Poll: Which of the following causes you the most stress while translating a project? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Which of the following causes you the most stress while translating a project?".
This poll was originally submitted by Milena Taylor. View the poll results »
| | | | Tim Drayton 
Cyprus
Local time: 14:28
Turkish to English
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Quite honestly, I do not experience stress while working on translations. The main reason for this is that I always allow a certain margin when setting or accepting deadlines so that I have enough time to deal with the kinds of issues listed here.
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Difficult terminology - I like unfamiliar and challenging terms!
Tight deadlines - I only accept tight deadlines if I believe I can comply (meaning, rarely)
Formatting - Idem
Errors in source text - I always have a look at the text before accepting the job. If I missed some error, it's annoying, but usually there is nothing that can't be solved with the help of the client or other Prozians...
Communication with clients - Never had a problem: some are more helpful than o... See more Difficult terminology - I like unfamiliar and challenging terms!
Tight deadlines - I only accept tight deadlines if I believe I can comply (meaning, rarely)
Formatting - Idem
Errors in source text - I always have a look at the text before accepting the job. If I missed some error, it's annoying, but usually there is nothing that can't be solved with the help of the client or other Prozians...
Communication with clients - Never had a problem: some are more helpful than others, but aren't we all? ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Trados Studio blocking | Apr 5, 2014 |
hello
several times I had blocking errors in My Cat tool. I could not solve the problem myself before the deadline. The result is that I could not deliver, I lost the contract. The problem comes from the cat tool vendor, but it is not good for my own translator reputation.
This happened to me 4 times.
The two first time I had a maintenance contract but it took 2 days to the support to solve the problem; it was too late.
Then I stopped my mainte... See more hello
several times I had blocking errors in My Cat tool. I could not solve the problem myself before the deadline. The result is that I could not deliver, I lost the contract. The problem comes from the cat tool vendor, but it is not good for my own translator reputation.
This happened to me 4 times.
The two first time I had a maintenance contract but it took 2 days to the support to solve the problem; it was too late.
Then I stopped my maintenance contract (too expensive, too slow)
The third problem was 100% blocking;
after I lost the contract I investigated via the forum, a nice colleague gave me the solution reference, he had the same problem before. The problem existed since 2 versions!!! and it was not yet fixed in current version.
Next contract I had the same problem again and I could apply the solution indicated by the nice colleague. So I could work normally and deliver in time, ouf!
Madeleine
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| Difficult terminology for sure | Apr 5, 2014 |
Once you've passed this hurdle you're halfway home, tight deadlines be damned.
| | | | 564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 13:28
Danish to English
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Tim Drayton wrote:
Quite honestly, I do not experience stress while working on translations. The main reason for this is that I always allow a certain margin when setting or accepting deadlines so that I have enough time to deal with the kinds of issues listed here.
My thoughts exactly...
| | | | | File conversions! | Apr 5, 2014 |
I have accepted my last PDF-to-word conversion. If they're poorly done, they can double the time you spend. And beware the bait-and-switch, where a client sends you e.g. a PDF, you accept the job and then they send you the PO along with a Word/ITD/MemoQ conversion of the original file. Not a chance! I'll either work in the format I agreed to in the first place, or I'll use the software I've already invested several hundred dollars in. Lessons learned the hard way.
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I would say tight deadlines when I find unexpected difficult terminology....
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| None of these | Apr 5, 2014 |
All of these things are (or should be) known before you accept the job.
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I'm lucky not to face it yet, but I guess each of the named or even jointly may cause a stress.
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Terminology. I don't take deadlines I can't meet, and I don't take clients I can't communicate with. Formatting is not my job, I'm not a secretary. Errors in the source are not my problem, I didn't promise to rub a crystal ball.
| | | | | Errors in the source text and formatting | Apr 6, 2014 |
I often get texts with sentences that are crazy-making--incomprehensible to native speakers. Almost always the problem is due to grammatical errors or very poor usage. While stressful, I realize it's part of my job.
I mind formatting issues more because I don't consider it part of the translator's job. But that's just my perspective. From the clients' perspective, they need to have it done and they're not that sensitive to the distinction.
Formatting can be a pain when... See more I often get texts with sentences that are crazy-making--incomprehensible to native speakers. Almost always the problem is due to grammatical errors or very poor usage. While stressful, I realize it's part of my job.
I mind formatting issues more because I don't consider it part of the translator's job. But that's just my perspective. From the clients' perspective, they need to have it done and they're not that sensitive to the distinction.
Formatting can be a pain when the client wants to match the format in a PDF. I don't do that very often, but I had a job last week that was worth it, money-wise, so I bit the bullet. The formatting was harder than the translation by far.
Formatting can also be painful when the source text isn't prepared according to the rules--for example, if I overstrike and the margins go wild.
Terminology is fun!! For me, researching new terms i the part of translating that I enjoy the most .
[Edited at 2014-04-06 07:33 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 13:28
Spanish to English
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Especially when they are set before the client approaches me. Or when more than one client coincides.
For example this weekend I already had 2 jobs to deliver on Monday for 2 different regular non-agency clients. I also had last Friday as the delivery date for another client who it turned was unable to meet HIS OWN DEADLINE of Friday a.m. to send me the last document of a series of twelve; so we re-scheduled and I now have to deliver all 3 "projects" tomorrow. Luckily enough, I'm not stre... See more Especially when they are set before the client approaches me. Or when more than one client coincides.
For example this weekend I already had 2 jobs to deliver on Monday for 2 different regular non-agency clients. I also had last Friday as the delivery date for another client who it turned was unable to meet HIS OWN DEADLINE of Friday a.m. to send me the last document of a series of twelve; so we re-scheduled and I now have to deliver all 3 "projects" tomorrow. Luckily enough, I'm not stressed out this time because they were all comfortably doable within the time allowed - I even managed to have all afternoon yesterday (Saturday) off without having to work at all to meet the deadlines. However, it could have been stressful if any or the the three jobs had been, say 5K words longer. But they weren't... and I think you need to expect a bit of stress if you're a freelancer anyway, otherwise I'd have looked for a nine-to-five or in-house job. ▲ Collapse
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