| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Working for free!? Thread poster: Ilona Brophy-Lehmann
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Hi
I was approached today by an agency through ProZ to proofread a short text for free. Are they completely out of their mind? Do they think I'm a charity? This might be acceptable for a long-time client but definitely not for a company I have neved worked for.
Sorry, just letting off steam.
Regards, Ilona
| | | | IPtranslate (X)
Brazil
English to Dutch
+ ...
Ilona Brophy-Lehmann wrote:
Hi
I was approached today by an agency through ProZ to proofread a short text for free. Are they completely out of their mind? Do they think I'm a charity? This might be acceptable for a long-time client but definitely not for a company I have neved worked for.
Sorry, just letting off steam.
Regards, Ilona
You are not the only one, Ilona. Same happened here last week, but with a "small translation". I am getting very disappointed with what people think they can do and what they permit themselves. Why do I bother try to do things correctly, when the rest of the world seems to think of only one thing.....taking advantage of the others.
Also just letting of steam.....
| | | | Kate Chaffer
Italy
Local time: 22:53
Member (2009)
Italian to English
| I bet they found someone | Mar 16, 2011 |
The sad thing is that they probably managed to find someone to do it for free in the end. Did they mention something about this small job leading on to other paying jobs in the future? Someone will have taken the opportunity thinking that it could lead to paid work.
| | | | | Feel free to ignore them | Mar 16, 2011 |
Either ignore them or send back a short e-mail with your proofreading rates. Either way you'll never hear from them again, problem solved.
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Holly Nathan (X) 
Italy
Local time: 22:53
Italian to English
| hairdresser? | Mar 16, 2011 |
Can I do that with my hairdresser and gyno then, do you think?
[Edited at 2011-03-16 16:08 GMT]
| | | | | Agree with Holly! | Mar 16, 2011 |
She mirrored my sentiments exactly. I don't ask a plasterer to just 'fix a small patch' in my kitchen for free, why are translators any different?
Things like this make me furious and cause me to feel quite alone behind my computer: no one in their right mind would walk into an office and say: could you just type this up for me for free? (Not the right analogy, but you get my drift)
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 22:53
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Unfortunately, this is true. | Mar 16, 2011 |
Kate Chaffer wrote:
The sad thing is that they probably managed to find someone to do it for free in the end. Did they mention something about this small job leading on to other paying jobs in the future? Someone will have taken the opportunity thinking that it could lead to paid work.
And these kinds of things are legally called scam.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 22:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Nothing wrong with it | Mar 16, 2011 |
Ilona Brophy-Lehmann wrote:
I was approached today by an agency through ProZ to proofread a short text for free. Are they completely out of their mind? Do they think I'm a charity?
Surely there is nothing wrong with asking. What's the worst that could happen? The translation could say "no".
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| Yes, there are some people out there... | Mar 16, 2011 |
...who try doing this, and apparently there are some who fall for it. Otherwise, the scammers would not be able to continue.
Last August I received an email from a person from a company with an "utopistic" name.
It took me a while to find any contact info for them, it turns out the guy is in Egypt.
Anyway, he wanted a free translation of a short text.
Here is what I wrote to him:
Dear XYZ,
I am not sure why you think it is a good idea to expect me to transl... See more ...who try doing this, and apparently there are some who fall for it. Otherwise, the scammers would not be able to continue.
Last August I received an email from a person from a company with an "utopistic" name.
It took me a while to find any contact info for them, it turns out the guy is in Egypt.
Anyway, he wanted a free translation of a short text.
Here is what I wrote to him:
Dear XYZ,
I am not sure why you think it is a good idea to expect me to translate this as a "favor"?
I am not saying I never give freebies to my clients, because I do, after we had an established a business relationship, and had a good few paid jobs completed to mutual satisfaction.
You are sending me an email out of the blue, without proper company information - even your website does not contain any official address, why do you think I would jump on the opportunity to work for free for somebody I don't even know?
Besides, this particular sentence seems to be an addition to an existing manual, which means proper translation requires consistency with the existing terminology.
For starters, it is very important to know whether the menu items shown in blue have been localized or not, and if they are localized, what is their existing translation?
Without this information, how do you expect anybody to provide a proper translation?
This is why this job is not a good fit for a "favor" - because even though it seems it can be done in a few minutes, one would have to spend time on asking these questions.
So, if you have the answer (regarding the existing translation of the blue colored terms) or if you can provide the rest of the translated manual as a reference, I will be glad to do this translation for you, for XXX....
Let me know if you are still interested. ▲ Collapse
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Samuel Murray wrote:
Ilona Brophy-Lehmann wrote:
I was approached today by an agency through ProZ to proofread a short text for free. Are they completely out of their mind? Do they think I'm a charity?
Surely there is nothing wrong with asking. What's the worst that could happen? The translation could say "no".
Absolutely!
| | | | Krzysztof Kajetanowicz (X)
Poland
Local time: 22:53
English to Polish
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It's interesting that we deny a free translation of a sentence, yet are willing to spend (presumably) much more time educating a wannabe client for free.
[Edited at 2011-03-16 17:31 GMT]
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I think we should not do a free review even for a long-term client. I was paid to review very short texts and even to translate four words. A good client would not require that. I guess we are the ones who should say "I am nor charging it as it is so short". Once I did this, and the agency said they would pay as the client wanted to pay for the few words.
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| It's not all about time | Mar 16, 2011 |
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz wrote:
It's interesting that we deny a free translation of a sentence, yet are willing to spend (presumably) much more time educating a wannabe client for free.
The real problem behind all this is how little respect and recognition translators gain; much less than hairdressers, it seems. The annoying this is not that I simply delete messages like this, but the fact that somebody even dares to send similar requests.
[Upraveno: 2011-03-16 19:58 GMT]
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 22:53
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Hairdressers | Mar 16, 2011 |
Has anyone here ever got a promotional haircut for free? As this would be an equivalent of free translation tests.
I know I haven't.
| | | | Daria Bontch-Osmolovskaia (X)
Australia
Local time: 06:53
English
+ ...
Lingua 5B wrote:
Has anyone here ever got a promotional haircut for free? As this would be an equivalent of free translation tests.
I know I haven't.
(very quietly) Actually, yes, I have. Many of them, in fact. When I was a very poor student, I would seek out hairdressers who were looking for models (trade shows, hair colour demonstrations, awards, apprentices' exams, etc.) and get free cuts and colour. It's pot luck sometimes, but I did end up with much more varied and interesting hair than I would have otherwise. Often got a small compensation or at meal too
But back to the topic - no way I'd do a freebie job for an agency. For a friend or "a good cause", perhaps, but not for someone who will resell it and make money from it. This is business, after all.
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