Translation Project Management

(January 31 - February 1)

I would like you to know that the Fine Reader 8.0 on the server must be having a virus. I installed in 3 times (without Activation because I did not find any available, that is non-already-used one number with the help of the Keygen) and all 3 times after say 10-15 minutes of having it on computer my AntiVirus found viruses in it, blocked and deleted it, just as with any other threat. I searched on the net and I found some free OCR software, but I will not download any of them for the time being if you can advice me one.

well I have 6.0 on the server, and hope to upgrade it later. I don't think it is a virus, but I couldn't intall it either. Don't know what to suggest. I'll just have to work on giving you access to the server.

Dear karel: Good day I really would like to continue with you, so please advise how much do you think is a fair amount for both of us.

well, you assessed 23 samples, and 31 were "no or wrong sample". 23x90x0.02=41.4 For the rest, since you didn't have to read them, think about them and rate them but just put a quick score, I think half would be fair, so 31x90x0.01=27.9 for a total of 70$. This is still significantly more than my most expensive assessor, yet still fair considering what we have agreed on in the beginning. Do you feel this is okay?

Which sums up to 67,5 USD. I already stated my banking information and I also registered with moneybookers. You are welcome to use the latter for payment of translation work. I only put my e-mail in your form - if you need more information, please let me know. As far as I understood, moneybookers charges about 1% for transactions in USD. If that's so ,I would of course prefer EUR but I leave that up to you. So, just let me know if there is anything else to do (I assume the Swiss marketing tender is left to English native speakers then). Also looking forward to a happy and lasting cooperation, I thank you as well & kind regards

okay, put a comment to try and pay you in Euro, which I have not done yet with Moneybookers but will try. Yes, handed the Swiss translation project to a native speaker. Did you get my email to proofread the large Panasonic sample? I hope not to delay things too much further, as it is probably starting to look bad.

thank you for your answer. I am pleased to hear that you liked my work. Just for my information: What price range would have been acceptable to your client? I realize that the price I stated is at the upper end of the scale. I think a usual price for a simple translation without paraphrasing is around EUR 0.10 per word.

sorry for the late response. Had a few translation management projects at the same time and now catching up to old emails. I ended charging the customer 0.15 USD/w, including a proofread by a separate translator. It's a new customer and I'm never really sure what I should charge. I pay different rates based on the situation. It would be good to know what you would like to generally charge so that I only approach you with translation projects which fit your prices.

thanks for offering this interesting job. I'm just back from Britain, so I got some good practice - but I am not so sure if there isn't some misunderstanding. I am a German native translation speaker, so please tell me if you'd like me to give it a try anyway. My price would be 0,06 USD per word.

file farmed out and completed and got a chance to go over old emails now. Sometimes into non-native is possible too. But would need to see your quality. Perhaps you might consider adding the language combination below, so that I know I can approach you in that language combination, as your price is good, and your English sounds good. Otherwise, sometimes I approach people even if that language combination is not listed in the database, when I am really desperate.

I won't charge you for this small translation. I'm sorry about the misunderstanding with your client. My opinion is that if they send you a file with all the other languages they should specify "PLEASE ONLY TRANSLATE BULGARIAN". Especially if you usually translate in several languages for them.

I think it is problem of 9 to 5ers who are hired and just go through the motions of their job and don't want to think so much and just finish their day and go home. I whined and I ranted and the owner of the company said she'll pay me my minimum possible charge. So I can pay you, but I looked in the accounting and it said 1 Euro for the total charge. Is that possible?

here is what I usually charge for these kinds of texts (in fact, from what I saw at a quick glance before, the first seems more legal, and the second more marketing-oriented to my eye): Translations (standard rate) USD 0.11 / source word Surcharge (rush jobs, highly technical jobs) USD 0.01-05 / source word Proofreading USD 0.05 / source word Editing USD 0.05 / source word Minimum charge USD 30.00 Discounts for large volumes can be negotiated. At the moment, I am working on another translation work project, which will probably keep me busy until tomorrow, and will receive another small job on Monday. I could give it a try after finishing with this.

managed to find someone for this. These prices seem different than what you have inputted in your record below. Perhaps it would be a good idea to update it so that I know when I can approach you with work. And if you can translate into English, than to add that language combination.

