Samuel Murray wrote:
Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:
In my reading, Samuel was talking about making mistakes in terms of pricing (as opposed to making mistakes in the actual translation).
Thanks, Katalin. I was a bit baffled by Bernhard's latest response, but you've now solved that mystery for me -- he probably thought I was talking about translation quality. Is that right, Bernhard?
Indeed, my initial reply to Bernhard was specifically to the text that I quoted, i.e. "
what you get paid for it, the time you have to carry it out professionally", which relates to setting a rate. A rate calculator will not help a new translator know what is normal when it comes to how long a particular job is likely to take and what price for that particular job would be most reasonable to both parties.
Hi Samuel,
I wasn't sure how your disagreement was to be read since you disagreed with all of what you quoted from me:
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
Just wanted to point out that the most important aspect of any project is the proper price which should be calculated by you, not the client. ... Instead, before you accept any project, you need to be comfortable with what you get paid for it, the time you have to carry it out professionally, the format and every other aspect.
Your disagreement to me wasn't just relating to "mistakes" in pricing, at least in your first sentence. The word "range" later on does hint at the pricing aspect although a newcomer might not interpret it the right way and I am not sure I agree with the pricing mistakes a newcomer will have to/should/is able to make?!
Maybe you can clarify a little more what you mean by that. I emphasized that it's the translator who needs to be the one determining the price. But it must be a professional price, not a lower price because they think they are new. That would be a mistake in my opinion. Agencies will tend to try to "educate" a new translator to accept their prices. not something I would want to recommend.
Your disagreement:
Samuel Murray wrote:
I disagree. If you're a beginner in the industry, you should allow yourself to make mistakes and to learn from clients. You won't know what is "normal" unless you've experienced a range.
I want to caution any newcomer to think they can learn from all clients (namely how to do something right, in particular pricing or with regard to various price ranges or what is 'normal') or that they necessarily have to allow themselves to make mistakes in that regard - there are a few ways even for newcomers to get paid adequately - by that I mean they should quote professional quotes and they should probably calculate enough time to be able to do a good job but they should not work for peanuts. Also, a "beginner" shouldn't be someone who never translated anything or has no clue how long it will probably take to translate something.
In my previous discussion here I listed two links (the Proz.com Wiki article and the Proz.com translator rates page) to help new translators set professional rates. Because if you start your career by charging inadequate rates, you're off to a very difficult time. That would be a major mistake that shouldn't be made.
That's what I meant. Hope that clarifies my standpoint a bit more.
And again, sorry for my general interpretation of your disagreement. I appreciate that you were not referring to actual mistakes in the translation.
And just to clarify: I suppose when you say "learn from clients" it can mean "understand the workings of these clients/agencies" and not so much "accepting" what prices and price ranges they propose (as I suggested above). I just want to say that I believe newcomers don't need to make big mistakes and learn from them. They should be smart and we have tools to get it right from the start.
Bernhard
[Edited at 2014-06-20 07:18 GMT]
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