| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Is TM-Town "working" for you? Thread poster: Mirko Mainardi
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I created an account on TM-Town 4 months ago (after reading about the acquisition by ProZ here) and since then I have been contacted once by a potential client (who vanished with a "will get back to you" after reading my rates).
So, I was curious to hear about others' experiences with TM-Town.
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I registered some months ago and I should be proposed very often as the best match in my combinations. Still, I have never been contacted by any client through TM-Town.
I would be very interested in some statistics.
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Local time: 12:46
Hi Anna,
You have a great profile, sorry to hear that you haven't been contacted yet. Your language pairs have not been as active as other pairs as far as job messages go.
To date, here is the breakdown of the messages sent:
From agencies: ~77%
From end clients: ~19%
Peer-to-peer: ~4%
Over the past few weeks we have seen a significant uptick in the number of messages being sent (see the graph below). As TM-Town continues to grow, improve ... See more Hi Anna,
You have a great profile, sorry to hear that you haven't been contacted yet. Your language pairs have not been as active as other pairs as far as job messages go.
To date, here is the breakdown of the messages sent:
From agencies: ~77%
From end clients: ~19%
Peer-to-peer: ~4%
Over the past few weeks we have seen a significant uptick in the number of messages being sent (see the graph below). As TM-Town continues to grow, improve its ranking in search, and increase its brand awareness I expect this trend to continue (and we'll work hard to make sure it does).
Job Messages Sent Through TM-Town
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| | | | | Thank you, Kevin! | Aug 8, 2016 |
The graph is a little hard to evaluate without the y-axis units, but at least the trend looks good.
I will stay tuned!
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Francesca D'Asdia (X) 
Germany
Local time: 05:46
English to Italian
+ ...
| why can't I edit my profile? | Sep 19, 2016 |
I've been trying to get through the TM-Town Support all day but no answer. They are always offline and do not answer emails. If this is the customer service I'm going to get I think I'll unsubscribe right now.
I cannot edit my profile, the work uploader is not working for me as I keep receiving errors and I've upgraded to Starter without success.
I think I'm about to close this account and ask for a refund. Time is money and a whole day spent chasing information is simply not an op... See more I've been trying to get through the TM-Town Support all day but no answer. They are always offline and do not answer emails. If this is the customer service I'm going to get I think I'll unsubscribe right now.
I cannot edit my profile, the work uploader is not working for me as I keep receiving errors and I've upgraded to Starter without success.
I think I'm about to close this account and ask for a refund. Time is money and a whole day spent chasing information is simply not an option for me. ▲ Collapse
| | | | ..... (X)
Local time: 12:46
Hello,
Sorry we were not able to answer your support email immediately. Monday was a National Holiday in Japan. I have responded now. If you still have questions please feel free to email us any time.
Kevin
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Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm wrote:
I registered some months ago and I should be proposed very often as the best match in my combinations. Still, I have never been contacted by any client through TM-Town.
I would be very interested in some statistics.
I too registered some months ago, but haven't heard a peep from any clients or potential clients through TM-Town.
| | | | ..... (X)
Local time: 12:46
| Just like on ProZ.com, your profile is important | Sep 21, 2016 |
Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm wrote:
I registered some months ago and I should be proposed very often as the best match in my combinations. Still, I have never been contacted by any client through TM-Town.
I would be very interested in some statistics. I too registered some months ago, but haven't heard a peep from any clients or potential clients through TM-Town.
Hi Yasutomo,
Thanks for giving TM-Town a try. I checked out your TM-Town profile and I think with a small investment of time you could greatly increase your chances of getting messaged on TM-Town. Currently your profile is missing some key elements such as:
1) Native language
2) About me
3) Profile picture
4) Profile background image
5) Any associations or memberships
6) Education background
7) Years of experience
8) Any CAT tools you use (if applicable)
You also have not loaded any work, which means that you will not show up in any Nakōdo searches. Many of the clients searching TM-Town are using Nakōdo to find translators, so you are missing out on a key channel of discovery.
This video will walk you through how to optimize your TM-Town profile to increase your chances of getting messaged.
Kevin
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I also gave it a chance a few months ago. I didn't feel comfortable loading my clients' TMs, so I uploaded dual language publicly available documents in my field as references. I also spent a bit of time on my profile (which was frustrating because I kept adding things like education and associations and then they would disappear again...), but I haven't had anyone contact me yet.
| | | | | I am actually doubting the functionality of Nakodo | Sep 21, 2016 |
Till sofar I uploaded all my relevant TM's till 2010 (and earlier) in TMT (so still a few years to go), but I also didn't receive any responses till sofar.
Good thing is, I have all my TM's (updated till today) to work with on my computer. Strange thing is, that you might expect a lot of (fuzzy) matches (so clicking through each new translation), but that is not the case. At the best my TM's are working as a dictionary (concordance).
Now imagine there is a new client wh... See more Till sofar I uploaded all my relevant TM's till 2010 (and earlier) in TMT (so still a few years to go), but I also didn't receive any responses till sofar.
Good thing is, I have all my TM's (updated till today) to work with on my computer. Strange thing is, that you might expect a lot of (fuzzy) matches (so clicking through each new translation), but that is not the case. At the best my TM's are working as a dictionary (concordance).
Now imagine there is a new client who is checking his/her text against my TM's? Why should he/she pick me out, when I have to start from scratch each time? Is there a match? (Believe me, I built up extensive TM's in each language combination I am working in).
