| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Please! I'd need your advice for a project that I think I'm not being fairly paid Thread poster: Andrea Carroggio Diaz-Plaja
|
|---|
Hi fellow translators! Please, I'd need your advice and opinion regarding this case I find myself in:
I've been contacted by a translation agency to translate some educational material in MemoQ. They sent me the analysis wordcount, and stablished a deadline (1 month approx). The general analysis wordcount looked like this:
Words:
All: 320,715 words
Repetition: 60,383
101%: 15,4311
100%: 16,389
Fuzzy: 61,986
No match: 27,646
Accordingly, they were only paying to me the full rate for the "no match" words. For "no match" I understood "New words". That would mean that there were only 27.646 new words in the whole project. With that in mind, I accepted the rates and the deadline.
But the thing is that when I've started working on it, only in the first file, I have had to translate more than 30k words from scratch, and there are 18 files in total...
What I think that is happening here is that MemoQ just compares the files between them and counts the number of matches between files. Thus, it never takes into account that those matches were New words in the first place (before they get translated by the translator, in this case, me) (that is why in the wordcount analysis, the concept “New words” does not appear).
I'm not sure if I explained myself... Any thoughts on this??? I'd appreciate if someone could give me some advice on how to act in face of this or if someone has been in the same situation as me.
Thank you!!!
| | | | Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
| What's the end result? | Oct 26, 2021 |
What % of your rate are they paying?
Also, are you sure there ARE new words in there? Maybe it is all pure regurgitation of stuff from a supplied translation memory.
If I were considering this, my main concern would be the very low repetition count.
Btw, for all intents and purposes, low % matches are "no match" any
[Edited at 2021-10-26 12:30 GMT]
[Edited at 2021-10-26 12:34 GMT]
[Edited at 2021-10-26 12:36 GMT]
| | | | | I'm sure there are new words | Oct 26, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
What % of your rate are they paying?
Also, are you sure there ARE new words in there? Maybe it is all pure regurgitation of stuff from a supplied translation memory.
[Edited at 2021-10-26 12:30 GMT]
They are paying 0.07 Eur for new words, 0.03 for fuzzies and 0.02 for reps.
Yes, I already translated half of a file and I had to translate from scratch almost 30k words... So I know they are new words...
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
You translate batches as separate files?
Yikes.
Use views to glue em together. You should be able to clear out ~30% of the job in the first 45-60 minutes.
But anyway, my question was what price per word the grand total comes out to. Also, it is essential to see how many segments you have and how many are left after the first hour clearing out reps and reputable 100s/101s (because some, as we all know, are total BS).
[Edited at 2021-10-26 12:41 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:39
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Andrea Carroggio Diaz-Plaja wrote:
They were only paying to me the full rate for the "no match" words. For "no match" I understood "New words".
Yes, presumably they're paying you a discounted rate for fuzzy matches and possibly also for 100% matches and/or repetitions. Do you know what that discounted rate is? It's usually a set of percentages, or alternatively they may have given you a "weighted word count".
That would mean that there were only 27.646 new words in the whole project. ... But when I've started working on it, only in the first file, I have had to translate more than 30k words from scratch, and there are 18 files in total...
Based on your screenshot, these are your "new words":
50-74%: 27 123
0-49%: 27 646
It could be that some of the words that you translated were from the 50-74% category, which the client considers "fuzzy matches" and not "new words". This category usually yields very poor matches, and most such segments have to be translated from scratch. In fact, a sane translator shouldn't even quote for that category separately -- your project really has 27 123 + 27 646 new words.
What I think that is happening here is that MemoQ just compares the files between them and counts the number of matches between files.
There is such a setting in MemoQ, yes, but it should be indicated on the analysis report if that were so.
...that is why in the wordcount analysis, the concept “New words” does not appear.
It may just be that MemoQ refers to new words as "no match".
...
Now, as for why this is happening, could it be that you are simply not seeing all the fuzzy matches in MemoQ? Did you pre-translate the files before you started doing the translation, or do you insert fuzzy matches one by one while you translate?
| | | | Stepan Konev
Russian Federation
Local time: 13:39
English to Russian
| 50-74% catch | Oct 26, 2021 |
I strongly agree with Samuel. While other CAT tools like Trados for example consider it as new words, memoQ has this confusing fuzzy range that actually means new words too. When assessing a job, always consider the last two lines as new words.
