Poll: Proofreading/editing a bad translation is... Tópico cartaz: ProZ.com Staff
|
|
neilmac Espanha Local time: 04:53 espanhol para inglês + ... Particularly irritating | Dec 4, 2019 |
If ever placed in the position of having to proof read/revise a bad translation, my usual feeling is one of resentment that the client didn't use a competent translator to begin with, and also annoyance with whoever translated it for not doing a proper job. However, most of my post-editing consists of academic papers or articles written by non-native authors, so I can't expect them to turn out as good as they might if done by a proper, competent native speaker translator. | | |
Not something I do | Dec 4, 2019 |
I do not enjoy proofreading/editing and I flatly refuse most of the assignments. That being said I have an arrangement with a colleague where we proofread each other. I also accept proofreading and editing tasks from one translation agency as I know the translator and I trust her work. | | |
Paulinho Fonseca Brasil Local time: 23:53 Membro (2011) inglês para português + ... A job like any other, but | Dec 4, 2019 |
I usually make the client aware of that quality pinpointing the issues. In my teaching experience, I could never refuse a bad student in the class. I had to teach the entire class, doing my best to meet the school's needs. So all in all, we do not always have the option to get the best-translated or quality projects for review. Good luck to you all. | |
|
|
Ventnai Espanha Local time: 04:53 alemão para inglês + ... If the payment is right | Dec 4, 2019 |
I don't mind if I am paid by the hour. I do if the so-called translation is paid at a proofreading rate. | | |
I generally enjoy the challenge | Dec 4, 2019 |
I don't mind a poor translation by a human being. What really winds me up is when someone tries to pass off machine translation as human translation. | | |
Merab Dekano Espanha Membro (2014) inglês para espanhol + ...
If only the terminology is wrong, not big deal. If the language and style are wrong, it’s better to re-translate, unless you are able to raise the dead. I am not. | | |
MollyRose Estados Unidos Local time: 21:53 inglês para espanhol + ...
I don't mind doing it if the person who did the translating asks me to mark it for the sake of learning and improving their knowledge in the language. But not if they are trying to translate on some sort of regular basis or for pay when they aren't ready for that yet. | |
|
|
Christine Andersen Dinamarca Local time: 04:53 Membro (2003) dinamarquês para inglês + ... Not something I do | Dec 4, 2019 |
Over the years I have come to the conclusion that patching a bad job is more tedious and time consuming than redoing the translation from scratch. I have reached a stage in my career where I can afford to be picky, and I politely but firmly tell the client I will not spend time on that kind of thing. | | |
Mario Freitas Brasil Local time: 23:53 Membro (2014) inglês para português + ... Irritating and unfair | Dec 5, 2019 |
I always make a detailed report on incompetence to the client, suggesting that translator is not used again, and making myself available for the transaltion instead of the revision next time. | | |
I tell clients that I charge per hour. I will look at the translation, and if it is poor quality, so that it will be more expensive to edit/proofread than to translate from scratch (due to how long it will take), I recommend translating from scratch. I don't proofread bad translations for that reason. For a really bad translation, it's like fixing a badly built house. It can never be totally ok, and will take a lot of effort to patch up. | | |
Simona Sgro Itália Local time: 04:53 inglês para italiano + ... I don't do it anymore | Dec 5, 2019 |
I'm at a stage where I ask to see the translation beforehand and if it's too bad I refuse the proofereading task, suggest to be paid by the hour or redo the translation! I don't have time to waste in that kind of bad paid jobs. | |
|
|
It is easier to translate from a scratch than to proofread a bad translation | Dec 5, 2019 |
That's what I usually tell my clients before refusing such jobs unless they are satisfied with me correcting the most serious mistakes which interfere with understanding - I do that for proofreading rates. Not a kind of job I like to do but, as the saying goes, sometimes... it... happens. It is much more fun and much more rewarding to provide a high-quality service but unfortunately not all the clients are even interested in this kind of service in the first place. I do... See more That's what I usually tell my clients before refusing such jobs unless they are satisfied with me correcting the most serious mistakes which interfere with understanding - I do that for proofreading rates. Not a kind of job I like to do but, as the saying goes, sometimes... it... happens. It is much more fun and much more rewarding to provide a high-quality service but unfortunately not all the clients are even interested in this kind of service in the first place. I don't want to say anything bad about the Russian market where I prefer not to work anymore but it is a bad thing for everyone if the language standards go down just to save some buck. I have recently got to know that there are some companies which basically chop up the source text - whatever the size and the deadline - and give it to different translators... and don't even want to think about how the result looks and reads like, and I wish more people realized that the language(s) we speak shape our worldviews and our lives.
[Edited at 2019-12-05 15:34 GMT] ▲ Collapse | | |