Comments on: Crowdsourced translations: my advice to a Big News Brand

By: MatthewBennett

MatthewBennett — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:06:08 +0000

Thanks Bob Kerns,

You may, of course, and a fine suggestion it is. I agree, I would say well over half of my projects, even well over 3/4 require some form of urgency because things are left to the last minute. I'm even thinking of changing my rates system to reflect this, offering my clients a bit of a discount for organising themselves better on that front.

I'll have a think about it for another post!

By: MatthewBennett

MatthewBennett — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:06:08 +0000

By: Bob Kerns

Bob Kerns — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:17:21 +0000

Good advice Matthew, as usual.

may I suggest an addition to para. 5 such that it reads as follows:

... and then try to get the translations done (often at the very last minute) by their cousins’ daughters who spent three months in London as students ...

My reasoning for this is that a common reason for the lack of quality of a translation is the fact that the customer often restricts the amount of time available to the translator(s), and often for the simple fact that the translation process wasn't included in the project planning right from the start.

Maybe this "gripe" is a subject which deserves a separate article; it's something I feel strongly about, and suffer from regularly.