| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Your budget is...what?!? Thread poster: Gregory Lassale
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sdvplatt
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:50
Member (2003)
German to English
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Samuel Murray wrote: Gregory Lassale wrote:
I have a reply email drafted saying thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation... It's unprofessional to insult a client (even if you feel insulted yourself).
True but where is the insult?
| | | | Gregory Lassale 
United States
Local time: 13:50
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
[email protected] wrote: Samuel Murray wrote: Gregory Lassale wrote:
I have a reply email drafted saying thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation... It's unprofessional to insult a client (even if you feel insulted yourself). True but where is the insult?
Yours was my first reaction, too.
| | | | | My reply to low budget/rates offers | Oct 7, 2018 |
I built my web site driven by laziness/boredom. It began with the answers for questions/issues I was getting tired of explaining over and over again by e-mail to prospects, and has been growing ever since with - IMHO useful - information for all stakeholders in translation endeavors.
Instead of writing these explanations, I direct prospects/clients to the page containing my answer.
When I am offered low rates, or forewarned about a skimpy budget, I direct them to this o... See more I built my web site driven by laziness/boredom. It began with the answers for questions/issues I was getting tired of explaining over and over again by e-mail to prospects, and has been growing ever since with - IMHO useful - information for all stakeholders in translation endeavors.
Instead of writing these explanations, I direct prospects/clients to the page containing my answer.
When I am offered low rates, or forewarned about a skimpy budget, I direct them to this one:
http://www.lamensdorf.com.br/comparison.html ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 20:50
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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[email protected] wrote: Samuel Murray wrote: Gregory Lassale wrote:
I have a reply email drafted saying thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation... It's unprofessional to insult a client (even if you feel insulted yourself). True but where is the insult?
I already answered this question. The insult I was referring to was "thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation", which Gregory later explained he didn't actually intend to write.
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| Insult? Who insulted who? | Oct 8, 2018 |
Samuel Murray wrote: [email protected] wrote: Samuel Murray wrote: Gregory Lassale wrote:
I have a reply email drafted saying thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation... It's unprofessional to insult a client (even if you feel insulted yourself). True but where is the insult? I already answered this question. The insult I was referring to was "thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation", which Gregory later explained he didn't actually intend to write.
I don't think "thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation" deserves to be called an insult. I tend to reply with something much harsher to those "potential clients" that contacted me with an offer that would result in an hourly rate less than the legal minimum pay in the USA.
| | | | | I agree with the general sentiment, but... | Oct 8, 2018 |
jyuan_us wrote:
I don't think "thanks but no thanks unless you can offer decent compensation" deserves to be called an insult. I tend to reply with something much harsher to those "potential clients" that contacted me with an offer that would result in an hourly rate less than the legal minimum pay in the USA.
... what does telling a PM/VM off achieve? I generally just reply saying I can't work at such rates. A few times, when the "offer" was particularly ludicrous, I took the time to write a more articulate refusal, saying something along the lines of what you mention, that is to say, that a (qualified) translator shouldn't be offered what would result in a hourly rate comparable to (or lower than) the salary of an unskilled worker... The hope is that those PMs/VMs will relay similar replies to their decision-making bosses, although I kind of suspect they don't need any reminder to realize that and that, with so many people ready to accept whatever rates and conditions, they couldn't care less anyway...
I once replied to the "resource manager" of a German end client who offered me something like €5 for each translated "article" (up to 4/500 words each, if I remember correctly) asking her if she would've accepted to work at similar rates, and she was candid enough to say no, but that she wasn't the one calling the shots and that's what the company she worked for was willing to pay, so...
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:50
Member (2008)
Italian to English
If all the translators in the world went on strike for a week, the world would suddenly find itself with a problem.
Translators do very important work. We should be highly paid. I'm forever puzzled as to why we're not.
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