| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Keep Getting Ghosted By Agencies After I Submit My Test. Should I Keep Trying to Be a Translator? Thread poster: David McAlpine
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jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 03:07
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| I'm not a native English speaker, and I'm learning | Sep 16, 2022 |
Hence the question:
Is it usual to frequently use "man" in this kind of serious discussions?
[Edited at 2022-09-16 22:29 GMT]
| | | | | Make your CV more industry-friendly | Sep 16, 2022 |
Hey, hope you don't matter my saying this but you should make your CV a bit more industry-friendly. I don't think that a freelancer's CV should mention our marital status or contain our photographs. Make sure you get a custom email address (preferably). Agencies prefer to communicate by email. You could also write more about the courses you took at university. Good luck!
| | | | David McAlpine
Dominica
Local time: 03:07
Mandarin Chinese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Final post - Bye everyone! | Sep 16, 2022 |
Thank you everyone for your kind responses. I've written notes down from all the pieces of advice I have received. Whilst I am bit embarrassed about my grammatical errors, I will be sure to improve in my portfolio, CV and profile.
This will be my last post on the forum for good. Many of you have been very helpful and I'm grateful for your attention. But I will not tolerate bullying by senior members of the forum. I think its disgusting and you should take a good hard look at yoursel... See more Thank you everyone for your kind responses. I've written notes down from all the pieces of advice I have received. Whilst I am bit embarrassed about my grammatical errors, I will be sure to improve in my portfolio, CV and profile.
This will be my last post on the forum for good. Many of you have been very helpful and I'm grateful for your attention. But I will not tolerate bullying by senior members of the forum. I think its disgusting and you should take a good hard look at yourself bullying an un-confident newcomer humbly coming hat in hand to seek advice. If many other new translators coming into the profession have to deal with this kind of hazing, then I doubt very much they will stay for very long - which I'm sure will make you very pleased with yourselves. Remember there's a person behind the keyboard and if you can't be polite, you should keep it to yourself.
Thank you very much and goodbye!
[Edited at 2022-09-16 23:58 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 08:07
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| A few words of encouragement | Sep 17, 2022 |
Don't interpret any criticism in the negative sense.
I believe colleagues who have been a bit "harsh" are only giving you good advice - as hard as it is to hear the truth.
Translating is a self-correcting process, that means you have to always correct your own mistakes when translating before you can deliver it to your clients.
Please, don't take what you have been told too personally. Everyone is trying to help you, believe me.
On the other hand, on an online platform, y... See more Don't interpret any criticism in the negative sense.
I believe colleagues who have been a bit "harsh" are only giving you good advice - as hard as it is to hear the truth.
Translating is a self-correcting process, that means you have to always correct your own mistakes when translating before you can deliver it to your clients.
Please, don't take what you have been told too personally. Everyone is trying to help you, believe me.
On the other hand, on an online platform, you can find many and different people.
We can also see the opposite: "newbie translators" who show their arrogance the first minute they arrive, even being quite rude to "older colleagues" (I'm not saying it's your case).
I tend to say that the translation profession is a nice and continuous learning process, so my advice to you is:
study, study, and study (languages and technology),
figure out your niche, if you didn't find it yet, and give all your best,
invest in your career,
do your own marketing,
be honest with yourself and with your clients,
exchange views with colleagues and listen to their opinions,
provide high quality work,
and never give up when things aren't exactly what we expected!
[Edited at 2022-09-17 13:22 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Don’t worry. | Sep 17, 2022 |
Even with a spotless, error-free test translation, the agencies will not come back.
Simply stop doing free tests.
Even though your profile says you are an English teacher, and you made a couple of basic/common errors, the entire thread should not be revolving around that. I assume you taught spoken English, not written English. Two very different worlds. You can always go back to teaching, or something else, I am sure you’ll do fine. Best of luck.
| | | | Francisco Chagas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:07
Member (2019)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| It's good to keep an open mind. | Sep 18, 2022 |
Dear David,
Your original question is very relevant--that is, it pertains to a concern that most translators (and/or aspiring translators) will eventually have to deal with.
Know that the responses contained herein (as applied to the overall thread, not my post alone) will not only be fairly useful to you, but also future users--and for that, I thank you.
Concerning your original post: as a freelancer, a period of 5 months is an incredibly short time frame to draw... See more Dear David,
Your original question is very relevant--that is, it pertains to a concern that most translators (and/or aspiring translators) will eventually have to deal with.
Know that the responses contained herein (as applied to the overall thread, not my post alone) will not only be fairly useful to you, but also future users--and for that, I thank you.
Concerning your original post: as a freelancer, a period of 5 months is an incredibly short time frame to draw any conclusive insights from. You cannot think of yourself as an individual, anymore. You are a company, a brand; and as with companies and brands, it'll take time to win over your target audience. The more you rush into things, the more you'll find yourself producing less than ideal results. Right now, you *should not* produce less than ideal results--and yes, while being a ruthless pedant might not be the most practical way to go about life, it certainly helps to have some of *it* in this line of work.
Likewise, as our fellow posters have mentioned, in my opinion, should you want to be taken seriously by your clients (and your ProZ peers), you will need to work on your writing and, to a lesser extent, your general poise. That is, as of now--upon analysing your profile and translation samples (and, to a lesser extent, your posts here)--if I were looking for a [Chinese > English] translator (I am not), I would most certainly not hire you. As mentioned before, a considerable part of all issues found could be solved by simply rereading your work and paying attention to your punctuation, or, in other words, to do what may be deemed as the *bare minimum*.
With that said, you seem to be rather personable, appreciative of others, generally pleasant (albeit arguably a bit informal--which may make you stand out from the ProZ pack) and, for the most part, attentive. These few personal traits, coupled with your field experience (in China, the country, and Chinese, the language) may work wonders in your favour, should you consider opting to work as an interpreter. Maybe, this could be a good role to invest in whilst working on your other areas of improvement.
Also, don't be discouraged by any negative (or lack of) feedback that you might be exposed to during this early stage of your career. Do not disregard nor vilify it, either--if you're particularly susceptible to connotation, maybe it could be useful to depersonalise the original message. That, or, instead, use it as an added layer of motivation to keep challenging yourself, your beliefs and your knowledge.
Lastly, if in doubt or in pain, do heed @expressisverbis 's comments; they are--in my view--extremely valuable.
[Edited at 2022-09-18 22:53 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
The kind of mistakes he makes will be fixed with automated spell/grammar checker, that for some reason was not embedded in forum posts.
Things like “man”, overly informal speech (we are on the forum, is it forbidden?) and the fact he does not parse paragraphs but rather puts all his thoughts in one large chunk of text (same in his profile bio), I’m not aware of the tools that can fix that.
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BTW, I have been translating full-time for over 40 years and I’m still ghosted from time to time. We translators, like actors, must learn how to deal with rejection.
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Jennifer Levey wrote: ... I was a bit surprised that people would go through my verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb. Going through other people's (and our own) verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is a key feature of our work as language professionals. If you're not comfortable with that, then you are unlikely to make a good living from translation.
The only time I go through other people's verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is when I a have a proofreading job at work. Otherwise, I couldn't give two hoots. Honestly, I'm shocked at how pedantic many translators are.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| On pedantic etc. | Sep 19, 2022 |
Gerard Barry wrote: Jennifer Levey wrote: ... I was a bit surprised that people would go through my verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb. Going through other people's (and our own) verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is a key feature of our work as language professionals. If you're not comfortable with that, then you are unlikely to make a good living from translation. The only time I go through other people's verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is when I a have a proofreading job at work. Otherwise, I couldn't give two hoots. Honestly, I'm shocked at how pedantic many translators are.
They should be pedantic on a job task (translation, proofreading, etc.)
