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waiting 4 months for the big bucks - commonplace in France?
Thread poster: Marcus Malabad
Marcus Malabad
Marcus Malabad  Identity Verified
Canada
German to English
+ ...
Sep 19, 2002

Contacted recently by a well-known French agency for a sub-contract job for a Spanish agency. Spanish to English, software/techo/finance. Voluminous job for a team of 5 translators working for 2 months straight.



Sounds like a dream job, verdad? You could live off that income for the next 2 months and buy yourself a week\'s vacation to Mallorca to boot! Or at least buy yourself one of those cool 2GB super-duper machines since your 233-MHz piece of rickety crap should be jetti... See more
Contacted recently by a well-known French agency for a sub-contract job for a Spanish agency. Spanish to English, software/techo/finance. Voluminous job for a team of 5 translators working for 2 months straight.



Sounds like a dream job, verdad? You could live off that income for the next 2 months and buy yourself a week\'s vacation to Mallorca to boot! Or at least buy yourself one of those cool 2GB super-duper machines since your 233-MHz piece of rickety crap should be jettisoned once and for all.



Here\'s the catch: commitment for 2 months so I assume little to no time for other jobs or other sources of income, EUR 0.061 per source word, payment in 60 days after invoicing. My proposal of 10 EUR cents and incremental staggered payments every 2 weeks were nonchalantly rebuffed: \"Il est vrai que c\'est un tarif au ras du marché mais malheureusement les clients espagnol paient encore moins qu\'en France\".



Bristling sarcasm was just below the surface of my politely written refusal. I would\'ve couched it with more scorn had I not contained my typing fingers. What chutzpah to ask a person to work for 2 months with few to little opportunity of remuneration from other sources and wait again for an additional 2 months for the mulah to come.



I\'ve long ago renounced working with agencies from certain (here unnamed) countries for purely selfish reasons.



Is this normal practice in France? I\'m aware rates are low there (and in Spain) but are these terms acceptable? The agency seems to be thriving so I guess there are many colleagues who accept their miserly conditions.



Is this nasty niggardliness or common practice? ▲ Collapse
 


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waiting 4 months for the big bucks - commonplace in France?







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