Translations Cannot Be Returned for a Full Refund Once You Click on the “Send” Button

There was a story in yesterday’s US media, if we can still call it that, about a Saudi princess who according to New York Times ” … was arrested on charges that she pushed her maid down a flight of stairs … and held the live-in Indonesian maid in conditions of involuntary servitude ….. “. Among other things, it is alleged that the princess did not allow the Indonesian maid to leave her room, confiscated her passport and had been withholding her salary for 2 months.

Unlike maids from third world countries working for psychopathic princes and princesses, translators are rarely pushed down a flight of stairs or otherwise physically attacked by their employers.

But they too can be easily mishandled by their clients, usually by being shortchanged on what is owed to them, or simply not paid for their work at all. Discussions of translators on LinkedIn and in other online venues where translators like to congregate (misery loves company) are full of stories about insulting, unacceptable, shameless rates (insert your preferred adjective) being offered to translators.

And stories abound about translators who were simply stiffed after days, weeks or months of work, and who lost hundreds or thousands of dollars, Euros or pounds.

For example a translation agency in Japan last year failed to pay a number of translators, including a friend of mine, many thousands of dollars for a translation project related to a lawsuit, although the translations were ordered and delivered on time.

Tangible products such as clothing, shoes, or TVs usually have a warranty period during which the customer can return the product if he feels that the product is for some reason deficient, or simply does not like it. These products can then be resold, albeit at a discount.

But since intangible products like translations cannot be returned once you click on the “send” button, what can you do if the client says that the translation is not good enough – for example not literal enough, or too literal, or not enough or too much of something else? How can a translator defend himself when the client is obviously always right? If the client says that the translation is no good, well, then it’s no good and that’s that.

Being stiffed on a bill for several thousand dollars can be even worse than being pushed down the flight of stairs by an enraged princess when you really need the money to pay your bills.

As a translator,  I often have to worry with a new client whether I will be paid for my work when I work as a translator because my payment terms are usually 30 days net, except when I can make the client prepay the order which does not happen very often.

Double is the worry when I work as a translation agency. I remember how much I worried when I was managing a crazy rush job into Japanese quite a few years ago. I knew nothing about the client, I just made the bet that I would be paid on time. I faxed the long patent application to Japan …. and waited. I was so exhausted once I finally finished the project that I forgot to turn on the car lights when I drove home at about 11 PM from my office, about 14 miles on the highway. I only realized it when I was in my garage. The next morning I had an e-mail from the law firm in Japan thanking me for saving the day because the patent was filed on time.

I made six thousand dollars in three short days on that occasion. But I could have just as easily lost six thousand dollars in three short days because I told myself that I would have to pay the translators no matter what.

Nowadays I try to stay away from projects that seem too risky. I don’t have the nerves for it anymore.

It is a wild world out there, and you can never know for sure who you are dealing with, often in another country, thousands of miles away.

It is pretty amazing how little money I have lost so far on all those projects that I have been working on over the last 26 years. I did lose some money, but not a lot, and only once did I have to pay a translator out of my own pocket although I never got paid myself (the company went bankrupt).

It is a wild world out there and it makes sense to try to minimize the risk. I think that most translators after a while develop a sixth sense when it comes to trying to gauge the risk involved in a seemingly lucrative project.

Translators can of course fight back when an unscrupulous client does not feel like paying the bill. There are a number of methods at our disposal, from filing a claim in small claims court, or hiring a collection service, to disclosing shameful conduct of a non-payer on Internet where it will stay forever.

But since we can only recover the money, or some of it, if the client has money, it is best to have a finely tuned sixth sense for identifying potential trouble and staying away from trouble.

Unfortunately, one can only acquire this precious sixth sense through personal experience, which is to say, by being burnt a few times first.

Hopefully only a few times, and hopefully when only relatively small amounts are involved.