| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4] > | Thinking of "denouncing" a colleague (whose work is really bad) Thread poster: Michail Strijov
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Dear colleagues,
I’m in a bit of a tricky situation and I was hoping you could give me some advice.
I’ve been working with an agency for a few years, and for the most part I’m really satisfied with their conditions, their rates and, most of all, their commitment to quality.
They do, however, work with one translator I really don’t like. It’s nothing personal, just that every time I get to edit his work, it feels more like doing full-fledged MTPE a... See more Dear colleagues,
I’m in a bit of a tricky situation and I was hoping you could give me some advice.
I’ve been working with an agency for a few years, and for the most part I’m really satisfied with their conditions, their rates and, most of all, their commitment to quality.
They do, however, work with one translator I really don’t like. It’s nothing personal, just that every time I get to edit his work, it feels more like doing full-fledged MTPE at editing rates. It often feels like he puts no thought at all into his translations and doesn’t take the time to understand what they’re about, which leads to frequent mistranslations. He also rarely consults the TM, and he barely has any grasp of “advanced” orthography and grammar.
A part of the problem might be that he’s native in English and I edit his translations into German, which is the feeling I often get: someone who doesn’t quite know the language, collocations etc.
In my opinion, it’s part of my job as an editor to support the translator whenever he/she overlooks something, has a bad day, rushes through a job due to poor scheduling or doesn’t know some super-specific rule. That happens to all of us, and that’s what I’m here for.
However, with him it feels like he consistently doesn’t do his due diligence, doesn’t live up to professional standards and delivers poor work while the agency pays him his full translation rate (and others are left to pick up the pieces). I just get upset editing his translations (which doesn’t happen often) or seeing his TM entries. What’s worse, I know that he is the editor for at least one account I do the translations for, and I don’t even want to know what he’s doing there and how that makes us look…
I really don’t like “denouncing” a colleague like that, but I feel like it’s in everyone’s best interest for the agency to take a good look at his work and re-evaluate whether they want to keep working with him. Nonetheless, I do feel conflicted about jeopardizing someone’s livelihood, which is why I haven’t said anything so far.
What do you think I should do?
Thanks in advance! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Tell the agency | Jan 26, 2022 |
He's acting unprofessionally by translating into German in the first place. I'm guessing your client has no way of knowing his translations are poor because they're not German native speakers, so you have a duty to tell them.
| | | | Steve Robbie
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:12
Member (2017)
German to English
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| Yes, tell the agency. Also: | Jan 26, 2022 |
Make it very clear that his poor German writing style is not the only issue. His work is unprofessional in other ways, too.
Protecting his livelihood is not your problem. If your plumber was incompetent, you'd tell people not to hire him. This is no different.
Be polite and matter-of-fact. As you say, it's nothing personal.
| | | | | Still, it's not really your business... | Jan 26, 2022 |
I work a lot as an a editor, and some of the translators are bad, others are good. It's all part of my job to deliver the final text, which may be less or more time consuming depending on the quality. But it's clearly my clients' (LSPs') business to decide whether to work or not with a certain translator. I would consider it inappropriate/unethical to directly report another freelancer. What I do sometimes (when I'm really angry:) is insert comments in CAT segments pointing out worst/most serio... See more I work a lot as an a editor, and some of the translators are bad, others are good. It's all part of my job to deliver the final text, which may be less or more time consuming depending on the quality. But it's clearly my clients' (LSPs') business to decide whether to work or not with a certain translator. I would consider it inappropriate/unethical to directly report another freelancer. What I do sometimes (when I'm really angry:) is insert comments in CAT segments pointing out worst/most serious mistakes. It's for the PM to see and decide for themselves about the quality and risks. There were a couple of times when I kind of complained to the PM about the quality of the translation, but I did it just to avoid assignments of texts by such a translator in the future, not to undermine their position. In the long run, the LSP will get rid of them or I will get rid of the LSP becasue if they consistently choose bad translators they're not good either. ▲ Collapse
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Michele Fauble 
United States
Local time: 10:12
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
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| Refuse or charge more. | Jan 26, 2022 |
Tell the agency that you will no longer edit translations done by this translator. If they ask why, tell them. Or you could continue to accept these jobs, but demand a higher rate. Again, if they ask why, tell them.
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Definitely do | Jan 26, 2022 |
But do it gradually and repetitively. Works better.
One single "outburst essay" tends to make the wrong impression.
If you catch them regularly being late or prove submission of pages of untouched MT multiple times, so much the better.
| | | | | Explain the problem to the agency | Jan 27, 2022 |
Most serious agencies will ask their outsourcers to work into their native language. This tends to avoid the problem you describe here. It means that your job is not proofreading but revision and editing. In fact, the Agency is not being very fair to you.
Money talks. The next time you receive a job done by this translator, explain the problem and make it clear that it is characteristic of the work you receive when it has been done by this person. You may be wanting to make sure you prote... See more Most serious agencies will ask their outsourcers to work into their native language. This tends to avoid the problem you describe here. It means that your job is not proofreading but revision and editing. In fact, the Agency is not being very fair to you.