I am also shocked this is being done on the forum, as it's largely off-topic. The focus of the topic was the time invested in free translation tests. Have you ever seen doctors giving random diagnoses and spotting syndromes in their free time when not on a task? I haven't.
I need to correct myself. I am on my PC now and the forum spell-checker is on/obviously working. On my phone and tablet it isn't, does not seem to exist. Perhaps the OP was typing from his phone (hence no paragraph parsing and common errors, the kind of statistical errors found in all spell checkers). Its/it's and their/they're, seriously?
| | | | Francisco Chagas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:07
Member (2019)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Lingua 5B wrote:
I am also shocked this is being done on the forum, as it's largely off-topic. The focus of the topic was the time invested in free translation tests. Have you ever seen doctors giving random diagnoses and spotting syndromes in their free time when not on a task? I haven't.
Allow me to disagree, L5B:
Negativity (and overwhelming positivity) aside, a grand part of the analyses and feedback provided is most certainly not off-topic. By simply taking David's original post in consideration, one may observe that his concerns go far beyond the time invested in free translation tests and, as such, so do the responses provided along this thread.
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Gerard Barry wrote:
The only time I go through other people's verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is when I a have a proofreading job at work. Otherwise, I couldn't give two hoots. Honestly, I'm shocked at how pedantic many translators are.
It’s not a question of being pedantic. The guy wanted to know why he isn’t getting work after taking tests. Now, in all probability, he has the answer.
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Lingua 5B wrote: Gerard Barry wrote: Jennifer Levey wrote: ... I was a bit surprised that people would go through my verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb. Going through other people's (and our own) verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is a key feature of our work as language professionals. If you're not comfortable with that, then you are unlikely to make a good living from translation. The only time I go through other people's verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is when I a have a proofreading job at work. Otherwise, I couldn't give two hoots. Honestly, I'm shocked at how pedantic many translators are. They should be pedantic on a job task (translation, proofreading, etc.) I am also shocked this is being done on the forum, as it's largely off-topic. The focus of the topic was the time invested in free translation tests. Have you ever seen doctors giving random diagnoses and spotting syndromes in their free time when not on a task? I haven't. I need to correct myself. I am on my PC now and the forum spell-checker is on/obviously working. On my phone and tablet it isn't, does not seem to exist. Perhaps the OP was typing from his phone (hence no paragraph parsing and common errors, the kind of statistical errors found in all spell checkers). Its/it's and their/they're, seriously?
Even on a job task, excessive pedantry infuriates me. I've been at the receiving end of it too many times as an inhouse translator:)
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Grammar police. | Sep 19, 2022 |
I can’t (and won’t try to) do anything against self-proclaimed and uninvited forum grammar police.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:07
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| You guys are lagging | Sep 19, 2022 |
Your posts are probably being vetted. And I can’t quote anyone or edit any post on my iPad LOL.
Anyway:
- there are so many variables when it comes to “why clients didn’t come back”, forum philosophers and grammar policemen certainly can’t list them all
- no, he doesn’t have an answer (see above), at least not a comprehensive answer. But that should be his own job, to learn about the market.
- @Gerard. I know what you mean, I saw th... See more Your posts are probably being vetted. And I can’t quote anyone or edit any post on my iPad LOL.
Anyway:
- there are so many variables when it comes to “why clients didn’t come back”, forum philosophers and grammar policemen certainly can’t list them all
- no, he doesn’t have an answer (see above), at least not a comprehensive answer. But that should be his own job, to learn about the market.
- @Gerard. I know what you mean, I saw that too when I used to do revision jobs. Often times I saw things like “its/it’s”, full stops, etc. being marked as a major error, while a critical subject-matter term was mistranslated, and that part was not either spotted or marked (it was completely ignored). You probably meant that kind of pedantry, not making any difference between minor, major and critical errors. The police should get additional tactical training. ▲ Collapse
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