Comments of a Veteran Translator on Corporatization of Translation

 

Some of the comments that I receive on my blog from translators contain more information in them than a dozen of posts written by yours truly.

The comments below were originally submitted by Jim Shipp, a veteran Russian to English translator, as a reaction to my post Friends Don’t Let Friends Use Trados or Other Translation Memory Tools.

I am publishing the comments here with his permission as a full blog post in the hope that young translators will realize that many of the relatively recent developments in the so-called “translation industry” are very harmful to the quality of the translations, to us, the translators,  as well as to the clients (by which I mean the people who are paying for the translations, not the translation agencies).

Seven Comments on Corporatization of Translation by Jim Shipp

1. CAT Tools

So-called CAT tools are the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the translation community. They are expensive to obtain and maintain, difficult to learn, and cumbersome to use. They make the translator’s task more difficult and diminish the quality of the final product, as well as its value. They cannot perform essential Internet research, work with scanned documents, or manipulate graphics. They are not intuitive, as a translator must be. They are demeaning to the translator as a human being.

2. Circular Translation

So-called circular translation is a process wherein a completed translation comes back to the translator, sometimes weeks after its submittal, so the translator can “edit the editor”. The translator is expected to halt paying translation work and perform this non-translation task free of charge. Once a translation containing my best effort leaves my desk, it is up to the client, the client’s editor, the end client, and the end client’s editor to make any changes in it. I am eager to learn and I always appreciate feedback on my work, but it is not my job as a translator to do perform this task for you.

3. Workflow Systems

The advent of so-called workflow systems has begun to impact my work. The client sets up an internal system whereby you are expected to download source documents, then upload target documents and invoices, effectively shifting document control functions to the translator for no extra pay. First of all, you end up with an entire Rolodex full of user IDs and passwords for the various workflow systems of different clients. Secondly, what could possibly be easier than the original time-tested system: You e-mail me a source document, I e-mail you a target document, and you mail me a check.

3. Deadlines

If the client agrees to an impossible end client deadline, that is not my problem. I already work from 5:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year, sometimes longer. I generate at least 4,000 premium words a day. I am not willing to do more than that for any amount of money and you cannot seek to shame me into doing it.

4. Editing

An extremely disturbing trend in the translation industry is the editing of source>target documents by target>source translators. This is impermissible. If, say, an E>R translator was qualified to edit R>E work, he or she would then be an R>E translator. If they are not competent to translate it, they are certainly not competent to edit it. Who would you most trust to repair your car … a mechanic or a counter clerk at an auto parts store?

5. Payment

Newly emerging clients keep trying to get me to work by the source word. This is like paying a carpenter for the wood he uses rather than the house he builds. I must be paid for the words I actually produce, not the words from which I produce them. I will not sustain a 35% loss of pay because you have made a source word deal with your client.

Some clients are on a 45- or 60-day pay cycle. This is ridiculous. They want their translations “yesterday”, then expect me to wait as much as two months to get paid. All my creditors are on a 30-day cycle, so I must be as well. I allow 30 days for payment, plus 5 days mail time. This is far more reasonable than the deadlines I am given. Quid pro quo.

6. Translator-Client Relations

The client is buying the translator’s product. The translator is the vendor. As such, the transaction terms belong to the translator. You don’t buy a TV or a refrigerator, then tell the seller how you intend to pay for it. The same thing is true of a translation. Translators are not employees, but independent contractors. The lack of benefits and the existence of heavy tax bills prove this. Do not let a “customer” bully you in your own “store”.

7. In Closing

I have been a paid professional translator for 46 years. I have championed translator rights for almost half a century. I helped found the only true translators’ union in the country (which has foundered due to lack of community support, but continues to breathe). If you want me to keep quiet about the dignity and integrity of translators, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait a few more years until I shuffle off to that Great Translatorium in the sky.