Money talks. The next time you receive a job done by this translator, explain the problem and make it clear that it is characteristic of the work you receive when it has been done by this person. You may be wanting to make sure you protect your own relationship with this agency, so be polite and clearly explain that it is a recurring issue and that this person's work does not fit the "proofreading" criteria, that it is much more and that you require a different rate. Or refuse to accept texts done by this translator. I'm with Michèle and Adieu on this one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Stepan Konev
Russian Federation
Local time: 20:12
English to Russian
| Isn’t it the agency’s responsibility | Jan 27, 2022 |
Many fellow translators reckon that the guy is unprofessional because he translates into a non-native language. But isn’t the agency unprofessional too because it assigns tasks to an unfit assignee? And if they still do that, probably they do it with a purpose? Is it possible they give jobs to an unknown passerby?
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Michele Fauble wrote:
Tell the agency that you will no longer edit translations done by this translator. If they ask why, tell them. Or you could continue to accept these jobs, but demand a higher rate. Again, if they ask why, tell them.
There must be a reason why the agency chooses this translator just as there must be a reason why the agency chooses you as reviser so it definitely knows the quality of this translator's work. Therefore you either accept and maybe charge more or refuse to do the reviewing. 'Reporting' the translator is counterproductive and useless. I expect you use Track changes when using either Word or Cat tools so the agency will either have to accept or refuse the changes which means it sees how much you changed, so there you have it. The agency knows that the translator's work needs a lot of modifying after.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 20:12
Member
English to Turkish
If the agency you're working for is a German one, the PMs there will presumably be all German and be able to see the quality of the end product for themselves if you draw their attention to it (providing that the person's work is as bad as you describe).
I come across this problem all the time with native Turkish translators. I find it useless to report the issue to German, Danish, British, Canadian PMs as they will have no idea as to the quality issues involved with Turkish translations s... See more If the agency you're working for is a German one, the PMs there will presumably be all German and be able to see the quality of the end product for themselves if you draw their attention to it (providing that the person's work is as bad as you describe).
I come across this problem all the time with native Turkish translators. I find it useless to report the issue to German, Danish, British, Canadian PMs as they will have no idea as to the quality issues involved with Turkish translations since they don't speak the language and therefore will only have to take my word for it.
If I were you I wouldn't even have written this post, I'd have reported the issue at once and felt no remorse whatsoever.
Btw what kind of economic sense does it make for a German translation agency (assuming that it's a German agency) to employ a "Britisher" for translations into German? Surely, there must be loads of German translators who'll work at cheaper rates than him.
[Edited at 2022-01-27 12:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I have a question: don’t you use revision marks when you edit? If you do, they should know perfectly well the quality of his translations…
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 13:12
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| Do you agree with this statement? | Jan 27, 2022 |
Editing a translation could take more time than translating it yourself from scratch.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:12
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Michail Strijov wrote:
What do you think I should do?
The agency relies on you to spot sloppy work and eliminate it.
So do your job: denounce him.
Get that guy out of the market. One thing we cannot have is bad translations. It's harmful to our profession.
[Edited at 2022-01-27 11:46 GMT]
| | | | | professional remarks, not personal attack on colleague | Jan 27, 2022 |
Alerting your client (agency) to the nature of the source and the incoherence between the mission's label and the actual task as a result of that is part of your job. If they ignore what you say, you may prefer to distance yourself from this agency. The main thing to bear in mind that you are not reporting on the individual - it is not a personal attack. You would be reporting on (i) the agency's appreciation of the nature of the task and/or (ii) the nature of the source you are being provided w... See more Alerting your client (agency) to the nature of the source and the incoherence between the mission's label and the actual task as a result of that is part of your job. If they ignore what you say, you may prefer to distance yourself from this agency. The main thing to bear in mind that you are not reporting on the individual - it is not a personal attack. You would be reporting on (i) the agency's appreciation of the nature of the task and/or (ii) the nature of the source you are being provided with.
You just have to make sure that your remarks are on professional criteria, quite separate from affect. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 19:12
French to English
I agree with those saying to tell the agency.
When I do proofreading work, I systematically tell the agency my opinion of the translator, whether good or bad. If you let them know about the good translators, then they'll believe you when you tell them about the bad. Give them telling examples (in my last proofreading job I pointed out howlers like "Arab-speaking" and the client said they would stop using that translator. I billed per hour, and ended up taking longer than I had est... See more I agree with those saying to tell the agency.
When I do proofreading work, I systematically tell the agency my opinion of the translator, whether good or bad. If you let them know about the good translators, then they'll believe you when you tell them about the bad. Give them telling examples (in my last proofreading job I pointed out howlers like "Arab-speaking" and the client said they would stop using that translator. I billed per hour, and ended up taking longer than I had estimated because the work was so bad. The client would obviously prefer that not to happen!
And yes if it's that bad, tell them you don't want to proofread his work any more. ▲ Collapse
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