Advice on accepting a long term job with a company not mentioned in the Blue Board (Filology) Thread poster: Sandra Rodrigues
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Sandra Rodrigues
Portugal
Local time: 18:15
Member (2021)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Dear colleagues,
I'd like your advice concerning a contact I received from a company who wrote me through Proz.com. I'm quite new here in terms of dealing with this type of situation. I don't find the company in the Blue Board and can only see it is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber. Apparently I can't find any information about the company (here and in google) and its site (www.filology.com) doesn't he... See more Dear colleagues,
I'd like your advice concerning a contact I received from a company who wrote me through Proz.com. I'm quite new here in terms of dealing with this type of situation. I don't find the company in the Blue Board and can only see it is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber. Apparently I can't find any information about the company (here and in google) and its site (www.filology.com) doesn't help very much as well.
Basically, the person who contacted me wanted to know if I was interested in a high volume long term collaboration with them, my availability and rates considering a high volume of work (French into English patents translation). I am interested but don't want to take a high risk, so what is your advice? Has anyone heard about Filology? Is there a Blacklist of companies anywhere? If it were you, how much would yu reduce your minimal rates for a high volume collaboration?
Thank you very much in advance for any suggestions! ▲ Collapse
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The fact that the agency is called Filology with an F instead of a Ph makes me rather wary of it, then the site is sparse on information, has no contact details other than phone numbers, contains errors (Globlal Linguistic Services). In my opinion everything points to a scammer…
| | | | Jean Lachaud 
United States
Local time: 13:15
English to French
+ ...
| under a different name | Mar 12, 2022 |
I received the same letter.
I'm not worried about the initial "F". Using weird spelling of regular words to attract attention (and not have difficulties in trademarking it) has been a major trend in corporate names for several decades.
I'm more worried about the request "... your best rates for English to French (or French to English) patent translation given a long term cooperation agreement." right after the sentence "We have a patent translation project coming up in ... See more I received the same letter.
I'm not worried about the initial "F". Using weird spelling of regular words to attract attention (and not have difficulties in trademarking it) has been a major trend in corporate names for several decades.
I'm more worried about the request "... your best rates for English to French (or French to English) patent translation given a long term cooperation agreement." right after the sentence "We have a patent translation project coming up in the English-French language pair." So, which is it?
In addition "project coming up" falls under "Please get back to me when you do have the project."
A (quick) web search shows NO business under this name in Boston.
The phone number lister under Contacts is the number of this business (https://www.swiftacclivity.com/). That web site looks like a boilerplate web site like the millions translation agencies claiming "We speak your language" and to have "Several thousand translators," or similar language. This matches spelling errors.
Other searches indicate yearly sales < $100,000.
For all practical purposes, Swift Acclivity is located at 43 Wolcott St, Malden, MA 02148, which is not in Boston proper, even though it is a near suburb of Boston.
J L ▲ Collapse
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Did you check the IP address (visible when you expand the email header in your email client) and does it coincide with the location stated by the agency in question? Or does the sender only use a gmail domain?
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William Yang
China
Local time: 01:15
Member (2021)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| we have to agree to fit everything into a plan before proceeding to execute so-called long projects | Mar 13, 2022 |
you are talking about the preliminary homework and they are important.
[Edited at 2022-03-13 11:43 GMT]
| | | | Mihai Badea (X)
Luxembourg
Local time: 19:15
English to Romanian
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| Assume good faith | Mar 13, 2022 |
But take precautions.
When starting a new business relation, it is just normal to do a few checks:
• website domain, use a whois service (looks good? anything deceiving?);
• email address (does it look like a professional address?);
• firm's details and business record (in most countries, there is a public database where a firm's name, registration number etc. can be interrogated; some information is free to access, for further informatio... See more But take precautions.
When starting a new business relation, it is just normal to do a few checks:
• website domain, use a whois service (looks good? anything deceiving?);
• email address (does it look like a professional address?);
• firm's details and business record (in most countries, there is a public database where a firm's name, registration number etc. can be interrogated; some information is free to access, for further information some fee might be charged).
Are you confident the offer is genuine, even before doing any checks? Because if you're not, most often than not it is a waste of time to pursue it.
[Edited at 2022-03-13 11:59 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mihai Badea (X)
Luxembourg
Local time: 19:15
English to Romanian
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| Yolanda Broad
United States
Local time: 13:15
Member (2000)
French to English
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MODERATOR | Please create a Blue Board record, when there isn't one | Mar 13, 2022 |
You can create a Blue Board record even if you don't have complete contact information. Once you've done that, you should be able to get feedback from other ProZ users.
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Sandra Rodrigues
Portugal
Local time: 18:15
Member (2021)
English to Portuguese
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you all! | Mar 14, 2022 |
Thanks a lot to everyone who gave me their opinion and advice!
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:15
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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A company that doesn't give a full address on their contact page?
[Edited at 2022-03-14 11:54 GMT]
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