It's been more than 2 weeks since your last email, and I have not heard back from you. Can you give me any feedback on how the process will move forward?

sorry for the late reply but I've been swamped with various translation projects at the moment. We are now at the very end stages just before handing the big translation sample to Panasonic, and since your samples scored quite well by two assessors, I would welcome your opinion of the sample so far, which you can check out at the usual folder through download.kenax.cz, Download Pages link, Active Tenders, Panasonic folder, Big Sample folder. I believe I have already chosen someone to proofread, but perhaps you could express your willingness if they fall through. Please copy your proz translator information so that I have some offline info regarding your CV. I am not online that often.

This is a document of Wilhelm. I think he will tell you what you have to do!

I think I asked him about this and informed him that I was dealing with you, and then he told me I should continue dealing with you. Not until yesterday did I realise it was actually a different document than you sent me. Anyway, I sent him the email as well, so hopefully he will respond. I guess you both work in the same company or something? I am farming out the file you just sent me, as well as the previous stuff you sent me but into French and Croatian (all asap). This file you sent me only into Russian and English but not into Croatian and French. For the file Wilhelm sent me I will wait for his response. Please confirm that I understand everything correctly.

after delivering the translations, the customer just sent another batch. I haven't received a response from you regarding my previous several emails, but I wanted to know if you were interested in further cooperation. For the last work you made an excuse that you were tired the first time you delivered the work. I consider this unacceptable, especially for marketing oriented text, which remains as an advertisement for some customer, and should not depend on whether or not a translator is tired. Anyway, I am interested in developing long term cooperation, but this depends on quality and reliability. Hope to hear from you soon, because the customer does not want to wait so long for this translation.

Sorry for the late reply, some personal things keep me busy lately. I think if you want to approach by email, the key point which you can differ yourself from local translation agencies in China is to make clear that your translation service is done by native translators, not by Chinese. And emphasize on other European languages (not English), these language would have a better price. So if I was you, I will not list the price in the letter so early, I only write some key offerings, and emphasize on quality, which only can be achieved by native translators. I think the wording is not so much important, we just clearly describe who we are, the services we offer, and the reasons why they want to use our services, not others. I think that would be enough. The first approaching letter must be Chinese, if one receives a letter in a language he can't understand, it would be problem, so I think no need to put other languages at this stage. For the website localization, I think it would be better to provide Chinese pages before you sending email out to your Chinese clients, and better to put some previous translation management projects from your Chinese clients on the website, if possible. The approaching letter should not be too long, and you can provide a link to your website detailing all the services targeting Chinese market, maybe one page is enough. If you need me to write the letter, I can try, but can not guarantee a good result. And you would better to talk as many Chinese people as possible about this, they may contribute more ideas, then we can make things work. The above is my own idea, maybe not useful, just for your reference.

I have not had any Chinese customers yet. Can you prepare some text for me with instructions what goes where? (This text is approach letter, this text goes on this website..) Then I can forward it to other Chinese translators, as you suggested, and work towards something with the best effect. If I were translating for the Chinese, I would probably first translate into English, and then from English into the other languages. That way it is the cheapest and highest quality, because I can rely on a greater pool of translators. You can make up whatever text you want for the website, perhaps draw from other websites. I will leave it up to you and then ask the other Chinese translators for their input. My price would be around the same as before, into all those languages (native quality). Should be going offline soon. Thank you very much for your input,

Could you explain what you mean by "with instructions what goes where? (This text is approach letter, this text goes on this website..) "?

almost out the door. What I meant was, when you prepare some text for me, tell me what belongs where. Like some of the text you prepare you might intend for the email approach letter, while other text you would intend for the first page of a webpage, and other text on some other pages. I cannot read Chinese, so I would not know what you intend me to do with the text you send me.

I basically didn't touch the translators formatting except for the "Indesign" document, where I made some changes to make it look nicer (formatting changes only in the "proofread document". I guess we're in a hurry so I decided the rest is fine. If you need anything or if there are any questions, just give me a call. I noticed your e-mails, I'll get in touch tomorrow.

this is an important tender and quality is more important than rushing it. Most important is the text, and the formatting is not so important. Do you feel confident with the text itself? That is what is the most important.

