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Duplicate jobs from different client, what would you do?
Thread poster: Peng Liu
Kaspars Melkis
Kaspars Melkis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:18
English to Latvian
+ ...
Translation is never finished Feb 22, 2019

There is no such thing as perfect translation. For the second customer I would spend some time reviewing it. Then you would be completely justified to charge the customer for the work done.

Christine Andersen
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
an order/sequence discrimination Feb 22, 2019

Kaspars, there're translation theories that no bad or wrong translation exists, but the less educated audience, then why so much fuss? It's all ok.

A review, proofread, and edit at your own costs?--You are more than welcome!)

Translation depends on many preferences and variables to factor, yet it still will produce numerous "It's not fair! Why two clients got [almost] the same edition?", implying it should be (A) identical, (B) a bit d
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Kaspars, there're translation theories that no bad or wrong translation exists, but the less educated audience, then why so much fuss? It's all ok.

A review, proofread, and edit at your own costs?--You are more than welcome!)

Translation depends on many preferences and variables to factor, yet it still will produce numerous "It's not fair! Why two clients got [almost] the same edition?", implying it should be (A) identical, (B) a bit different or (C) unique.
A cage is 25 × 10 × 4 meters.
A lion is 2 × 0.4 × 1.2 meters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
How many lions can enter an empty cage?


Only one--the first and the only, because the cage is empty no longer.
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Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 19:18
Romanian to English
+ ...
something similar happened to me Feb 22, 2019

Not too long ago, one agency that has a contract with a government department, sent me a 70 pages source to translate; the very next day, another agency sent me the same text. Since the two agencies are competitors and they are aware that I work with both, I let them know about the "double". To my surprise, both agencies held their ground and asked me to do their translation. I sent the absolute same translation to both agencies and I got paid by both. Shouldn't we love it when it happens?

 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:18
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
3 agencies used my sample to respond to a government RFP Feb 22, 2019

I submitted a test translation one day to Agency A, which I was told would be included in their response to a government RFP. On the next day, Agencies B and C approached me with the same test sample. I honestly let them know that another agency had used my test sample (it goes without saying that I didn't release its name for confidentiality concern), and they would be better off if they could find someone else to work on their test samples. My reasoning was that their chances would be compromi... See more
I submitted a test translation one day to Agency A, which I was told would be included in their response to a government RFP. On the next day, Agencies B and C approached me with the same test sample. I honestly let them know that another agency had used my test sample (it goes without saying that I didn't release its name for confidentiality concern), and they would be better off if they could find someone else to work on their test samples. My reasoning was that their chances would be compromised if the government agency in question would find out they all submitted the sample sample.

Surprisingly, both Agencies B and C didn't think the way I did and requested me to send them the sample and paid me in full.

I didn't know what they did with the sample before submitting it. Maybe they had someone else edit/proofread it.


[Edited at 2019-02-23 07:31 GMT]
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DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
NDA/privacy Feb 22, 2019

I let them know about the "double"
Liviu-Lee, and why do you disclose biz/sensitive info to a third party, let alone rivals?

[Edited at 2019-02-23 21:49 GMT]


 
LEXpert
LEXpert  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:18
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
+ ...
No dilemma, any number of reasons this happens Feb 22, 2019

jyuan_us wrote:

My reasoning was that their chances would be compromised if the government agency in question would find out they all submitted the sample sample.

Surprisingly, both Agency B and C didn't think the way I did and requested me to send them the sample and paid me in full.


You could have changed it up a little for the second agency. Surely one or two slightly different turns of phrase wouldn't have comprised the quality? They probably edited it a little on their end anyway.

My take on that situation is that they are thinking that key determinant is going to be price anyway, so they might as well get the best sample translation they can find, even it is the same as somebody else's.

I don't see the situation from the original question as any kind of moral dilemma. It is not our place to wonder why a client might have sent the same job to different agencies. Here are a couple of plausible possibilities, both of which I have encountered:
1) The translation is of critical importance in terms of time and quality, money is not an object and they want to minimize the risk of non-delivery or a bad translation by hiring two agencies for the same job, figuring at least one will definitely come through.
2) It is the initial part of a much larger project, and they want to see which of several contenders is going to do a better job before assigning the rest.


