(a few pieces from their website ? and my comments)
"TransPerfect is headquartered in New York, with offices in over 50 cities on 4 continents."
"Commitment to Quality
"We have demonstrated our commitment to providing the highest quality language solutions, to achieving client satisfaction, and most important, to working to continually improve our processes and operations to exceed our clients' expectations," Well … if that is so, how come I continuously get mails like:
"SUPER URGENT JOB
Please excuse this blast email but this project requires some urgency. I have contacted many of you about this job already but we still have about 4700 words left to place. I am in desperate need of help for this one and I would really appreciate any help at all. Even if you could take a page or two that would be extremely helpful. … Quality is of utmost importance for this project as well as the client has already complained about the quality of previous translations."
→ If quality is of such importance, why then split a 20+ job among several translators. This will by necessity and assuredly result in a mixture of styles and probably also a "quality cocktail".
"For TransPerfect, achieving ISO 9001 certification is an honor: but it is simply not enough. We continue to innovate, to strive for excellence, evolving every day to take advantage of all that the emerging technologies have to offer, streamlining our processes, and meeting our clients' needs in the most effective manner possible."
→ As far as I know, they insist on using an outdated, not very reliable software that many translators DO NOT like. And the require translators to use this tool, which forces the translator to work with equipment s/he may not be familiar/efficient with. How can this then help to produce better results???
While Transperfect ALWAYS tries to cheat the translators and offers a pay that is significantly substandard, there are sometimes desparate situations:
"This job is still available and we need your help!!!?
Please let me know if you can take proofreading or translation and when is the soonest you can deliver the files."
"Hello again,
I can pay whatever is necessary to get this job completed for the deadlines below. Please let me know if you cn help.?THANK YOU!!!"
In that case I would suggest, that they offer the translator a decent pay up front for work to be completed in reasonable time. THAT would help!
Or,
"I have 560 words of an urgent press release due in 3 hours. A great way to make some extra money for the weekend."
Since Transperfect offers mostly something between 0.04 ? 0.08 USD, assume they will pay 0.07 USD = 40 USD. Fine, but I would have to pay 30-40 USD in bank fees to get that money" = a "great way to make some extra money".And the other day:
"Hi Thomas, you came highly recommended by my colleagues (==> that is something I doubt VERY much) and I was wondering if you could help me out with a small favor. I have a EN>DE translation that was done, the linguist is now offline but I just wanted to check that the translation of this one word is correct."
Stupid as I am, I DID answer.
"Hi Thomas! Thank you for that! I was actually wondering why the "of" is not translated. Should it be …."
My response (partially):
The choice depends on the clients expectations / preferences
**UNLESS** you leave all the decisions to the translator. But in that case you/the client should not afterwards come and complain about a million
unimportant and annoying details? .....
AND ask people basically NOT involved = me, to provide you with free services.
I would prefer, if you do not bother me with this any further.
=> which the manager did not. Neither did he ever offer **ANY** kind of favor in return for this favor/service he got through me.
A symbolic representation of the exploitation of translators by Transperfect.
My advice to translators: unless you can really good offer from Transperfect (unlikely!) - preferrably in writing! - you should for your own good think twice before working for that company.
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