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Test translations - how many words is acceptable to you?
Thread poster: Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
Sep 10, 2012

I have been asked to do a test translation for a company. I replied and said I would do a test provided it is no more than 280 words. They replied back to me and expressed interest but said that the test would be 500 words.

What should I do? Do you find this acceptable? That is 2 full pages and I am not sure if I should accept this or not.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sarah


 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 02:20
Chinese to English
It's not a matter of principle Sep 10, 2012

Just work it out on a case by case basis. Do you have some free time on your hands? What kind of work is the agency offering?

I've done 500 word tests for free, for two big agencies that I wanted as clients. One worked out well, the other not so well. But it's only a couple of hours out of your day, not the end of the world whatever happens.


 
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei
Kuochoe Nikoi-Kotei  Identity Verified
Ghana
Local time: 18:20
Japanese to English
Hmm Sep 10, 2012

Two pages is a lot. Is the agency offering you an actual job contingent on your passing the test or is it just so they can add you to a "database"?

 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
No more than 200 words unpaid Sep 10, 2012

This is now my policy. No exceptions.

But, as Phil indicates, it really depends on your circumstances. If you have relatively limited experience, are going through a dry spell, and/or don't have a particularly high level of confidence that you will be able to find clients offering you large jobs at good rates any time soon, then it may make sense for you to do the test.

At minimum, however, you should make sure that the agency in question has clearly stated that it is w
... See more
This is now my policy. No exceptions.

But, as Phil indicates, it really depends on your circumstances. If you have relatively limited experience, are going through a dry spell, and/or don't have a particularly high level of confidence that you will be able to find clients offering you large jobs at good rates any time soon, then it may make sense for you to do the test.

At minimum, however, you should make sure that the agency in question has clearly stated that it is willing to pay your rates, if it decides to contract you.

My stance is based on my own experience, in which doing tests of any kind has generally produced one of the following results:
1. Rejection of the text (either unexplained, or containing bogus corrections--in one case, three supposed instances of error were replaced with incorrect English!).
2. Never getting word of the result, despite repeated reminders.
3. Being told that I've "passed," but subsequently never being offered any work.

I can in fact offhand think of only a single instance in which my agreeing to do a test resulted in receiving paid work.

My general impression regarding these kinds of tests is that: 1.) the proofer is never the same person as I am corresponding with; 2.) the proofer tends to illegitimately nitpick my translation, finding problems where there are none; 3.) my contact person places blind trust in the proofreader, and the agency responsible for the evaluation has no mechanism of checks and balances to catch a poor/unfair proofing job (and the contact person doesn't have sufficient command of either the source or target language to do so him/herself).

So my experience has not been good, and I advise others accordingly. Yours, of course, may be a good deal better. For your sake, I hope that it is. Good luck!

[Edited at 2012-09-11 14:39 GMT]
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Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Phil! Sep 11, 2012

Phil Hand wrote:

Just work it out on a case by case basis. Do you have some free time on your hands? What kind of work is the agency offering?

I've done 500 word tests for free, for two big agencies that I wanted as clients. One worked out well, the other not so well. But it's only a couple of hours out of your day, not the end of the world whatever happens.


Thanks for your advice, Phil. Maybe I'm thinking it over too much. I do have some time to complete the test at the moment. Maybe I'm just being paranoid after reading some of the many posts about unpaid translation tests.

-Sarah


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Are they willing to pay your rates, if you pass? Sep 11, 2012

Sarah,
Before agreeing to any unpaid test, I suggest you ask them to confirm that your normal rates are within their normal budget.
It is very upsetting when you get an email saying "we (or the end client) liked your test piece very much, and we would like you to work on this job, the rate is X.XX", where X.XX is half or third of your normal rate.
Katalin


 
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
--- Sep 11, 2012

TransAfrique wrote:

Two pages is a lot. Is the agency offering you an actual job contingent on your passing the test or is it just so they can add you to a "database"?


Hi TransAfrique!

I am not sure about this. Actually, I thought it was an actual job but now that I read the e-mail again it doesn't say this explicitly. It just says that they are recruiting translators in my language pair. What would you understand this to mean?

-Sarah


 
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Yes, rates are already agreed upon Sep 11, 2012

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

Sarah,
Before agreeing to any unpaid test, I suggest you ask them to confirm that your normal rates are within their normal budget.
It is very upsetting when you get an email saying "we (or the end client) liked your test piece very much, and we would like you to work on this job, the rate is X.XX", where X.XX is half or third of your normal rate.
Katalin


Hi Katalin!

Thanks for your comment. Yes, they asked me what my rates were. I told them my rates and then they responded by saying that my rates were acceptable to them. In this same e-mail they informed me about the length of the translation test. I had previously stated that I would only do a shorter length test.

I hope this makes things clear now.

Thanks,
Sarah


 
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Robert Sep 11, 2012

Robert Forstag wrote:

This is now my policy. No exceptions.

But, as Phil indicates, it really depends on your circumstances. If you have relatively limited experience, are going through a dry spell, and/or don't have a particularly high level of confidence that you will be able to find clients offering you large jobs at good rates any time soon, then it may make sense for you to do the test.

At minimum, however, you should make sure that the agency in question has clearly stated that it is willing to pay your rates, if it decides to contract you.

My stance is based on my own experience, in which doing tests of any kind has generally produced one of the following results:
1. Rejection of the text (either unexplained, or containing bogus corrections--in one case, three supposed instances of error were replaced with incorrect English!).
2. Never getting word of the result, despite repeated reminders.
3. Being told that I've "passed," but subsequently never being offered any work.

