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Sometimes our translators ask us why we cannot just send them a file attached to an email, or why they cannot just send us a translation sample instead of them having to do these tasks themselves through our web interface. These pages describe why, and how we work in general.  Why We Work This Way General Processes Submitting Translation Samples Processing Submitted Translation Samples Translator Application Form Total Investment of Your Time Before Commencing Work Payment FormWhy We Work This Way It is our aim to be an efficient organisation working through a virtual office. The advantages of working this way are:
Below is a detailed description of each particular process, and a justification for it, if you would like to familiarise yourself with it. General Processes
Submitting Translation Samples This system can often generate the most complaints, and it can be more time consuming. But when you apply to a new customer, or any job, can you not expect at least some initial investment of time before establishing cooperation? Some translators say, "Listen, I'm pretty well known around these parts. My quality is fantastic and if you want to work with me, don't waste my time with your requests and just start sending me some work." But can one expect to start sending a translator work without testing them first? We do not place great faith in references or personal statements, or even impressive looking CVs, but rather in our own testing process. Translators are asked to submit a 100 word translation sample (of text WE provide), which then gets reviewed by as many as three or more different assessors. We try to limit one translation sample per translator, per language combination, per subject matter. If a translator has proven their quality in a particular subject and language combination, and we have good experience with them, we could generally believe them when they say they can handle other subjects in that same language combination. But if they would like to take work into another language, we generally like to see their quality first. Once a translator has been rated as quality based on their translation sample, we will continue to test them once we send them a translation, but now they are getting paid for it. If some problems are found, the file might be sent back to them for further modifications, and in this way we nurture our relationship with the new translator. So for that particular language combination, to get your foot into the door and start the entire process, you cannot argue that the one hundred word translation sample is so painful that you cannot continue. After all, when you apply for a new job, you usually have to spend some time making yourself look presentable, then commute to and from the first interview, which may turn into a second and third interview. But to submit a small translation sample requires much less time. A quality translator might be receiving regular work, but dry spells can occur, during when such a translator might decide to spend the time approaching new customers. By approaching new customers they are already spending some time. When some of these customers respond and ask that the translator fill in an online application form and submit a translation sample, it tends to defeat the purpose of the original investment of time if the translator does not want to take the few extra steps necessary to begin cooperation. Processing Submitted Translation Samples Unfortunately, just sending in a translation sample by email is not sufficient, because we have learned over the years that processing such samples in this way is extremely time consuming. So once again we use an online system where:
Once your translation sample has been submitted in this manner, it can be reviewed online by any of the assessors. All the data is eventually downloaded and copied into an Excel file, where comments can be made. Otherwise, without this online system, each incoming email had to be processed individually, the price and other information laboriously copy/pasted from each email into an Excel file, the attached file saved into a particular folder and named according to the record number, the samples sent to the individual assessors, and their assessments laboriously copied into the Excel file. For all this and hundreds or thousands of translation samples, a small army can be employed. For the translator to log into the account and then upload their translation sample, this extra step should take no longer than one minute. A quality one hundred word translation sample could take 10 minutes or more. Not a great price to pay to get your foot into the door of an agency and begin long term cooperation. Translator Application Form And there is one last "painful" form you should fill in before we commence cooperation, which is the Translator Application form, which you can access once logged into your account. But even this we have simplified such that it should take you no more than one minute. The most important field is your language combination(s), and then your price. When we approach translators for a new project, we might look into the Active Tenders records, with the assessments of translation samples, or the Translator Application form. We generally prefer to ask for translation samples only when we are actually receiving regular work in a particular language combination and subject. But when we get approached by a new customer, or an existing customer for a new language combination for which we have not set up a translation test yet, we will approach translators based on their language combination and price (a customer often sets a price limit for particular projects, and we always try to target our approach emails so that we do not waste anyone's time). In our database we type in the source and target language, and sort the results according to price. It is therefore imperative that you at LEAST fill in all your language combinations (red marked section near the top, should be blinking) for this form, so that your record will appear in our searches. You should select the languages from the provided drop down menus, and ONLY manually type in the languages in the fields below in the event that you provide a language that is not in the drop down menu. This is because, if you do not choose it from the provided drop down menu, you may spell the language differently than we have (Byelorussian instead of Belorussian, Kroatian instead of Croatian). If you spell it differently, once again your record will not appear in our searches, because we always search according to the chosen form of spelling. You should be able to see all your language combinations, then press Save at the bottom of the page. This process should take you about one minute. If you like, you can copy/paste information from your CV into the Education and Experience fields, and select/check which subjects you are capable of translating, or fill in any of the other information, but this is not so necessary. In some cases, once we have determined that you qualify for a particular project, we may ask that you complete this form, so that we can forward the relevant information to the customer. At this point you will have already received and be receiving work from us, so this extra step, if necessary, will be worthwhile. Total Investment of Your Time Before Commencing Work Therefore, if we add up all the time spent for the tasks above, which are required before commencing cooperation or to get your foot into the door, it might look something like this:
So, all in all, it should take you between 15 to 30 minutes to go through the entire process, which really isn't that much if you consider the possibility of long term and continue work. You may have already spent about one minute finding us on the internet and sending us your CV, not to mention several hours approaching many translation agencies (instead of spending hours surfing the internet looking for translation agencies, you can purchase more than one thousand email addresses to translation agencies looking for translators). When any of those agencies you approach ask for references, or to fill in some forms, it means they are interested in more translators in your language combination. You just need to address each case and invest a little more time for each of them. We find that filling in the form of some agencies can be quite time consuming and almost traumatic, which is why we designed ours as user friendly and simple as possible. Note that our system has been designed for both Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Using other browsers may lead to problems. Payment Form Once you have done some work for us, in addition to more complete information in the Translator Application form which we might ask of you, if you can accept payment by Moneybookers, PayPal or iKobo, generally you can just send us the related email address by email, with no need to send an invoice. We can copy this information next to your name in the project you worked on with no further work required from you. If you will be receiving regular work from us, we might ask you to punch in this information into the Payment Form (link found when logged into your account with us), to keep the information centralised so that we do not have to keep referring to the previous projects you worked on. But if you require payment by wire bank transfer, we will definitely require that you fill in the Payment Form (only necessary if you've received work from us), since the form has been designed according to the requirements of our bank, to make sure that the wire transfer is without glitches or potential problems or delays. In the Payment Form you can select which way you would like to get paid, if this changes from time to time, or just instruct us of this by email during a project. In this way you can include all your possible methods of payment in the form. You do not need to issue us an invoice, but when logged in, through the Accounting link you will find all the projects you have performed for us in the past, all our previous payments to you, and any outstanding balance. This is particularly useful if providing occasional small jobs for us, as managing the accounting for such small jobs and issuing invoices can easily take as much time as the entire translation. So you see, we really have thought about the best way to save you time and make our cooperation as comfortable and effortless as possible. It will only require from you the initial and small investment of time to get your foot into the door and start the entire process. We look forward to you becoming a valued member of our growing team! KENAX Management
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