Please understand that we freelancers are in contact with a quantity of agencies and clients and that our fees vary depending on job type, volume, etc. 0,02 euros for proofreading tends to be my standard rate these days but if I said 0,015 USD per word when registering with you, then let be it. The total amount would be 40 USD then for proofreading of Sample 1, as I understand you don't need proofreading for Sample 2. Do you pay through paypal ? Let me know if you want me to go ahead with it.

okay. Yes, I pay by PayPal as well. Please ignore French2. I assume French1 includes both of the original English files combined into one. When do you think you could complete it?

OK, I downloaded the files and looked them over; no problem for my usual fee; 0.06 Euro per word and there is about 2000 words total; I can do them over the weekend... Let me know and cheers!

oh, and can you send me the first part of some marketing stuff that you translate so that Vesna can take a peak at your marketing style? How would you consider your marketing style? And for this type of text, would you mind proofreading once in while, so that Vesna could occasionally have some juicy larger chunks too? Another 2,000 words should follow soon.

I have read the final versions of the two documents I translated and would like to make two points: - Legal Nature is a recognised term and so far as I can see from the limitations of the original, does not need to be paraphrased to legal entity - *audit* is a noun that does not need an article (definite or indefinite). Try googling the phrase *regular audit*, which is recurrent in the translation. So far as the other two documents are concerned, I would like to know when you need it, and whether you would be willing to pay my original amount of Eur 0,07/word, before I make a decision. These two documents do contain a lot of phrases and words contained in the first two, but there is also a fair amount of complicated legal-style text again. Just let me know what is the maximum time you could give me, bearing in mind that I would like to avoid the to-ing and fro-ing and bickering of last time. I have tried to open the *Repetitions* file but do not have the programme that opens it - perhaps you could point me in the right direction?

I sent you the link already to the Transit program, and here it is again: Transit PE Instructions. Make sure the above link is not broken. I had to spend a lot of work and hiring someone else to help with the last work, so I'd prefer to keep it to 0.07 USD as you agreed in the last letter. If this time it will be easier we can go with the Euro (for these new files). The repetitions I was talking about is only within this new batch, with 40% repeated. I think you will make more with Transit, especially if they send more files, which they gestured. You would need to do the .pxf file first and wait until I send you the rest by pxf.

That link is in fact broken. I have tried several times but no luck. I was referring to the two new documents when I said Eur 0,07 - I already agreed to USD 0,07 for the last two documents, in my previous email. It is also important for me to know what delivery date you need.

okay, and I just created a SiteMap at the bottom right of download.kenax.cz from where you can reach the Transit tutorial. Please start with the Repetitions file. I will then have to proofread and finalise it before creating the rest of the batch.

since I don't think I'll be able to solve the email spam problem, I'd like to try another program. Can you find something on the net for me? The one I use now is Choicemail, but what I don't like about Choicemail is that it forces the recipient to follow a weblink, and they have to go online, which a lot of people are lazy about. What I would prefer is one where the person only has to press Reply to be added to the whitelist. Here's how the system works. With choicemail, I have a big database of people on my whitelist. It also allows Aliases, such as X, and other email addresses besides Y. If someone is on the whitelist, their email address gets through right away. If they are not on the list, they automatically get a "challenge email" sent back to them. With choicemail, they are sent a weblink in the email they have to follow and punch in some squiggly numbers and letters they see on the webpage. This is apparently too difficult for many people. What I would like instead is one that sends a challenge email which asks the person only to press Reply and send that back, to prove they are a real person. Once they do that, then they are added to the whitelist and their mail gets through without a problem. If someone is a spammer and gets through, I can always manually add their email or domain etc. to my blacklist. I looked on google with the search email reply spam filter and seemed to get some results. challenge email spam filter might also work. Please experiment and help me find something. It needs to work on Windows XP, not Linux etc. My server is running on XP. I can pay something for this program as I get too much spam. I think 30$ tops should suffice, but free is of course good. You can also try download.com and see what you can find there.