Re: Semi-OT: large LUZ Ger>Engl project: your experiences so far]

[Guest guest]

> **

>

>

> Dear all,

>

> Apologies for cross-posting.

>

> I suspect that some (many?) of you are involved in this project, either as

> translators or editors.

>

> <>

> I would appreciate your comments, either here (remember this is a closed

> group, but please refrain from potentially defamatory statements) or

> offlist. I may reply offlist in group emails, so please indicate if you do

> not wish to be on such mailing list.

>

I can say that I have been recruited for this effort, and have been

active for about one week so far.

I was asked to offer a volume discount, and did so, with explicit

minimum word counts for the discount to be applied. I'll certainly look

closely at this when invoicing, to see if the minimums were met.

I've worked with LUZ for many years, and expect some slop in

scheduling for large projects. Not only with LUZ, but with other clients

as well. Many of the following comments can equally pertain to a number of

clients, not just LUZ.

I'm not too surprised if they won't reimburse you for unused time &

effort - very few clients these days will. That doesn't mean that they

shouldn't aim for a more responsible posture, but it is reality.

After being in your position several times in the past with various

clients, I now always ask them to keep me abreast of any changes in

scheduling. Then, I tend to overbook just a bit, like the airlines, so

that I can substitute something else in if there is a lag. It is a tricky

business practice, and I sometimes I get stuck with very long days to meet

obligations, but I feel that it evens out overall. This means that I never

promise 100% effort to a single client, which I early on discovered serves

the client but doesn't serve me.

My current collaborator and I have just now been exchanging emails

with the PM expressing our professional concerns with some entries in the

newly provided glossary. I strongly suggest that you do the same, taking

that glossary as a work in progress and not necessarily engraved in stone.

Being paired with a collaborator whose output is of disappointing

quality is another issue that turns up not only with a single client.

Impromptu teams always carry this risk, since the collaborators are

generally not familiars. With medical or scientific material, I sometimes

get good generalist translators who just don't know how to work with

medical or scientific language. When I've been in that position, I usually

just soldier on. Conscientious PMs will often ask afterward for an

appraisal of team members, and so you could address the quality issue

then. If it is really serious, address it during the project and ask

either for a different collaborator or increased payment. I have done the

latter a few times for proofreading/editing work with other clients (not

LUZ!), and either switched to an hourly payment or increased the allotted

number of hours.

If there are delivery timing issues with either the source documents

or the translations to review, no one should expect you to meet your

initially scheduled deliveries. When material comes in late or of poor

quality, I immediately mention how that will modify/delay my turnaround.

I realize that all of this doesn't solve your immediate problems, but

at least you know there are others who share your pain!

Schlecht, PhD

Word Alchemy

Newark, DE, USA

wordalchemytranslation.com

[Guest guest]

Thank you, . Everything you say makes good sense.

> I can say that I have been recruited for this effort, and have been

> active for about one week so far.

> I was asked to offer a volume discount, and did so, with explicit

> minimum word counts for the discount to be applied. I'll certainly look

> closely at this when invoicing, to see if the minimums were met.

>

> I've worked with LUZ for many years, and expect some slop in

> scheduling for large projects. Not only with LUZ, but with other clients

> as well. Many of the following comments can equally pertain to a number

> of

> clients, not just LUZ.

>

> I'm not too surprised if they won't reimburse you for unused time &

> effort - very few clients these days will. That doesn't mean that they

> shouldn't aim for a more responsible posture, but it is reality.

> After being in your position several times in the past with various

> clients, I now always ask them to keep me abreast of any changes in

> scheduling. Then, I tend to overbook just a bit, like the airlines, so

> that I can substitute something else in if there is a lag. It is a tricky

> business practice, and I sometimes I get stuck with very long days to meet

> obligations, but I feel that it evens out overall. This means that I

> never

> promise 100% effort to a single client, which I early on discovered serves

> the client but doesn't serve me.

>

> My current collaborator and I have just now been exchanging emails

> with the PM expressing our professional concerns with some entries in the

> newly provided glossary. I strongly suggest that you do the same, taking

> that glossary as a work in progress and not necessarily engraved in stone.

>

> Being paired with a collaborator whose output is of disappointing

> quality is another issue that turns up not only with a single client.

> Impromptu teams always carry this risk, since the collaborators are

> generally not familiars. With medical or scientific material, I sometimes

> get good generalist translators who just don't know how to work with

> medical or scientific language. When I've been in that position, I

> usually

> just soldier on. Conscientious PMs will often ask afterward for an

> appraisal of team members, and so you could address the quality issue

> then. If it is really serious, address it during the project and ask

> either for a different collaborator or increased payment. I have done the

> latter a few times for proofreading/editing work with other clients (not

> LUZ!), and either switched to an hourly payment or increased the allotted

> number of hours.

>

> If there are delivery timing issues with either the source documents

> or the translations to review, no one should expect you to meet your

> initially scheduled deliveries. When material comes in late or of poor

> quality, I immediately mention how that will modify/delay my turnaround.

>

> I realize that all of this doesn't solve your immediate problems, but

> at least you know there are others who share your pain!

>

> Schlecht, PhD

> Word Alchemy

> Newark, DE, USA

> wordalchemytranslation.com

>

>

>