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 06:39
Member (2008)
English to French
| Just came to chime in | Oct 26, 2021 |
That Samuel and Stepan are correct.
What's done is done, you'll know for next time.
Change your settings so that you can 'see' matches 50% and up. If you're lucky, they'll be half sentence matches, if you're unlucky they'll be useless.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:39
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Arianne Farah wrote:
Change your settings so that you can 'see' matches 50% and up.
Or, do a pre-translation, and select the "any TM match" option (and deselect machine translation). AFAIK this will not overwrite existing translations... but export your translations to MQXLIFF just in case, anyway.
| | |
|
|
|
Andrea: You said that the translation agency sent you the analysis word count. Have you done an analysis yourself with the TM they sent you. If the counts differ significantly, they may have sent the wrong TM (or analysis).
| | | | | Estimated loss | Oct 27, 2021 |
From your figures and compared to a reference discount grid that "reflects" the time saved leveraging matches* in an CAT tool, you offered a additional 20% discount besides CAT grid discounts: you give away one hour of your time for each 5-hour work stretch.
I assumed Homogeneity was off, which is likely not the case. Maybe your loss is higher.
To avoid this in the future, you need to agree on what and how fee calculations are made when discount grids enter the picture.
... See more From your figures and compared to a reference discount grid that "reflects" the time saved leveraging matches* in an CAT tool, you offered a additional 20% discount besides CAT grid discounts: you give away one hour of your time for each 5-hour work stretch.
I assumed Homogeneity was off, which is likely not the case. Maybe your loss is higher.
To avoid this in the future, you need to agree on what and how fee calculations are made when discount grids enter the picture.
Philippe
*I use this grid to come up with a "weighted word count" that looks "fair" to me, ie earnings that match my translation hourly rate (eg. when working with an empty TM): 20-60-100% of word rate, fuzzies in the 85-99% concordance band, Homogeneity OFF.
From there I work out what difference there is on a specific project using the agency's discount grid and how many corners I have to cut to meet my hourly rate/how sensible it is business-wise to accept their discount grid.
EDIT: a 20% loss also translates in a source word rate (new word) lower by 1.5 cents in your case.
[Edited at 2021-10-27 08:22 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
In the end, how much are they paying for 320k words?
| | | |
Adieu wrote:
In the end, how much are they paying for 320k words?
In total, 5.329,52 Eur.
| | |
|
|
|
| I'm not being able | Oct 27, 2021 |
Anthony Rudd wrote:
Andrea: You said that the translation agency sent you the analysis word count. Have you done an analysis yourself with the TM they sent you. If the counts differ significantly, they may have sent the wrong TM (or analysis).
I was trying to do my own analysis with Trados, by creating a project with all the files they sent me. But the project is huge and Trados keeps giving me an error while creating the project. Also, many of the files are PPT and I guess Trados is not catching the words that are not in the slides but in the "notes" section (which are a lot)...
| | | | Stepan Konev
Russian Federation
Local time: 13:39
English to Russian
I was trying to do my own analysis with Trados, by creating a project with all the files they sent me.
But you mentioned above that you somehow managed to translate 30K words from scratch. Why not use the same CAT tool for word count? If you translated it in mQ and your client wants you to use mQ, why are you attempting to use Trados?
| | | | | Thanks everyone for your feedback | Oct 27, 2021 |
Thank you all for your comments!! They're all been very useful, even if I'm realizing 1) that I don't understand anything about translation software (less than I thought), and 2) that I'm losing money in every project since I started working in translation 10 years ago
Just another doubt! I just performed an analysis to the document I'm working on right now, and compared to the analysis they provide me of the same docu... See more Thank you all for your comments!! They're all been very useful, even if I'm realizing 1) that I don't understand anything about translation software (less than I thought), and 2) that I'm losing money in every project since I started working in translation 10 years ago
Just another doubt! I just performed an analysis to the document I'm working on right now, and compared to the analysis they provide me of the same document. How come the results are that different!? Obviously, my analysis is the one that matches my experience translating the file, since there is no way that there were only 119 new words in a file that I've been translating for almost 2 weeks...
Any explanation on this difference?
[Editado a las 2021-10-27 14:54 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Please! I'd need your advice for a project that I think I'm not being fairly paid | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
