What A Translation Test Is And What It Is Not
A translation test is a small test to help clients ascertain whether you have the
necessary technical knowledge, expertise, and are able to convey meaning faithfully, accurately, and impartially.
"A test translation is paid and consists of 300 words or less."
A sample paid translation is a low cost to pay in
comparison to the potential cost of delivering a bad translation to clients
(when sometimes, lives could be at risk).
Furthermore, paying for test translations helps newly trained and graduated translators to prove their value, before a huge new project is assigned to them.
Furthermore, paying for test translations helps newly trained and graduated translators to prove their value, before a huge new project is assigned to them.
Is it wrong for a client to request a free translation test?
Is it
common to ask a professional for free samples?
Do you ask a doctor for a sample visit?
A lawyer for a sample contract?
Or an accountant for a sample monthly expense report?
Do you ask a repair man for a free light fixture repair?
Do you ask a doctor for a sample visit?
A lawyer for a sample contract?
Or an accountant for a sample monthly expense report?
Do you ask a repair man for a free light fixture repair?
These type of requests are very uncommon in professional services.
A client can easily request several translators for free sample translations and get a job completed for nothing, this is called stealing, a scam.
A client can easily request several translators for free sample translations and get a job completed for nothing, this is called stealing, a scam.
Furthermore, considering the business side of things, if you are requested to do several sample translations a month,
it causes financial loss, due to your time spent on unpaid work, thus taking time
away from actual paid work or being able to accept paid work.
What should I consider before accepting to do a translation test?
When you are asked to do a translation test, ask yourself the following questions:
- Will I get paid for the translation test?
- Is the test approximately 200-300 words?
- Do I set the fee for the translation test?
- Is the test source text absent of confidential, complete text, letters, short instructions, term lists and similar text?
- Is the test source text taken from a public source like Wikipedia entries or similar random public content?
Your answers to the above questions should be considered thoroughly before accepting to do a translation test.
Inform the client that there are better ways to find out whether a translator is professional and provides quality work.
"What is common is to have a test period where work is compensated
but closely assessed."
As a real professional experienced translator who is able to
deliver on time consistent high quality work on particular subjects with great
command of a determined language pair, you should have plenty of published work,
recommendations and reviews for the client to look over.
These are only a few suggestions and points to consider before doing a translation test.
What has been your experience?
I would love to hear what you think.
Where can you find professional translators and interpreters?
eLingual.Net is a great place to start.
Unlike traditional translation-interpretation job marketplaces where jobs are auctioned off or given to a middleman, eLingual.Net works to find you the most qualified professional translators or interpreters in our network.
Here’s how it works:
- You provide what's important to you in your job description.
- We'll recommend your job to members with the right skills and experience based on their profile.
- You get a qualified applicant pool to choose from.
We'll be happy to help you find a professional translator or interpreter.
As always, thank you for reading and sharing my posts. Please if any of my blogs inspire you, give credit where credit is due. Let's be fair, honest and professional. Let's help each other be great and stay great!
Feel free to connect or email me, Carmen Arismendy. I'm a professional Spanish interpreter-translator and founder of eLingual.Net. I started the eLingual Network because I could not find a fair, no middleman, no job bidding, ethical, and transparent meeting place for translators, interpreters, and clients online. The website is in beta phase and by no means perfect but it's a step in the right direction.
eLingual.Net's mission is to spread happiness worldwide through happy translators, interpreters, and clients.
For the professional translator and interpreter, this means no middleman, no job bidding, the freedom of setting their own fees, having control over their services, and who they choose to work with.
For the clients, this means working directly with ethical and professional translators and interpreters committed to quality and value.
Join our happy community, let's work together!
Comments
Post a Comment
Feel free to leave a comment here: