned out there were only a few hundreds of new words to translate and the rest was already translated by somebody else. They didn't pay for 100% matches, which comprised more or less half the text, and offered a pittance for 95 to 99% matches, which comprised two-third... See more
I received a job offer from a well-known European translation agency last week. Having not had any work for over a week, 2700 words of legal translation sounded very inviting and I took it without giving it much thought. But, it turned out there were only a few hundreds of new words to translate and the rest was already translated by somebody else. They didn't pay for 100% matches, which comprised more or less half the text, and offered a pittance for 95 to 99% matches, which comprised two-thirds of the text. I was to deliver that translation in less than 24 hours.
I took the job, went through the segments and noticed that the translation quality was fairly bad. I corrected some of the glaring style and translation mistakes in 100% matches, but after a while I simply started confirming them as I thought those segments were already 'proofread' or 'approved' by the agency's translators or the client themselves (since I was working in their CAT tool), and I wasn't getting paid for my efforts and the deadline was fast approaching.
I'm not sure if I did the right thing by attaching my name to a translation that was (in my opinion) poorly done. I'm also concerned that I might be blamed for poor choice of terminology (on the part of the previous translator or proofreader) and stylistic inconsistency in the text.
I wonder if anyone has been in this situation and what would you have done? Would you go out of your way to correct a translation that you think is not right, knowing that you're not going to get paid for it?
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marijaflora
 
Sara Massons
Sara Massons  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:12
Member (2016)
English to French
+ ...
Ask the client before going further Feb 22, 2020

Hi Baran,

I already encountered similar situations (only I don't do legal translation so the impact can be different). My only rule is to immediately write the PM and give them a couple of examples of the bigest errors. Then I tell them the estimated time it would take to proofread the document completely and the price I would ask to do it and ask if they want me to do it. I had answers ranking from "don't do anything, we already know about that, it will be treated later" to "thank
... See more
Hi Baran,

I already encountered similar situations (only I don't do legal translation so the impact can be different). My only rule is to immediately write the PM and give them a couple of examples of the bigest errors. Then I tell them the estimated time it would take to proofread the document completely and the price I would ask to do it and ask if they want me to do it. I had answers ranking from "don't do anything, we already know about that, it will be treated later" to "thank you very much for telling us, please proceed with the proofreading, we will extend the deadline accordingly and pay for it".
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Morano El-Kholy
VMT TRADUCE (X)
Niina Lahokoski
Tina Vonhof (X)
Vera Schoen
Heike Holthaus
Christine Andersen
 
Endre Both
Endre Both  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 16:12
English to German
Only take responsibility for paid content Feb 22, 2020

Like many freelancers, I had my dry spells when I was less picky about the jobs and clients I took on, so I can certainly sympathise. However, if there is a prospect of long-term cooperation, it pays to be clear up front and not mourn clients who are only interested in vendors that accept each and every condition unchallenged.

For instance I take pains to make clear to clients that unpaid content will not be processed in any way, and I try to illustrate to them the dangers of unchec
... See more
Like many freelancers, I had my dry spells when I was less picky about the jobs and clients I took on, so I can certainly sympathise. However, if there is a prospect of long-term cooperation, it pays to be clear up front and not mourn clients who are only interested in vendors that accept each and every condition unchallenged.

For instance I take pains to make clear to clients that unpaid content will not be processed in any way, and I try to illustrate to them the dangers of unchecked 100% matches (even with good quality TMs).

Similarly, when giving discounts for client TM matches, it is helpful to clarify that the TM needs to be client-approved, and as translators we only take responsibility for adapting matches to the changed source. If the TM is bad, I make sure to let the client know, but it's their decision whether or not to pay me the full rate for retranslating from scratch.

And finally, the decision about TM-based discounts is yours, not the client's. So feel free to offer a payment scale that you consider appropriate for the effort involved.

