I've been tossing a business idea around for a while now, and I'm finally considering moving on it.
Right now I'm only offering services in one language pair, and essentially in one direction (G>E). That's the area where I'm good at what I do and where I can provide good translations.
There are lots of languages out there, though, and lots of translators looking for work. Some of them I know fairly well. I think consolidating our efforts a bit and partnering up would be a good way to get more work flowing in.
I guess it would be sort of like a language agency, but I am thinking of more of a partnership of freelance translators, who are in it to promote themselves and get more work rather than to work for an agency. I think that would encourage better work, to be honest, because it would be more in line with the kind of business that freelance translators like to run for themselves. There could be an agreement of mutual "finder's fees" - if a French translator in the group landed a job for the German partner and passed it on, they would take a small percentage off the top perhaps. And the same in the other direction. That way we could have a whole group of translators on the lookout for work for everyone involved, which would potentially be more successful than individual efforts. It would also allow for the sharing of proofreading and editing duties (and might even facilitate that when it wouldn't otherwise be possible due to time and workload constraints).
My website could be tailored to this idea pretty easily, just by altering content a bit and adding some information. I would just need to get some committed partners who are interested in the idea...
Posted by steve at July 28, 2004 11:37 AMMyself and a colleague in France have been thinking along similar lines recently. A flexible network of trusted colleagues, rather than any formal agency structure, with clients coming to us either through our individual operations as they stand, or through a central portal. Still tossing ideas around at the moment. Drop me a line if you're interested.
Posted by: Jez at July 29, 2004 11:10 AMA very good idea. Keep us posted.
Posted by: Werner George Patels at July 29, 2004 04:30 PMDid you ever check out proz.com?
Posted by: logtar at August 4, 2004 05:56 PM@logtar:
I'd be very careful about ProZ and the translators you find there.
- recently I came across one translator who claims to be a member of ATA, but as it turns out, he is not. That's fraud. Henry (the owner of ProZ) has refused to take action, despite having been contacted by ATA.
- one client of mine hired a translator he had found on ProZ. She agreed to the terms and everything, but halfway through the project, she just vanished - never to be heard of again. Not exactly professional conduct.
These are just two examples of unprofessional conduct or even fraud; over the years, I have seen a lot of bad stuff there. So, if you suggest that Steve turn to ProZ to "recruit" translators for his idea, think again. ProZ is not a bad source of translators, but you really have to check and double-check their credentials and other "claims to fame".
A more reliable source is TranslatorsCafe. That same individual that claims to be a member of ATA was dealt with swiftly by the owner of TranslatorsCafe: he simply deleted any references to ATA from that person's profile.
Posted by: Werner George Patels at August 5, 2004 11:28 AMI agree with Werner on the positive review of TC. As far as ProZ goes, I take everything I see there with a grain of salt.
I don't often look for jobs there because in my experience, it's not worth my time to sort through the multitude of ridiculously low-paying jobs to find something that's actually worth the effort, only to bid against 300 other people who are most certainly price-gouging the rest of us.
It's a good idea, but poorly implemented I think.
Posted by: steve at August 6, 2004 09:48 AMHow would you change the implementation of such an online system?
Personally I would do away with all that "bidding rubbish". These "online auctions" where translators prostitute themselves for a few pennies were started by ProZ (and that was one of the main reasons why rates have generally fallen since 1999, the year ProZ entered the scene).
I know many "apostles of Henry" keep saying that ProZ is the best thing that ever happened to them, but essentially ProZ has done a lot of damage to our profession (lower rates and deteriorating professional standards).
Unless you set up a site like that as a professional translators' association (with STRICT admission criteria), it will always be the same BS ...
Posted by: Werner George Patels at August 6, 2004 05:39 PMI rather like Proz. Visually, I prefer the Proz design to TC. I do agree about the job bidding thing there, though. I've bid and won a few jobs, for the more "serious" looking job-posters. And I have had people contact me through my profile, offering me work, one of which is getting late on payment, which is starting to worry me.
The forums are good on Proz, though, except when people put "My 2 cents!" at the end of every comment they make. That irritates the hell out of me.
Posted by: Jez at August 8, 2004 11:36 AMYou are so right. That "my 2 cents" comment has become epidemically ubiquitous on ProZ forums, hasn't it?
I suppose it reflects that fact that most ProZers charge only 2 cents a word :-))))
Posted by: Werner George Patels at August 8, 2004 07:22 PM