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Off topic: Why are translations used by big businesses so poor?
Thread poster: Eng2Span
Eng2Span
Eng2Span  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:35
English to Spanish
+ ...
May 7, 2004

Hi everybody!

First of all, just wanted to say that I started visiting Proz a couple of weeks ago and have just been thrilled with this place!
The subject of my post is a bit of a rant to big businesses here in the States... seeing how exceptional the translations are from just about everybody on this site... forces me to wonder where do the big companies here get their translators? If you live in the States, you know what I'm talking about... the phone company, banks,
... See more
Hi everybody!

First of all, just wanted to say that I started visiting Proz a couple of weeks ago and have just been thrilled with this place!
The subject of my post is a bit of a rant to big businesses here in the States... seeing how exceptional the translations are from just about everybody on this site... forces me to wonder where do the big companies here get their translators? If you live in the States, you know what I'm talking about... the phone company, banks, even McDonald's reaching out to Hispanics... yet plagued with really poor Spanish.
Maybe we should send these guys a link... KudoZ to all!

Take care,

Jesse (Eng2Span)
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Sol
Sol  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:35
Spanish to English
+ ...
bad translations in the U.S. May 7, 2004

Eng2Span wrote:
If you live in the States, you know what I'm talking about... the phone company, banks, even McDonald's reaching out to Hispanics... yet plagued with really poor Spanish.


My theory is that they are not willing to pay for it. They probably get the same kids that work in their restaurants for minimum wage to do it.

[Edited at 2004-05-08 22:14]


 
Lucinda Hollenberg
Lucinda Hollenberg  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:35
Dutch to English
+ ...
Simple, May 7, 2004

they want to sit in the front row for peanuts or even for free if possible.

As someone said, perhaps they have the kids that work in the restaurants translate the signs instead of having a professional do it.

The fees that they are willing to pay are just so much lower. You get what you pay for.

Cheers!
Lucinda


 
Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X)
Rosa Maria Duenas Rios (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 18:35
Part ignorance, part economics, but not everywhere! May 7, 2004

I think that part of the problem is due to the fact that a lot of respectable business people here still believe that any bilingual person can do translations, so they just give the jobs to their secretaries, waiters and the sort. These same business people also react with surprise when confronted with the rates of a professional translator, since they never thought about it as a profession similar to others like graphic designer, librarian, etc. Thus, there is a certain tendency to try to save ... See more
I think that part of the problem is due to the fact that a lot of respectable business people here still believe that any bilingual person can do translations, so they just give the jobs to their secretaries, waiters and the sort. These same business people also react with surprise when confronted with the rates of a professional translator, since they never thought about it as a profession similar to others like graphic designer, librarian, etc. Thus, there is a certain tendency to try to save money on this field.

However, in my experience, MOST of the business people here mind a lot about the QUALITY of the services/attention they offer their customers, and the ones that realize that good language standards constitute an essential part of their business, look for professional translators and are willing to pay the price. Several of my clients are an example of this.

I guess some fast-food companies are just more interested in catering to the buds, rather than to the eyes, of their Hispanic clientele.

My two cents.

[Edited at 2004-05-07 20:01]

[Edited at 2004-05-09 00:22]
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Vivianhu
Barbara Niessen
 
Narasimhan Raghavan
Narasimhan Raghavan  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:05
English to Tamil
+ ...
In memoriam
The problem is not confined to the USA alone May 8, 2004

It is seen everywhere. The problem is, translation is not recognized as a serious economic activity. If you see the bar chart of an organization dealing with its clients' projects, whose language is different, there is no provision in the bar chart for the time required for the translation. Nor is there a separate allocation for translations in the budget. The attempt is always there to accommodate this expenditure in the 3% contingencies. As a result, a client coming to a translator always sets... See more
It is seen everywhere. The problem is, translation is not recognized as a serious economic activity. If you see the bar chart of an organization dealing with its clients' projects, whose language is different, there is no provision in the bar chart for the time required for the translation. Nor is there a separate allocation for translations in the budget. The attempt is always there to accommodate this expenditure in the 3% contingencies. As a result, a client coming to a translator always sets unreasonable deadlines and is painfully surprised to hear the prices demanded. The tendency is always to make do with a cheap translation done in haste.
And the funny translations abound. There are quite a number of Proz threads citing such translations.
Regards,
N.Raghavan
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Barbara Niessen
Laura Kingdon
 
Jesús Marín Mateos
Jesús Marín Mateos  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:35
English to Spanish
+ ...
Money makes the world go round (or stay put) May 8, 2004

I was recently approached for one of the best projects I have ever been offered and it was for a long term collaboration paid by the hour with a certain number of hours per week. Well I offered my fees and they offered theirs, and then I offered something inbetween and they came back to me saying they would pass the job to their branch in the States since they knew it was going to be so much cheaper.... I don't regret it.
Cheap labour is something of the past.