And finally, with new clients it helps to only give a binding quote after all parameters are known, including the full source text and TM/glossary quality.
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Heike Holthaus
Philippe Etienne
Laura Kingdon
 
VMT TRADUCE (X)
VMT TRADUCE (X)  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 16:12
English to Italian
+ ...
This is one of the Feb 22, 2020

The situation you describe has happened quite frequently to me and I learnt that, when the agency/client are not interested in an improvement of the TM/translation, you are left with the only option of doing exactly the minimum work you have been asked to do (and paid for) and not care about the rest. It is very difficult for honest translators who love languages and their work, but certainly you won't be blamed for the other translators' bad job, because it will always remain clear that you did... See more
The situation you describe has happened quite frequently to me and I learnt that, when the agency/client are not interested in an improvement of the TM/translation, you are left with the only option of doing exactly the minimum work you have been asked to do (and paid for) and not care about the rest. It is very difficult for honest translators who love languages and their work, but certainly you won't be blamed for the other translators' bad job, because it will always remain clear that you did only what you were asked to do: your PO and invoice will correspond to the sole segments you translated to the best of your knowledge!
More or less like in the military world, when a soldier can't be blamed for killilng someone if he was ordered to do it by his superior! Ah ah ah!
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B D Finch
B D Finch  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:12
French to English
+ ...
Never accept a pittance for matches Feb 22, 2020

I never accept doing 100% matches for free, and don't accept a pittance for 95% matches either. If I use a TM produced by someone else, the agency has to not only accept, but value, the fact that I will take responsibility for my own translation and will not blindly use a poor translation produced by another person. If their TM is poor quality and unusable, then I will tell them as soon as possible and negotiate how to proceed. Similarly, if I am given a text to proofread that is so bad that it ... See more
I never accept doing 100% matches for free, and don't accept a pittance for 95% matches either. If I use a TM produced by someone else, the agency has to not only accept, but value, the fact that I will take responsibility for my own translation and will not blindly use a poor translation produced by another person. If their TM is poor quality and unusable, then I will tell them as soon as possible and negotiate how to proceed. Similarly, if I am given a text to proofread that is so bad that it needs re-translating from scratch, I will tell the agency and negotiate how to proceed (proofing and editing based on my hourly rate, or I retranslate the document for them).Collapse


Korana Lasić
Sheila Wilson
Baran Keki
philgoddard
Heike Holthaus
sindy cremer
MollyRose
 
Laurent Mercky
Laurent Mercky
France
Local time: 16:12
Chinese to French
+ ...
should be OK Feb 22, 2020

Hi

Don't worry, it should be OK for your agency.
However, your client won't pay you more inspite of your nice concerns.
So, next time, maybe you could let the poorly translated segments as they are and then, notify the agency to make a something about them.


 
Natalia Potashnik
Natalia Potashnik  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:12
English to Russian
+ ...
It happened to me recently Feb 22, 2020

An agency asked me to edit/proofread the latest changes only which was not much. They paid me for 1 hour of editing. When the end client received the document they hired an independent reviewer who of course reviewed the entire text. Since I was the last person to touch the document the blame was on me for all translation mistakes.

This agency is my regular customer. I have a good relationship with them. i explained that I am happy to edit the entire text every time but I should be
... See more
An agency asked me to edit/proofread the latest changes only which was not much. They paid me for 1 hour of editing. When the end client received the document they hired an independent reviewer who of course reviewed the entire text. Since I was the last person to touch the document the blame was on me for all translation mistakes.

This agency is my regular customer. I have a good relationship with them. i explained that I am happy to edit the entire text every time but I should be paid accordingly. If it says in the project instructions "edit the last changes ONLY" I am not responsible for someone else's mistakes. The agency agreed, we continue to work together.
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Ali Sharifi
Ali Sharifi  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:12
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Two choices Feb 22, 2020

You could renegotiate or refuse the translation.
What you did was compromising your professionalism.


MollyRose
 
Multiverse Solutions s.r.o. (X)
Multiverse Solutions s.r.o. (X)
Local time: 16:12
Polish to English
+ ...
No time to waste Feb 22, 2020

The safe way is when we (translators) assume that ALL conditions of a specific order are communicated, understood and acknowledged before we say "I'll do it".

