Poll: My clients care more about speed than quality. Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "My clients care more about speed than quality.".
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They don’t! I have never been asked to sacrifice quality for speed. If I feel that I can't guarantee quality, I simply won't accept the job! I only accept tighter deadlines or rush jobs in a few exceptional circumstances and from a very short list of long-standing customers (those I can’t say no). So, speed is the least of my worries. I always strive to do my best and look for accuracy, clarity, tone, cadence, appropriateness for the target audience… In short, a translation that sounds nat... See more They don’t! I have never been asked to sacrifice quality for speed. If I feel that I can't guarantee quality, I simply won't accept the job! I only accept tighter deadlines or rush jobs in a few exceptional circumstances and from a very short list of long-standing customers (those I can’t say no). So, speed is the least of my worries. I always strive to do my best and look for accuracy, clarity, tone, cadence, appropriateness for the target audience… In short, a translation that sounds natural and reads like an original and this takes time! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some Want Both | Jun 19, 2022 |
Even as a literary translator, I found that at least a couple of authors I worked for wanted both speed and quality. In one case, the author's original manuscript was almost 900 pages, so I had to explain to her that I would have to take a break from her project once in a while, or I would get burnt out, and that, in that case, the quality might suffer. So she backed off, and even became super-liberal about the deadline. In another, the translation was for a publisher. They made it clear that t... See more Even as a literary translator, I found that at least a couple of authors I worked for wanted both speed and quality. In one case, the author's original manuscript was almost 900 pages, so I had to explain to her that I would have to take a break from her project once in a while, or I would get burnt out, and that, in that case, the quality might suffer. So she backed off, and even became super-liberal about the deadline. In another, the translation was for a publisher. They made it clear that their deadline had to be strictly observed. I managed to meet it, but only a few days ahead of time. In any event, they were pleased as punch with my work, and they contacted me a couple of times after that. Much to my chagrin, I was in the middle of other projects and could not accommodate their new requests. Unfortunately, I have not heard from them for a few years now, since before the pandemic, which seems as if it is still continuing to have quite a negative impact on requests for book translations. Unless you want to take your chances on nothing more than royalties. I surely don't.
[Edited at 2022-06-19 21:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Sigh. I was expecting this. Somebody has obviously recalled the engineer's aphorism:
- Faster, better, cheaper: choose two
... and has decided to see how it applies to translation.
Unfortunately, taking the items two at a time rather defeats the object.
At least it will be interesting to see how many responders consider their work to be fast, but bad (at time of writing, just under one in three).
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a simple legal example: the word 'crime' in British covers larger range of actions than, say, in Russian. The difference in the meaning may amount to few or more years ))
But you've got only half an hour for translation. Nobody knows what's the exact appearance of Lady Quality
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 20:39
French to English
Philip Lees wrote: - Faster, better, cheaper: choose two
I have a serious bone to pick with that, because I'm not actually capable of providing better work faster. Even if I'm being paid like double to keep me motivated, I'm not able to produce as good a job in less time. And I would be seriously peeved if I had to do something on the cheap, because my 25+ years' experience in translation should be worth something.
You can only pick one with me, and that's quality. I'm not lowering my price, and I'll do it in my own sweet time or not at all. There are plenty of others who can provide cheap and fast.
| | | | | Doesn't apply | Jun 20, 2022 |
Kay Denney wrote: Philip Lees wrote: - Faster, better, cheaper: choose two
I have a serious bone to pick with that, because I'm not actually capable of providing better work faster.
Sorry I wasn't clear. I wouldn't suggest for a moment that the engineer's aphorism would apply to translation. Obviously, faster and better in our case are mutually exclusive.
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