 
Pablo Roufogalis (X)
Pablo Roufogalis (X)
Colombia
Local time: 17:35
English to Spanish
Priorities May 10, 2004

In many cases, translations for secondary markets are done to meet an internal or external requirement, not because there's a manager who feels it is important to provide a good document.

A known provider that delivers in time is probably all they need. Why risk it if nobody cares?


Gerard Barry
 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 06:35
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Checking off a compliance box Feb 27, 2021

They're bad because they're just checking off a box that says "Have a translation". They suddenly pay a lot more attention if they're actually selling products to people speaking that language.

 
3089491 (X)
3089491 (X)  Identity Verified
Luxembourg
Local time: 23:35
I'm impressed Feb 27, 2021

Lincoln Hui wrote:

They're bad because they're just checking off a box that says "Have a translation". They suddenly pay a lot more attention if they're actually selling products to people speaking that language.


On the other hand, corporations tend to use multilingual vendors with high quality (sometimes, even certified) processes.

If the quality of the processes is so high, how can be the final result (i.e. the translation) so bad?


 
Sem Ha
Sem Ha
Spain
Local time: 23:35
English to Dutch
Just Google Mar 1, 2021

I went on a two day walk to businesses in my city, to look for nice projects. Nearly everybody had a google translation on their website three months later. Well, for me a website with a google translation is worse than a website with no translation.

Gerard Barry
Cilian O'Tuama
 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 06:35
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Certified processes Mar 2, 2021

Mihai Badea wrote:

Lincoln Hui wrote:

They're bad because they're just checking off a box that says "Have a translation". They suddenly pay a lot more attention if they're actually selling products to people speaking that language.


On the other hand, corporations tend to use multilingual vendors with high quality (sometimes, even certified) processes.

If the quality of the processes is so high, how can be the final result (i.e. the translation) so bad?

I don't know that ISO processes have any necessary relationship with translation quality.


Laura Kingdon
 
Qing Jia
Qing Jia
Australia
Why are translations used by big businesses so poor? Mar 3, 2021

My guess is that they prefer hiring employees who are bilingual than hiring a professional translator just to save money.

 
Adieu
Adieu  Identity Verified
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
Incompetence Mar 4, 2021

Is a way of life.

writeaway
 
Vladimir Pochinov
Vladimir Pochinov  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 00:35
English to Russian
That's why -- straight from my Inbox Mar 4, 2021

Received on March 4, 11:31 am GMT

-----
Hello dear linguist, I am really sorry for the mass email, I have found you on Proz.com

I have a translation project. Around 100 words that must be translated from Russian into English.

Main job details:
JOB TYPE: Translation
LANGUAGE PAIR: Russian into English
DEADLINE: March 4, 1 pm GMT or your best time
RATE PER WORD: 0.03$
SUBJECT: Legal form
SOURCE FI
... See more
Received on March 4, 11:31 am GMT

-----
Hello dear linguist, I am really sorry for the mass email, I have found you on Proz.com

I have a translation project. Around 100 words that must be translated from Russian into English.

Main job details:
JOB TYPE: Translation
LANGUAGE PAIR: Russian into English
DEADLINE: March 4, 1 pm GMT or your best time
RATE PER WORD: 0.03$
SUBJECT: Legal form
SOURCE FILE: pdf

If you are interested in this job and want to take a part in it, please send me your CV and link to your proz account.

Please be ready to sign NDA.
-----

Well, 100 words in a legal form within 90 minutes at $0.03 per word. You are expected to review and sign their NDA before that. Is $0.03 per source word their rush rate?

[Edited at 2021-03-04 11:51 GMT]
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Adieu
Daryo
 
Vivianhu
Vivianhu
Australia
Money Mar 5, 2021

Many companies would ask their internal bilingual employees to do the translation. To save money. And sometimes the translations are not professional.

 
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Why are translations used by big businesses so poor?






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