We have time and resources to browse through the files and assess effort, complexity, time, or whatever else is needed to deliver. Beforehand.

Our customers implicitly play this game. It is obvious that they can not read our minds or foresee our skills or capacity.

It happened to me several times. Opt
... See more
The safe way is when we (translators) assume that ALL conditions of a specific order are communicated, understood and acknowledged before we say "I'll do it".

We have time and resources to browse through the files and assess effort, complexity, time, or whatever else is needed to deliver. Beforehand.

Our customers implicitly play this game. It is obvious that they can not read our minds or foresee our skills or capacity.

It happened to me several times. Optimistic attitude is quite expensive, though I never complained. It was my fault. I could have been more thorough in cost estimate or more precise in setting up the conditions of the order.

I failed, I paid - but only with time or money. Saved a lot of time and emotions. Lesson learned in my case: be specific and realistic. Account for various options and pitfalls. Set the price and time accordingly.

Will they refuse? Possibly. But... If the customer intends to overload translators at fraction of the price or evades fair negotiations, the outcome will probably be sad, anyway.
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Baran Keki
 
Cristina Heraud-van Tol
Cristina Heraud-van Tol  Identity Verified
Peru
Local time: 10:12
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Use their emails as evidence Feb 22, 2020

Baran Keki wrote:

I'm also concerned that I might be blamed for poor choice of terminology




You did what you could within a short period of time. As a gesture of goodwill, you started fixing obvious mistakes, just to probably realize that further in text there were plenty of mistakes more, and you didn't have time to fix them all, and just stuck to your requested task. Has happened to me a few times as well.

If you have kept all the emails they have sent you, they certainly cannot blame you for poor quality, as you have proof of what they wrote. If they become annoying, fight for it and get paid!


[Edited at 2020-02-22 20:56 GMT]


Baran Keki
Laura Kingdon
 
Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 18:12
Member
English to Turkish
TOPIC STARTER
@Ali Feb 22, 2020

Ali Sharifi wrote:

You could renegotiate or refuse the translation.
What you did was compromising your professionalism.


Thanks for your comment. I communicated my thoughts on the overall quality of translation to the PM after delivering the job.
As for renegotiating the rate, I'm afraid this is not possible with these kind of translation agencies. CAT tool pricing simply comes with the territory, and you have to accept it at the onboarding process.
Perhaps I shouldn't have accepted the job in the first place, but in my haste, owing in large part to the dry spell I'd been going through for over a week, I jumped the gun and hit the 'accept' button as soon as I saw the 2700 words and the die was, sort of, cast then. But I believe I've learned my lesson, I'll be more careful and thorough next time.


 
Joseph Tein
Joseph Tein  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:12
Member (2009)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Don't do more than agreed Feb 23, 2020

I'm a perfectionist and hate to see poor translations in any document that comes to me, even when I'm only asked to work on parts of it. However, if your agency only asked you to translate certain portions then I think that's all you needed to do, no matter how much you wanted to fix the other bad work ... not start to fix the other mistaes. You should tell the PM that you're finding lots of errors, both to clear yourself of the responsibility as well as to try to help your client; give some ex... See more
I'm a perfectionist and hate to see poor translations in any document that comes to me, even when I'm only asked to work on parts of it. However, if your agency only asked you to translate certain portions then I think that's all you needed to do, no matter how much you wanted to fix the other bad work ... not start to fix the other mistaes. You should tell the PM that you're finding lots of errors, both to clear yourself of the responsibility as well as to try to help your client; give some examples, offer to fix the rest of them -- for a negotiated fee -- and then let it go. (And still ... I hate to let any work go when I know it has mistakes!) I don't see that you compromised your professionalism.

[Edited at 2020-02-23 06:34 GMT]
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Laura Kingdon
Olga Zdir
 
Wilsonn Perez Reyes
Wilsonn Perez Reyes  Identity Verified
El Salvador
Local time: 09:12
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Happened before Feb 27, 2020

This has already happened to me, and the agency has agreed to pay me extra. Of course, I send them a list of the many errors/mistakes found in order to justify the changes.

 


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Taking blame for another person's work







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