So does Nakodo live up to its expectations?
[Edited at 2016-09-21 18:26 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mirko Mainardi
Italy
Local time: 05:46
Member
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER | Still 1 single (and totally fruitless) contact here... | Sep 21, 2016 |
Kevin Dias wrote: Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm wrote:
I registered some months ago and I should be proposed very often as the best match in my combinations. Still, I have never been contacted by any client through TM-Town.
I would be very interested in some statistics. I too registered some months ago, but haven't heard a peep from any clients or potential clients through TM-Town. Hi Yasutomo, Thanks for giving TM-Town a try. I checked out your TM-Town profile and I think with a small investment of time you could greatly increase your chances of getting messaged on TM-Town. Currently your profile is missing some key elements ...
Well, five months and a half in, and I'm still stuck at 1 incoming message from a "potential" client, despite the fact that (according to your own words) I apparently have a decent profile and did the right things on TM-Town. Furthermore, I am a "professional"(...) member, I'm third overall in EN>IT and first in all of the fields I selected, so...
| | | | Maija Cirule
Latvia
Local time: 06:46
German to English
+ ...
| My 2 cents only | Sep 22, 2016 |
Mirko Mainardi wrote: Kevin Dias wrote: Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote: Anna Spanoudaki-Thurm wrote:
I registered some months ago and I should be proposed very often as the best match in my combinations. Still, I have never been contacted by any client through TM-Town.
I would be very interested in some statistics. I too registered some months ago, but haven't heard a peep from any clients or potential clients through TM-Town. Hi Yasutomo, Thanks for giving TM-Town a try. I checked out your TM-Town profile and I think with a small investment of time you could greatly increase your chances of getting messaged on TM-Town. Currently your profile is missing some key elements ... Well, five months and a half in, and I'm still stuck at 1 incoming message from a "potential" client, despite the fact that (according to your own words) I apparently have a decent profile and did the right things on TM-Town. Furthermore, I am a "professional"(...) member, I'm third overall in EN>IT and first in all of the fields I selected, so...
If I were a potential client, I would avoid translators who sell my TMs and share them with everybody including my competitors. I don't think that any client is going to explore in detail what does this sharing mean as there are plenty of fish in the sea.
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Mirko Mainardi
Italy
Local time: 05:46
Member
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER | Thanks Maija | Sep 22, 2016 |
Maija Cirule wrote:
If I were a potential client, I would avoid translators who sell my TMs and share them with everybody including my competitors. I don't think that any client is going to explore in detail what does this sharing mean as there are plenty of fish in the sea.
Hello Maija, thank you very much for implying I am a translator to avoid, who sells his clients' TMs. Truly much appreciated 
That said, and please forgive me if I contradict you, but I am afraid that is not the case. No one is selling TMs, nor "sharing them with everybody, including competitors". You can't sell, browse or purchase TMs on TM-Town.
As for me, in addition to not "selling" anything, I didn't even upload any TM... (go figure, huh?)
I am not expecting that everyone "explores in detail" how everything works, but that at the very least they have a basic idea of what they're talking about, or of how a website/service (they are using) works.
Lastly, your consideration doesn't actually explain much with regard to what is being discussed here. In fact, if there are potential clients who hold the same misconceptions and/or fears as you, then they would steer clear of TM-Town and not use it in the first place, while here we're obviously talking about those who do use that website, because they're apparently interested in its services. According to Kevin's chart, there's a host(?) of potential clients continuously contacting translators on that platform, so I would be interested in knowing if there's a rationale/pattern behind the distribution of those messages.
| | | | | I got one interesting project via TM-Town | Sep 30, 2016 |
When the TM-Town starter version was made available free of charge to paying ProZ.com members a few months ago, I decided to give it a a go.
I filled in my profile, chose a nice background picture and uploaded the TMs of the two books I had previously translated. I did not feel comfortable uploading TMs from projects completed for my agency clients, so I decided not to do that.
Since then I had been receiving a few enquiries, but nothing worth pursuing - low rates or pe... See more When the TM-Town starter version was made available free of charge to paying ProZ.com members a few months ago, I decided to give it a a go.
I filled in my profile, chose a nice background picture and uploaded the TMs of the two books I had previously translated. I did not feel comfortable uploading TMs from projects completed for my agency clients, so I decided not to do that.
Since then I had been receiving a few enquiries, but nothing worth pursuing - low rates or people trying to sell something.
Last week however I received an enquiry from a reputable German organization just branching out into book publishing. We have now completed negotiations and I expect the contract to arrive next week.
This does sound very encouraging for TM-Town members, though when I got talking to this client it turned out that he had simply googled the German words for translation and Swedish. He was totally unfamiliar with the concept of translation memories so it was a bit of a fluke that he hit on TM-Town where he found me.
It also worked in my favour that apparently only few translators with that language combination were registered with TM-Town, and he simply liked the look of my profile.
But it shows that TM-Town is an avenue that can lead to business, as it has done in my case.
I just thought I'd share this, today being International Translation Day. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | @Stephanie, happy translation day to you too, but.... | Sep 30, 2016 |
..... you wrote: '...it shows that TM-Town is an avenue that can lead to business, as it has done in my case.'
Good for you, and I do believe it can, but please see my earlier thread in this forum, I doubt whether the time I put into it to make perfect TM's will pay back?
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