Feedback on my new "About me" section Thread poster: Ivan Fosin
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Ivan Fosin 
United Kingdom
Member (2021)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Hello everyone,
for this Christmas I decided to give myself a present and I finally filled out my profile!
What do you think about it? Should I change something and what?
I have some concerns about the lenght... is it to extensive, should I shorten it?
What do you think about the part where I describe my point of view on translation? Is it useful or unnecessary information?
And at the end, if someone has will and time to proofread it, I would be... See more Hello everyone,
for this Christmas I decided to give myself a present and I finally filled out my profile!
What do you think about it? Should I change something and what?
I have some concerns about the lenght... is it to extensive, should I shorten it?
What do you think about the part where I describe my point of view on translation? Is it useful or unnecessary information?
And at the end, if someone has will and time to proofread it, I would be very grateful!
Thank you ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I like it very much; some observations | Dec 25, 2013 |
Hi Ivan,
I like your “About me” section very much, congratulations!
I always struggle myself when I have to formulate these kind of texts... For me it is not too long, we are not speaking about a newspaper ad or something similar. In my opinion if somebody would like to read less, he/she can simply jump over sections or stop reading at some point – and this shouldn’t be a problem, I think. If somebody is interested, he will read it anyway.
Sometimes I ha... See more Hi Ivan,
I like your “About me” section very much, congratulations!
I always struggle myself when I have to formulate these kind of texts... For me it is not too long, we are not speaking about a newspaper ad or something similar. In my opinion if somebody would like to read less, he/she can simply jump over sections or stop reading at some point – and this shouldn’t be a problem, I think. If somebody is interested, he will read it anyway.
Sometimes I have to translate for my direct clients into English (although I mainly do DE>ES) and on those occasions I send my translations to an English proofreader, so I am really not the best person to revise your English text. I think it is very well written, the only fault I noticed was in this sentence, where I think the word ***THE*** is missing: “When I read ***THE***final version of my translation, I always do it without comparing it to the original. And then, when my “detector” for the idiomatically wrongly transposed elements is at the (maybe **its**) highest level, I am (maybe **am I?**) able to correct all the remaining traces of the foreign language I’ve been “contaminated” with during the process.” You are using two different forms: *analyze* (US) and *programme* (Br.E.), I think it is best to stick to one. Although in the English Style Guide (http://www.fjfhs.eu/esg/index.htm) you can read: “Words in -ise/-ize. (...) Both spellings are correct in British English, but the -ise form is now much more common in the media. Using the -ise spelling does away with the need to list the most common cases where it must be used anyway. (There are up to 40 exceptions to the -ize convention: the lists vary in length, few claiming to be exhaustive.)”
One more small observation: I always like to state my rates clearly, on my webpage or anywhere else, I think it is important to do so. But in your case I would match the information from your general section (0,05-0,08 €/word) with the information of your new “About me” section, which states something else... I would stick to the first option and would clearly not state here that the absolute minimum is 0,04 – let them find out more about you (direct contact) if they are interested..
Hope this is useful, best regards,
Agnes ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Feedback on my new "About me" section | Dec 26, 2013 |
Hi,
Merry Christmas.
I liked the "About Me " section in you profile, it looks great.
I would like to suggest , you can brief your "For those who want to know how I work..." section.As i feel it is bit long, as the person who wants to contact you will see the work you had done, and it the above mentioned section will be bit short it will be easy for making decisions.
Thanks,
And A Happy New Year.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 15:41
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| I like it, too | Dec 26, 2013 |
I see you've shortened one section considerably since I first glanced at it, and I'm sure that was a wise move. Clients want a taster rather than a monologue .
I find one phrase particularly interesting and wonder whether you should develop it: "extensive experience in the Croatian Translation Unit at the European Parliament". In many parts of the world anyone who speaks two languages can become a freelance translator, ... See more I see you've shortened one section considerably since I first glanced at it, and I'm sure that was a wise move. Clients want a taster rather than a monologue.
