| பதிவின் பக்கங்கள்: < [1 2] | Spontaneous applications to agencies இழை இடுபவர்: Anne Diamantidis
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Anne Diamantidis 
ஜெர்மணி
Local time: 00:54
உறுப்பினர் (2007)
ஜெர்மன் - ஃபிரன்ச்
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தலைப்பை ஆரம்பித்தல்
Jenny Forbes wrote:
I agree that mass "spamlike" emails are annoying and often a waste of time.
Writing from the translator's point of view, I sometimes receive what appear to be mass emails asking me to translate into, say, Polish or Swedish, which are not my languages, so clearly the sender hasn't bothered to read anything about me, but nevertheless sends me the message. How tedious ...
Jenny
Hi Jenny,
Couldn't agree more. Listed as Freelancer/Outsourcer profile type since we do a lot of translating ourselves, I only reply to queries that were personally adressed to me or to a small group of translators, but never reply to queries that were sent via mass-mailing ("hello translators", etc.).
By the way we don't do that either - a lot of our translations are done in-house and when we need to outsource for a language pair or a topic where we have no translator in our network, since we cover a specific specialty field, we do a ProZ directory search and contact individually the translator we want for that given job. We rarely post jobs on the ProZ jobs system, we only do that when the directory search was unsuccessful. I think we did it only once so far .
Cheers,
Anne
[Edited at 2012-06-20 08:46 GMT]
| | | | Anne Diamantidis
ஜெர்மணி
Local time: 00:54
உறுப்பினர் (2007)
ஜெர்மன் - ஃபிரன்ச்
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தலைப்பை ஆரம்பித்தல் | You're welcome | Jun 20, 2012 |
Lara Van der Zee wrote:
Thank you for posting this article. Sure, some points are basic and should be obvious to all translators. But as a beginning translator it is very interesting to me to see the emails I send from the receiving end. This helps me to understand better how my mails are read and what I should focus on.
Hi Lara,
You're welcome, glad you could get something to chew on. Those tips are by no mean meant to be a Biblical truth, but rather to express some general feedback and personal suggestions based on what we observe and experience on a daily basis.
What would be interesting is to know how big is the role of the cultural factor in this. Are there any points in the article that would not apply for/with LSPs from Asia, India, South America, Africa, etc. for example?
| | | | | Time and resources | Jun 20, 2012 |
septima wrote:
Thanks for that phrase, you clarified my thoughts on this issue. This is a view which is also central to the blog article we’re discussing here. It's worth examining it in greater detail, because I think it’s a mistake on the part of agencies about how this all works. Agencies "don’t have the time" to reply to a couple of emails a day or a few a week using a standard template? That’s not right. I think this attitude is actually based on a misunderstanding about who agencies are in this business. A misconception that, of course, agencies have a vested interest in perpetuating.
I completely disagree with all this. The way I assign my time and priorities makes total sense to me. The only person entitled to decide how time is best invested for the well-being of my business is me. If answering spontaneous emails from people who I notice have never visited our website falls very low in my list of priorities, it is my right to keep it that way.
Now, when someone has a genuine interest in my office, has read our website (which by the way can be read in full in under 3 minutes), and matches our needs (lives in the area, can perhaps work in-house with us, works in our language pairs), I am more than happy to communicate and even interview the person.
It is not just the agencies who have to do their work: freelancers applying spontaneously must do their homework and not email wildly all over the shoppe!
| | | | | Quite clear to me | Jun 20, 2012 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
In the about 15 applications I receive every week, it is quite clear that the translator did not spend a minute visiting our website (which clearly states that we do all work in-house and basically only translate into Spanish)...
[Edited: Oh, Spanish is also mentioned on the Quick Facts page, somewhere. And what does "qualified external translators" mean, if not "send us your CV if you're a translator"?]
Good point. However, the sentence does not mean "send us your CV", but instead that we ALREADY have qualified people who help us in translations from Spanish into other languages.
