Re: Agency rates are politics by other means

[Guest guest]

Sorry about being a bit late for the party, folks. I keep reading your

postings and I just say to myself: how can it be that people cannot see the

other side of that coin?

<rant>

OK, let me give you an analogy. You want some tomatoes, and you have enough

money to buy the best. You go to the most expensive supermarket in the

vicinity and you buy some expensive tomatoes.

Last week you wanted some, too - but your funds were a bit tight, so you

went to the market and bought some that were not as perfect. In fact, they

were past their prime, a bit wilted, and one came out rotten when you were

sorting them out at home, and had to be discarded.

Were you angry at the greengrocer at the market for the fact he was willing

to sell his stuff much cheaper than what the supermarket would charge for

their stuff?

But the same laws and principles apply to the market we operate in. There

are agencies that fail to procure high prices from their customers. They

simply cannot afford to pay more, because they do not make enough. Let's

call them " translation agencies for the poor. " Translations they produce

are not of a very high quality, to put it mildly (and some may even be so

bad as to eventually get discarded) - but the customers that cannot afford

to pay a premium price suffice with what they get - and they sure get what

they pay for.

(Of course there are agencies that DO charge their customers an arm and a

leg, but fail to pass a fair portion of their loot to the translator; they

go out of business fairly quickly - or learn to share fairly and thus stay

afloat...)

There are all sorts of translation agencies. They make money, and they earn

it: after all, they are the ones to provide us with enough work to afford

to pay back our mortgages in the comfort of our study. We don't have to do

the legwork looking for customers - they do us a service by finding these

customers, closing the deals, and sending us the files to translate. Don't

they deserve at least AS MUCH for their efforts as we get for our work?

You want higher rates (we all do!)? Do your homework. Learn another CAT

tool. Add a language pair. And keep looking for better-paying agencies.

Once you have found one, drop the one that pays the least. Repeat the step

every time you find an agency that is willing to give you a better rate.

I have been doing freelance translation for 42 years. And I have learned a

simple rule: if someone is willing to pay you some money, don't get mad if

you think it's not enough. You can haggle. You can reject a job. But it

makes no point whining about life being unfair. What is a pittance for you

may well be enough to live through a day for someone else - it all depends

on the standard of living in that particular country.

</rant>

Happy 2012 to all of you, and enjoy your translation work no matter what

you get paid for it. Just because it feels good to be proud of a

translation well done.

Best -

Lev

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Lev ABRAMOV MD

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http://il.linkedin.com/in/levabramov

[Guest guest]

Hi, Lev,

I see where you're coming from, but there is a problem with your analogy in that

translation buyers do not always know when the tomatoes are rotten. They pay a

premium and get lousy translations.

I would instead use an analogy of a homeowner who pays someone to redo his roof

not knowing that the company he hired uses substandard materials and untrained

labor. Only later, when the roof leaks or blows off in a storm, does the

homeowner realize he's been had. That person might have paid the same price to a

reputable roofer, but didn't know enough to ask the right questions.

Part of our responsibility as reputable business people is to join professional

associations and educate the general public however we can. That means making an

effort to educate our low-wage colleagues as well. As you said, a rate that's

too low for us might be fine for someone else, and that's OK; but it is not OK

for incompetent translators (and the agencies that hire them) to sell

substandard work to people who think they're getting something of value.

Anyway, that's where I'm coming from. I would like to see something like Charity

Navigator for comparing translation agencies. Customers would be able to see how

much was spent on advertising and upper management in comparison with project

management and linguist costs. And there would be some guidance as to what to

look for in a reputable agency. (Ain't gonna happen, I know.)

Best regards,

a

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

a Gordon

Wilmington, Delaware

Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian > English translation

English editing and proofreading

http://www.dbaPlanB.com

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