I have been critisized in the past for assuming that a certain job offer might well be fraud, because its details were almost textbook style scam.
Well, today I received another of those things, that look at least TO ME very suspicious.
"Hello ... have a project extended of 2 Lakh words where we need german & swedish native speakers with good experience for long term.
Project Details
Language : German & Swedish
Words : 2 Lakh
Domain : Business
People who can do Sample to be done of 900 words apply here."
A "sample" of 900 (???) words?
Nobody who anything about translation (the people who are supposed to "evaluate" those samples ...) needs almost 5 pages of text to assess the capabilities of a potential translator. I can tell from experience!
So, if these people insist on their 900-word sample, place their job offer worldwide, get maybe 100 people to do such "sample", the company in questions already gets 450 pages of translation done for free!
Am I really the only one, to whom this sounds strange?
Showing posts with label suspicious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspicious. Show all posts
6/22/2014
6/29/2012
Trials ... again, stuborn shortsightedness
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| Japanese language (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Yesterday I received a response to a mail I sent to company with which I had contact several years ago, trying to refresh the memory of me. I copy the correspondence, not giving any names. To my mind the other party (company located in India) is asking rather unreasonable things.
Or is it me, who is off the mark???????
My mail specified what I am doing:
Japanese -> German
Japanese -> English
English <-> German translations.
medicine / pharmaceutics / chemistry / science / engineering
patents / manuals / etc.
Upon which I got the response:
Thanks for your mail,we would like to see your translation quality,is it possible for you to do 2 page sample from Japanese to English ?
Me again ->
Trial: I have done that so many times over the past three decades, that I got sick of it.
As a result I picked up some "trials" in various language pairs, fields
and put them on my website:
http://www.einklang.com/Translation%20samples.htm
Please have a look there. I am convinced you will find more than enough material there to judge my capabilities. (naturally, all translations are made by me)
I do understand but as per our company policy we have to evaluate the new translator by giving our sample. Let me know if you are interested or not ?
We request you to deliver it tomorrow EOD.
Thank you, but ...
this text has 1149 characters, which represents approximately 3.2 pages of translation.
I do not do "trials" of this size any more.
AND, this is about business (financial orientation). That is a subject matter I usually do not handle.
In my original mail I indicated roughly, what I am usually working with.
Fine or else do the first 2 pages if you don't wish to do sample we regret to say that we can't add you in our database
Any proper translator is a specialist in some fields but not in others.
If an employer assigns work lying outside the translator's
specialization, it cannot expect proper results.
A barber does not do carpenter work.
Since you are apparently unwilling to recognize this universal truth,
I believe it is indeed safer for me not to be a part of your team.
Sorry for stealing your time.
Thomas Blasejewicz
4/19/2012
Trial(s) ...
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| This is Swampyank's copy of "The Jury" by John Morgan, painted in 1861, and now in the Bucks County Museum in England. More information about the painting can be found here: [http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/museum/ea_The_Jury.page|inline= (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Definition of TRIAL according to Meriam Webster:
1a: the action or process of trying or putting to the proof; TEST
b: a preliminary contest (as in a sport)
2: the formal examination before a competent tribunal of the matter in issue in a civil or criminal cause in order to determine such issue
3: a test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation; broadly : a source of vexation or annoyance
4a: a tryout or experiment to test quality, value, or usefulness - compare clinical trial
b: one of a number of repetitions of an experiment
5: attempt
Related to TRIAL
Synonyms: cross, crucible, fire, gauntlet (also gantlet), ordeal, baptism of fire
Well, let's assume, that the translation "trials" are supposed "4a: a tryout or experiment to test quality, value, or usefulness" and NOT what the majority of synonyms suggest: cross, crucible, fire, gauntlet (also gantlet), ordeal, baptism of fire - thereby presuming the "good intentions" of the company requesting the trial.
But, as can be seen from the dictionary definitions, the meaning of the word itself suggests more strongly the notion of "ordeal" instead of a simple test of skills.
That aside there is also the second definition: "the formal examination before a competent tribunal of the matter in issue in a civil or criminal cause in order to determine such issue".
In that case I am the "accused" and the company the prosecutor.
I have to "stand trial", or "face a trial".
As the accused I produce evidence to show my innocence - openly visible for the judge, jury and everybody else.
The prosecution (represented by the jury) however hides its evidence against me.
It just delivers its verdict: you are guilty ("of not being good enough at translation").
Once the verdict has been reached, the accused gets NO CHANCE to defend him/herself, since the evidence against him/her must be for some reason kept secret.
While I laid open my evidence,
the prosecution "covers up" its evidence.
The need to "cover up" = hide, keep secret, itself is VEEERY SUSPICIOUS!
The accused is simply sentenced to death without any evidence and without chance of defending himself.
So much for a "fair trial".
I am sure the people on the prosecution side would LOVE to be treated this way, if they were "in my shoes" ...
The other day I did a trial for a certain company, where it took THREE MONTHS!!! to reach the verdict = "you are not good enough".
Naturally, when I asked whether I may see the actual evaluation indicating all my mistakes, I was told, that information cannot be disclosed.
Below I take the liberty of quoting from a mail correspondence with the coordinator in charge.
Well - no offense, but ... - if it takes them THREE MONTHS to evaluate something like 2 pages of text AND the results much be "covered up" allows me ONLY to conclude, that "they" are neither confident about their work, not competent.
Otherwise they would/should be proud showing their evidence against me.
Quote:
"Not only do I understand, but from a personal standpoint, I more than agree. It is indeed my personal opinion that the amount of time it took on the reviews, regardless of the reasons, is outright ridiculous, and I will say, from a freelancer's perspective, that your evlauation is correct, no matter what company is conducting the trial/review.
As for your results, as you might have guessed, I'm not actually allowed to give out information regarding the review. Unfortunately, they seemed quite adamant about not giving out any information ..."
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