I can in fact offhand think of only a single instance in which my agreeing to do a test resulted in receiving paid work.

My general impression regarding these kinds of tests is that: 1.) the proofer is never the same person as I am corresponding with; 2.) the proofer tends to illegitimately nitpick my translation, finding problems where there are none; 3.) my contact person places blind trust in the proofreader, and the agency responsible for the evaluation has no mechanism of checks and balances to catch a poor/unfair proofing job (and the contact person doesn't have sufficient command of either the source or target language to do so him/herself).

So my experience has not been good, and I advise others accordingly. Yours, of course, may be a good deal better. For your sake, I hope that it is. Good luck!

[Edited at 2012-09-10 23:45 GMT]


Thank you Robert, for your nice message and words of wisdom. To answer your question, yes, they have already accepted my rates.

I know what you mean about these tests! I have also had mixed success with translation "tests". Often the person e-mailing me the test never even bothers to get back to me about the result of the "test". I used to do these kind of tests without questioning their value but that was before I joined Proz and read all these posts on the forum here. On the other hand, sometimes doing their "tests" have resulted in jobs for me.

I'll keep my fingers crossed about this. Thanks everyone!


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:20
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Then it is a go! Sep 11, 2012

Sarah McDowell wrote:
Yes, they asked me what my rates were. I told them my rates and then they responded by saying that my rates were acceptable to them.

Then it is a go: you have the time to do the test + if you pass you will be paid what you expect + the test is just two pages.

Situations in which I would never accept a 500-word test (or any test, for that matter) are that the customer asks you to fill a pile of forms or refused to discuss the rate beforehand (which means that they will offer very little money and they want to hide this from you as long as possible).


 
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT
Tomás Cano Binder, BA, CT  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:20
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Only for actual jobs Sep 11, 2012

TransAfrique wrote:
Two pages is a lot. Is the agency offering you an actual job contingent on your passing the test or is it just so they can add you to a "database"?

This is a very good question indeed. I never do tests to be included in a database. Only for actual work that has to be assigned.


 
Sarah McDowell
Sarah McDowell  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:20
Russian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Hey Tomas, thanks for your advice! Sep 11, 2012

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

TransAfrique wrote:
Two pages is a lot. Is the agency offering you an actual job contingent on your passing the test or is it just so they can add you to a "database"?

This is a very good question indeed. I never do tests to be included in a database. Only for actual work that has to be assigned.


Tomas, once again thanks for your advice. They didn't mention anything about either a database or actual jobs. Just that they are currently recruiting translators in my language pair and field of expertise.

Should I take this comment to mean that they have an actual job in mind at the moment? Also, they are in no hurry to get the test translation back (up to 1 week). Is this a good sign if there is no hurry?

Thanks,
Sarah


 
ATIL KAYHAN
ATIL KAYHAN  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 21:20
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
+ ...
Field of Test Sep 11, 2012

Do you think it would be too much to ask if the test translation is in your area of expertise (versus a random test)? That way it would not be too much of a burden for you.

 
Phil Hand
Phil Hand  Identity Verified
China
Local time: 02:20
Chinese to English
I would ask if there's a job coming Sep 11, 2012

I wouldn't be too fussed about the week turnaround - some companies just build that in as standard, and it doesn't mean anything at all about how much of a rush they're in. But like Tomas, I don't usually do tests just to get on the books. You can ask about this stuff, just be positive and polite: thank you for the test, I'm happy to do it, but it's a little longer than I'm used to. If I'm to make time to do this test, I'd like to know if you have some work coming up for me in the immediate futu... See more
I wouldn't be too fussed about the week turnaround - some companies just build that in as standard, and it doesn't mean anything at all about how much of a rush they're in. But like Tomas, I don't usually do tests just to get on the books. You can ask about this stuff, just be positive and polite: thank you for the test, I'm happy to do it, but it's a little longer than I'm used to. If I'm to make time to do this test, I'd like to know if you have some work coming up for me in the immediate future.

We're busy people, and a professional agency will respect that.
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Ty Kendall
Ty Kendall  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:20
Hebrew to English
Recruiting translators in your pair Sep 11, 2012

...seems like a euphemism to me for "adding to a database".

I also try to limit the length of any (unpaid) translation tests, anything more than 250-300 is usually a big no-no for me.

In addition, I can only echo Robert's experience with translation tests. More often than not, they're simply a waste of time....for any number of reasons, many of which Robert has highlighted.

I also think that is what the sample translations on your profile are for - t
... See more
...seems like a euphemism to me for "adding to a database".

I also try to limit the length of any (unpaid) translation tests, anything more than 250-300 is usually a big no-no for me.

In addition, I can only echo Robert's experience with translation tests. More often than not, they're simply a waste of time....for any number of reasons, many of which Robert has highlighted.

I also think that is what the sample translations on your profile are for - to direct people there if they want a sample of your work.

I also agree with others who have said it very much depends on circumstances. If I get a request for a test translation when I'm rushed off my feet I just tut and refer them to my samples (with an explanation - don't want to appear rude). On the other hand, if there is tumbleweed blowing past then I'm more amenable to them in general, although I do tend to still pass up the ones where it is clear:
a) it's a scam
b) the database type.

Hope this helps.
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Test translations - how many words is acceptable to you?







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