 
Kaspars Melkis
Kaspars Melkis  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:18
English to Latvian
+ ...
DZiW, I am not sure I follow you Feb 22, 2019

My attitude is that translation is not a thing, it's a service. It is not proper to estimate its value in words or characters but by its added value to the client. However, it is very hard to do therefore we fall back to counting words or time spent on it etc just for convenience.

When you do the review and don't find anything wrong and don't make any changes, where is the added value? It is in the increased probability that the text does not contain any serious mistakes or issues.
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My attitude is that translation is not a thing, it's a service. It is not proper to estimate its value in words or characters but by its added value to the client. However, it is very hard to do therefore we fall back to counting words or time spent on it etc just for convenience.

When you do the review and don't find anything wrong and don't make any changes, where is the added value? It is in the increased probability that the text does not contain any serious mistakes or issues. The text may be the same but the value has increased. Clients understand and value this and as translators we have to appreciate clients concerns.

If we just double charge for the same service to different clients, even if it is legal, it leads us into attitude towards translation as a comodity.

Someone already mentioned that there might be a case when clients represent different audiences therefore adaptation for each client is added value. But if we know that they both are the same, then doing additional review (best not immediately after doing translation but after some time when you can look at the text with a fresh mind again) benefits both clients. Imagine, you found a serious mistake in your translation during the review? Would you the inform the first client who had already received the translation with a mistake? I would because that's my professional responsibility. On the other hand, if no such mistakes are found, then upon additional review the probability the translation is fit for purpose increases mysteriously for both clients, even if they don't know it.
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DZiW (X)
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard Feb 23, 2019

Kaspars, while it's a little loaded question, my attitude is a service usually provided by [semi-educated] servants whereas translation is a service outcome--a somehow useful piece of material work like a writing, a photo, a painting, a sculpture, a composition and so on. Alas, most translators are but poor businessmen acting like servants.

It's neither abstract, nor constant, yet its true value is in the eyes of a client/reader. People differ, you know. Why, sometimes I chec
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Kaspars, while it's a little loaded question, my attitude is a service usually provided by [semi-educated] servants whereas translation is a service outcome--a somehow useful piece of material work like a writing, a photo, a painting, a sculpture, a composition and so on. Alas, most translators are but poor businessmen acting like servants.

It's neither abstract, nor constant, yet its true value is in the eyes of a client/reader. People differ, you know. Why, sometimes I check my portfolio and change my mind too)

Unmeasurable? That's one of the biggest issues in translation: if something is worth translating, then its value no less than the original.

Nowadays, if a translator has time to review/edit pro bono, then either he is a real pro, or his client knows the trade and wants the job done properly. Unfortunately, it's not the case with today CAT-operators, pressed by rush jobs and more-for-less requirements, let alone modern agencies.

Yes, an adaptation and review is a must, but not when a second client simultaneously asked to translate the same work--and WITHOUT paying for edit/proofread.

I don't like the idea of "group-buy" or "not-the-first" discounts, because it's but a social engineering of the infamous fuzzy/repetition discounts. As a businessman, I would neither agree to sorry $.10/w, nor give discounts.
I'm quite irreligious and prefer egalitarianism, yet--

Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen...

— Matthew 20:1–16, King James Version


[Edited at 2019-02-23 16:23 GMT]
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Daryo
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:18
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Play them off Feb 25, 2019

Peng Liu wrote:

A week ago I accepted an assignment from a migration lawyer. A few days later, another lawyer engaged me for the same document to be translated. I feel guilty charging the second lawyer for actually doing nothing coz it is already completed for the first client. However, I don’t think it is appropriate to let the two clients know the duplicate jobs because I don’t know what the true situation is. It might just be an oversight of the lawyer’s client but it is not up to me to find out. Confidentiality should apply. What would you do in my situation?


Play them off one against the other. Whoever pays the most, gets your translation.


DZiW (X)
 
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