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John Fossey
கனடா
Local time: 18:54
உறுப்பினர் (2008)
ஃபிரன்ச் - ஆங்கிலம்
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| Reason for unsolicited emails: they work | Jun 20, 2012 |
The reason why many translators send unsolicited information about their services to agencies is that many agencies appreciate receiving such information. A few do not, of course.
Likewise, the reason why many agencies send out unsolicited invitations about current project needs to translators is that they frequently are successful using this technique to find a translator in a hurry.
Much business between satisfied businesspeople results from these activities.
... See more The reason why many translators send unsolicited information about their services to agencies is that many agencies appreciate receiving such information. A few do not, of course.
Likewise, the reason why many agencies send out unsolicited invitations about current project needs to translators is that they frequently are successful using this technique to find a translator in a hurry.
Much business between satisfied businesspeople results from these activities.
My inbox frequently receives such "unsolicited" invitations from agencies. It takes no more than a couple of seconds to decide whether or not to respond - certainly much less disruptive than a phone call, piece of snail mail or a visit.
Unsolicited commercial emails, according to the CAN-SPAM Act (http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business ) are required to identify the sender and provide an "opt-out" mechanism. If both translators and agencies would comply and not resend to recipients who have asked not to be sent to, it would make both parties happier.
[Edited at 2012-06-20 13:10 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anne Diamantidis
ஜெர்மணி
Local time: 00:54
உறுப்பினர் (2007)
ஜெர்மன் - ஃபிரன்ச்
+ ...
தலைப்பை ஆரம்பித்தல்
A sequel of the original article is now online, with a concrete example of an application email.
http://gxplanguageservices.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/how-to-not-contact-a-translation-company-part-2/
I'm really curious about the cultural factor and the role it plays (see the question at the end of the article) - b... See more A sequel of the original article is now online, with a concrete example of an application email.
http://gxplanguageservices.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/how-to-not-contact-a-translation-company-part-2/
I'm really curious about the cultural factor and the role it plays (see the question at the end of the article) - because the only certainty I have is that culture does play a role in business communication in general, we all have examples of exchanging emails with translators/PMs from a another culture, where the codes and etiquette of communication are really different. It is a fascinating topic (though FYI the particular case the article is refering to does come from a Western culture, like me).
Anyway, would love to know your thoughts.
Anne ▲ Collapse
| | | | 564354352 (X)
டென்மார்க்
Local time: 00:54
டேனிஷ் - ஆங்கிலம்
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| I'm with Septima here | Sep 21, 2012 |
I really like Septima's comments and the view that agencies simply take a cut of the price that is paid for indenpendent translators' work rather than agencies 'paying' translators to work for them, and that the whole idea of translators having to 'butter up' agencies is ridiculous. We (translators) are professionals offering a highly skilled, professional service, not inferior beings hoping to find mercy in the eyes of administrative bodies (agencies).
Like other independent transl... See more I really like Septima's comments and the view that agencies simply take a cut of the price that is paid for indenpendent translators' work rather than agencies 'paying' translators to work for them, and that the whole idea of translators having to 'butter up' agencies is ridiculous. We (translators) are professionals offering a highly skilled, professional service, not inferior beings hoping to find mercy in the eyes of administrative bodies (agencies).
Like other independent translators, I find it equally annoying to receive invitations from agencies who are looking to expand their pool of translators and would like me to submit my details for their consideration, after which they don't even have the simple courtesy to write back and say 'thank you for responding'. At times it really does feel like agencies consider themselves little kings in this business, with translators being minions who do the dirty work, whereas the fact is that agencies simply push jobs around and translators are the ones doing the actual work and should be shown far more respect on that account.
However, spamming agencies with mindless emails, is of course, just plain stupid. For the record, I have been at the receiving end of those, too, when I worked as an in-house translator for an agency for seven years and had to assess such offers. We would not be impressed by such mass emails, but we still took the time to read and respond to any emails from translators offering us their services, however badly phrased or presented. ▲ Collapse
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