No TM, but discount for fuzzy matches?
Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 15:29
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
Aug 23, 2016

Once in a while clients send me a file or a bunch of files for translation, no project TM, but an Excel file with a table for calculating the total price with different grades of repetitions, 100% and fuzzy matches. Don't they understand what a fuzzy match means, or do they really expect I would sell the matches from my own TM with discount or for free (100% match)? What do you think?

 
Vadim Kadyrov
Vadim Kadyrov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 15:29
English to Russian
+ ...
Something new, actually Aug 23, 2016

I think they would like you to translate the file and then find these fuzzy matches for them.

But that is not a problem - I mean, "repetitions" line is already used by certain agencies trying to get discounts.

BTW, it can only show the number of words (or segments) which are identical.

[Edited at 2016-08-23 10:01 GMT]


 
Yasutomo Kanazawa
Yasutomo Kanazawa  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 22:29
Member (2005)
English to Japanese
+ ...
Dirty tactics by agencies and clients Aug 23, 2016

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

Once in a while clients send me a file or a bunch of files for translation, no project TM, but an Excel file with a table for calculating the total price with different grades of repetitions, 100% and fuzzy matches. Don't they understand what a fuzzy match means, or do they really expect I would sell the matches from my own TM with discount or for free (100% match)? What do you think?


Yes, I too, sometimes get this kind of job offers. The worst part is that like Henrich wrote, they send me an Excel file but never tell me to work with a CAT tool, i.e. to insert the translations directly into the target language column and they ask for discounts on fuzzy and/or repetitions. How audacious!


 
Richard Purdom
Richard Purdom  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:29
Dutch to English
+ ...
? Aug 23, 2016

They are presumably matches within the source documents, so I don't see your problem. It's obviously less work, so the market price (your price) should reflect this.

The cost of a decent CAT is negligible for a professional translator, probably 0.5% of income, and should be reflected in what we charge anyway. It is in fact an essential part of being a modern translator, like having an internet connection!


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:29
French to English
pre-translated file in their CAT tool format? Aug 23, 2016

Do they send you a pre-translated file in their CAT tool format? I get that from one client, but I refuse to apply their self-awarded discounts, since I end up having to read through, check and often correct those pre-translated segments. Mostly if I don't correct them, it's because it's my translation. But I've already read both source and target before realising that. I don't quibble if it's just a couple of sentences but it's often several hundred words. It's all quite petty really.
... See more
Do they send you a pre-translated file in their CAT tool format? I get that from one client, but I refuse to apply their self-awarded discounts, since I end up having to read through, check and often correct those pre-translated segments. Mostly if I don't correct them, it's because it's my translation. But I've already read both source and target before realising that. I don't quibble if it's just a couple of sentences but it's often several hundred words. It's all quite petty really.

They've tried to self-award discounts and I have said each time that if they want those discounts, I shall simply raise my rates overall so that I still earn the same amount as if I were translating from scratch. I have the same exchange with every new member of staff, and it seems to me that they have quite a high turnover, it's getting to the point where I'm hoping to ditch them.
(For that, I just need to muster the energy to find some other clients instead, although I've heard rumours that they will be closing their French office in which case I could simply reach out to their clients, in that the non-compete clause of our contract would no longer apply.)
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Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 13:29
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Aren't CATs capable of finding internal fuzzies nowadays? Aug 23, 2016

My clients don't ask for discounts, even though I use a CAT tool. I just offer them, on a rather less specific basis, if there's so much time to be gained by matches that I can share the savings with my client.

But I think I've heard discussions about internal fuzzy matches calculated by a CAT tool - probably SDL. Clients that expect discounts for everything will certainly be looking to save money that way.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:29
French to English
time spent checking matches Aug 23, 2016

Richard Purdom wrote:

They are presumably matches within the source documents, so I don't see your problem. It's obviously less work, so the market price (your price) should reflect this.


Unless the context is exactly the same, like an entire page with only figures that change, an exact match still needs to be checked. Otherwise you end up with situations where agencies send out instructions to translations including gems like 'please note that "guide" must be translated as "Katalog" not "Fuhrer".'
(believe me, I have seen this!)

Richard Purdom wrote:
The cost of a decent CAT is negligible for a professional translator, probably 0.5% of income, and should be reflected in what we charge anyway. It is in fact an essential part of being a modern translator, like having an internet connection!


That depends somewhat on the fields you specialise in. Working in highly creative fields with a high turnover of ideas such as fashion, the last thing my clients want is for my translation to sound like the one I did for them last year!
I also do a lot of stuff in tourism, and again, if I translate ten descriptions of places of interest, hotels and restaurants, I have to make each one sound unique. It's good to see what I put before, but only so I make sure of coming up with something different.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:29
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Internal fuzzies Aug 23, 2016

Heinrich Pesch wrote:
Once in a while clients send me a file or a bunch of files for translation, no project TM, but an Excel file with a table for calculating the total price with different grades of repetitions, 100% and fuzzy matches.


As others have said, it may be that the analysis contains internal fuzzies (which some CAT tools refer to as "fuzzy repetitions"). This is when two segments are very similar but neither of them have a match in an existing TM.


 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 14:29
Member
English to Italian
Internal matches/"Homogeneity" Aug 23, 2016

Heinrich Pesch wrote:

Once in a while clients send me a file or a bunch of files for translation, no project TM, but an Excel file with a table for calculating the total price with different grades of repetitions, 100% and fuzzy matches. Don't they understand what a fuzzy match means, or do they really expect I would sell the matches from my own TM with discount or for free (100% match)? What do you think?


Are you sure it's not what Richard and Sheila mentioned?

Among all the continuous ever wondrous and stupefying betterments CAT tool developers so graciously provide us with, many CAT tools now have a specific feature to count the amount of internal fuzzy matches in a document/project, so, basically, that means that some agencies now ask for discounts even if no legacy TMs were used to prepare a project.

"Internal fuzzy match analysis calculates the maximum additional leverage that can be obtained by the translator interactively translating the document with a translation memory. It assumes that the translator will translate the document from start to end, segment by segment. After each segment is confirmed, the translation memory is updated, and the best match applied to the next segment.
Example
If segment 1 is translated and confirmed (the translation memory is updated), when a lookup is performed in the translation memory for segment 2, a 75% fuzzy match is found because the first three words are identical to the translated text in segment 1.
Segment 1:

Can I have a sandwich?
Segment 2:

Can I have some sweets?" - http://producthelp.sdl.com/SDL%20Trados%20Studio/client_en/Ref/A-G/Batch_Processing/Batch_Processing___Analyze_Files.htm

"Homogeneity measures internal similarities of documents within a project. If there are two similar segments "after" each other, memoQ will simulate what will happen if the two segments are translated after each other in real life. Technically, while calculating statistics with the homogeneity option turned on, each segment that memoQ processes is added to a temporary translation memory, and is used for lookup for every segment processed subsequently, as if it was already translated. For the statistics results it means that if the second segment is 80% similar to the first, and then the second segment will be put in the 75-84% match category in statistics.

This gives more realistic values, simulating the translation memory results a translator gets while working: if the a translator actually translates the first segment, and goes to the second segment that is 80% similar, he also gets a 80% match." - http://kilgray.com/memoq/2015-100/help-en/index.html?using_homogeneity.html

Amazing, isn't it? One can't help but look forward with trepidation to what the future holds


 


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No TM, but discount for fuzzy matches?







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