| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Would you accept to work for a client knowing that your translation will not be proofread? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you accept to work for a client knowing that your translation will not be proofread?".
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[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2021-10-20 16:35 GMT]
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As far as I'm aware, no translation of mine has ever been proofread by a secon, whatever that is.
Is this poll question a dramatic illustration of Muphry's Law?
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
I always proofread my own translation no matter what, anyway. That is, until an editor ruined it.
Would you accept to work for a client knowing that your translation will not be proofread by a secon
Uhm, HQ come in.
Come in, HQ.
I can't hear you, your signal is interr--
[static noises]
[Edited at 2021-10-20 05:17 GMT]
| | | | Lucy Gay 
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:59
Member (2018)
French to English
| Proofreading | Oct 20, 2021 |
I think the question highlights the importance of proofreading your own work properly before delivery! Let's be generous and say the technology was at fault. 😁
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:59
Spanish to English
+ ...
As far as I know, on most occasions my translated or revised texts are delivered as finished articles, and the clients, usually universities or associated bodies, send them directly to the target journals for consideration for publication. Most of my clients are direct, and the only subsequent proofreading or checking will be done by the Journals, in line with their in-house styles and guidelines.
On the rare occasion I do work for agencies, I expect the text I deliver will be proof... See more As far as I know, on most occasions my translated or revised texts are delivered as finished articles, and the clients, usually universities or associated bodies, send them directly to the target journals for consideration for publication. Most of my clients are direct, and the only subsequent proofreading or checking will be done by the Journals, in line with their in-house styles and guidelines.
On the rare occasion I do work for agencies, I expect the text I deliver will be proofread/checked, hopefully by someone competent. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 07:59
Member
English to Turkish
There are not that many secon(d) translators that are actually good (or competent as the person above said) proofreaders.
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In the offices where I worked, I was considered a "self-reviewing translator." I'm not going to claim that my work is perfect, but I always review/read it twice and deliver what I believe to be a clean job that can be used without further review.
| | | | Sylvie LE BRAS
France
Local time: 06:59
Member
English to French
+ ...
| Yes I would! | Oct 20, 2021 |
I have been working since 2012 for a direct client who knows (I believe?) that my translations aren't reviewed by a proofreader.
Then I double check – sometimes triple check! – my translations.
If the client asks for someone else to be involved in the translation process, he will have to pay for that.
Otherwise, particularly with agencies, my translations are proofread.
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I’ve never delivered a translation without proofreading it thoroughly, even if I work with a few translation agencies that have their own proofreaders. Some of my translations are proofread in-house and my clients know this (and pay for it).
| | | | | It's a matter of workflow | Oct 20, 2021 |
I see there is some confusion about this topic.
As a matter of fact, every text/translation should be revised/proofread before being published/used.
To be honest, the regular workflow should be: 1) translation - 2) revision - 3) proofreading.
Then, to reduce costs, the steps are usually reduced to two: 1) translation - 2) revision/proofreading.
Being a good translator does not imply that you do not need a secon. It's like a construction worker refusing the use a safety me... See more I see there is some confusion about this topic.
As a matter of fact, every text/translation should be revised/proofread before being published/used.
To be honest, the regular workflow should be: 1) translation - 2) revision - 3) proofreading.
Then, to reduce costs, the steps are usually reduced to two: 1) translation - 2) revision/proofreading.
Being a good translator does not imply that you do not need a secon. It's like a construction worker refusing the use a safety measure because he thinks he is well aware of where he puts his feet.
The fact is: there is a workflow, you have to stick to it. And the text/translation workflow is the one I described before.
A good agency usually sticks to the translation-revision/proofreading process, a less serious one may skip the last passage. But that does not mean that you are a good, and trusted, translator; it simply means that you are used in a bad workflow.
And the same when you work for a direct client. It's up to the client implementing a good or a bad workflow. But in this case, you have to consider that your translation will be usually checked by a journalist (if you translate an article), a product manager (if you translate a marketing collateral) or whichever. So in this case, the journalist and the PM are your secon.
As a professional translator, I always double-check my work before delivery, and I deliver a text that to me is error free and mint. But that does not mean that I wish to skip what is the natural flow of a text/translation. My task is to deliver a good translation, and once I do it, I'm done. Than it's up to the client to implement a good workflow, or a bad one. But that's not a problem of mine.
But please let's stop saying: "I am a good translator, I do not need a secon" because that does not make sense. It just spotlight how aware you are of the workflow you are working in. ▲ Collapse
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Why not? I deliver, and the client is free to do with it what he/she wants. Furthermore, proofreading is not always a big succes, as I read in another forum.
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I mostly work for agencies and I know they have their reviewers /proofreaders, in fact, sometimes I am one.
However, once in a while a client tells me that I will be the only one working on the task, and I have to admit that this causes me to make an extra effort.
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I don't know why I have the feeling that the proofreading step is somehow hated I am a translator, I review my job generally twice before delivering it, so I am usually very sure of the quality of my work, but I also play the proofreader with many clients, and I see such bad translations that make revision and proofreading an obligation! Nevertheless, a good translator shouldn't need a proofreading step, but an additional pair of ... See more I don't know why I have the feeling that the proofreading step is somehow hated I am a translator, I review my job generally twice before delivering it, so I am usually very sure of the quality of my work, but I also play the proofreader with many clients, and I see such bad translations that make revision and proofreading an obligation! Nevertheless, a good translator shouldn't need a proofreading step, but an additional pair of eyes should always be welcome! ▲ Collapse
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 00:59
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| TEP or translation only? Editing and Proofreading | Oct 20, 2021 |
It is a matter of interest.
[Edited at 2021-10-20 13:31 GMT]
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 00:59
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
I always edit and proofread my own translations, even if I know the client will have two more persons working on the file I have translated.
It is the routine workflow to have a translator, an editor and a proofreader work on the same file for most translation agencies specialized in certain areas such as medicine. This is particularly true for ISO certified agencies.
I was regularly assigned editing tasks by various clients. However, most of the translations I was ass... See more I always edit and proofread my own translations, even if I know the client will have two more persons working on the file I have translated.
It is the routine workflow to have a translator, an editor and a proofreader work on the same file for most translation agencies specialized in certain areas such as medicine. This is particularly true for ISO certified agencies.
I was regularly assigned editing tasks by various clients. However, most of the translations I was assigned to edit contain a lot of errors, and some of them were even poorer in quality than a MT-generated piece. Sometimes I had to negotiate with the clients to translate the files again from scratch.
I remember a particular case in which a medical research report was translated by linguist A, and then edited and proofread by linguist B, but the translation was rejected by the end client for having too many errors in it. The client asked me to proofread it one more time for them, but it turned out that to proofread it won't take much less time than editing an MT output. After seeing all the mistakes I had corrected, the client agreed to pay my regular translation rate.
This is a several thousand dollar project, and I think if the client have paid all three of the linguists in full, it may have lost some money.
[Edited at 2021-10-20 13:30 GMT]
[Edited at 2021-10-20 14:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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