I find one phrase particularly interesting and wonder whether you should develop it: "extensive experience in the Croatian Translation Unit at the European Parliament". In many parts of the world anyone who speaks two languages can become a freelance translator, but the EU will only accept qualified and skilled translators into their ranks.
The standardised section of your profile is good too, though I'd say the Spanish DELE is a monolingual credential rather than a bilingual one. The first of your samples, French > Croatian, is clearly a good choice (as long as the quality is good) but it doesn't seem the best choice to have two into French when that pair is only the fifth on your list. You'd be better off displaying samples of your other top pairs.
I'm actually quite surprised that you offer more than the first four pairs. On ProZ.com at any rate, I believe clients often give priority to those who only specialise in a few language pairs, to avoid those who spread their knowledge too thinly and end up doing nothing supremely well. I also think that the fact that your only exposure to these languages seems to have been through education (e.g. you don't appear to have lived in the countries where these languages are spoken) would make you an unlikely first choice for anyone who hasn't already retained your services for into-Croatian translations. But of course there may be reasons for your choice that aren't clear from your profile.
If you want to make this site your showcase, attracting potential clients here, then I'd recommend another, if somewhat belated, Christmas present: ProZ.com paying membership. Although registered users have access to most of the site's features, the few that are restricted to paying members are important ones; also your visibility is vastly improved, with higher directory position and immediate quoting available on many jobs where at the moment your quote is impossible or delayed for 12 hours. ▲ Collapse
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Ivan Fosin
United Kingdom
Member (2021)
English to Croatian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you so much | Dec 26, 2013 |
Thank you all for your comments; I am very glad that all of them are positive!
Agnes, concerning the length, I was thinking exactly the same thing – if the reader is interested, he will read it, otherwise he can just skip it.
Another translator who sent me an e-mail drew my attention to the section “For those who want to know how I work” where I use the term “calque” which is too technical in her opinion because the average reader allegedly doesn’t understa... See more Thank you all for your comments; I am very glad that all of them are positive!
Agnes, concerning the length, I was thinking exactly the same thing – if the reader is interested, he will read it, otherwise he can just skip it.
Another translator who sent me an e-mail drew my attention to the section “For those who want to know how I work” where I use the term “calque” which is too technical in her opinion because the average reader allegedly doesn’t understand what it means. Actually, I think that here on ProZ, both agencies and translators who contract other translators should be able to understand it (I would never put this kind of description on my website). She also claims that my sentences are too long and I cannot not (!) agree on that. I will rewrite the whole text, shorten it and make it clearer.
Thank you as well for your suggestion to remove the minimum rate, I think it’s a good idea, although I wanted to make evident I couldn’t accept less under any circumstances.
Sheila, thank you for your long review and all the remarks. First of all, I didn’t want to elaborate on my work at the EP since I wanted to keep it as concise and general as possible. On the other hand, I try to avoid self-praise on my official profile. I think people will appreciate the reference without going into detail.
Second, I know that my standardised section needs some improvement, but at the moment I have been focused exclusively on my personalised section and I asked you feedback on that. I appreciate your additional comments though and would like to make some clarifications regarding the issues you brought up:
I state that I work in all these language pairs because the market for so called “small languages” is very specific and there are few people able to translate from Croatian into some other language. That’s why we small language speakers live in a culture where we translate everything we (think we) can, even if the quality is at stake. I’m generally against this approach and I support translating into one’s mother tongue, but sometimes it is indeed impossible because of the reasons I have just mentioned. In that case, I would always suggest a revision from another translator/proofreader who is a native speaker.
Third, I don’t mention that I lived/stayed for a longer period in another country (and I actually did, just take a glance at my education) for a simple reason – it is not among the most relevant/deciding factors to be(come) a good translator. Translation competence has absolutely nothing to do with living in another country. It can help you a lot in some cases (no doubt about that), but it’s not something we should emphasize. This would mean any bilingual person is a priori a good translator and I am sure we all know it’s nothing but one of the most common myths about translation.
Thank you all once again, I will try to make my profile even better taking into account your precious suggestions. ▲ Collapse
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