Top 10 Things that Make Translators Want to Scream
by Ofer Tirosh
Working as a professional translator is generally a rewarding and fulfilling career, but as with any job there can be moments when work becomes frustrating.
Here we take a quick look at 10 of the most common things that frustrate translators, make sure you have a cold drink of water in a handy position.
Linguistic frustrations
#1 Poor translation
From shop signs to official documents, mistakes in translation are sure to irritate the professionals. After all, why pay to have a sign printed but not to translate it properly first?
#2 Ambiguous phrases
Translators who don’t know the ultimate purpose of the text they are translating may find ambiguous phrases become a frustrating time drain. For example, ‘hand washing advised’ could refer to the person handling and object or the object itself – without knowing the purpose of the target text it is impossible to say.
#3 Language evolution
Languages change and develop over time, but official changes to them can cause headaches for professional translators. For example, ongoing reforms of Portuguese orthography have seen a large number of words change from one spelling to another over recent years, which has confused school children and translators alike.
Client frustrations
#4 Client delays
We’ve all had clients who are on the brink of needing a huge translation job undertaken, and then suddenly go silent for weeks on end.
#5 Friends looking for freebies
There will always be someone who thinks that because you are a translator you would like to do them a favour and translate something for them for free.
#6 Test translations
Many clients try to ‘test’ translators they haven’t worked with before by asking them to translate a sample of text for free. While one or two sentences may seem to be a reasonable request, some clients demand pages of translation in advance of hiring the translator – and all without payment.
#7 Urgent jobs
Some clients always seem to leave their translation needs to the last minute, then pile pressure on the translator to produce a flawless text in an unrealistic timescale.
Freelance frustrations
#8 Interruptions
Many translators work freelance, which prompts some friends to think that phoning or popping round is welcome at any time of day. Interruptions like this when you are working to a tight deadline or in the middle of translating a difficult text can be immensely irritating.
#9 Work flow
Many freelance translators find that they are either really busy or really quiet, with work never seeming to flow evenly.
#10 Projecting income
It can be frustrating and worrying for translators who don’t know precisely how much they will earn each month.
Cooling Down
Hopefully you are not too worked up, but just in case you are - we are not about to leave you hanging! Check out our tailored advice on how to deal with each and every one of these 10 scream catalysts.
What is your most frequent frustration as a professional translator? Let us know by using the comment box.
Post your Comment
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
Wow Jose! Looking for a writing job? ;) Thanks for this crafted comment! I really hope you read the solutions post also, and that it helped to take some of the frustration off.
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- 07/07/2014
- FC
Paragraph 2 of #10 seems to be out of place ;-)
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- 07/07/2014
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
FC you are so right! It belongs to #3 :-) All fixed, thank you so much for letting us know.
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- 07/07/2014
- Susan
For me it has to be the uncertainty. I can be really chock-a-block for two months and then suddenly a week with nothing. I am OK for the first couple of days and enjoy the rest....but after that I start worrying and looking for new prospects on the internet...when suddenly the work flows in again. All in all though as far as I am concerned the best job in the world!
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- 09/07/2014
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
Hi Susan, thanks for sharing! Try using the quiet times to do things that will help you deal with the busy times more efficiently (get ahead on what's possible, offline tasks, billing etc.). This will also help you feel like you are doing 'something', just a thought :-)
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- 10/07/2014
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#11 Prospects who wear a crown
They read (possibly in some sales training course) that "the client is king", so they feel entitled to run the translation business world. Feeling entitled to rule over translators, they state that "We pay [about half of what the translator actually gets for similar work done for other clients], sixty days after month end (viz. using the translator to finance their own operation interest-free) via PayPal (which costs about 10% of the amount involved)", and think that every translator must accept that.
Translators want to scream at the idea that there are some peers who give in to such commands, and want to scream "over the border", suggesting they move out from that tyrannic kingdom.
#12 The aimless recruiter
This prospect contacts a translator about a large job within the latter's key specialty area. They say that high quality and speedy service is required as a ruse to 'inadvertently' let out the high-prestige end-client's name. The project is stated as scheduled to start within the next week at most. The translator is required to gurantee full-time availability over the next couple of months.
Then they have the translator waste a lot of time filling in an absurd quantity of details on a dysfunctional Excel spreadsheet, or through an insanely crafted online system. A long vendor agreement and an NDA are required to be printed, signed, scanned, and sent via both e- and snail-mail overseas.
After all this has been done, the contact explains that s/he is only in charge of recruitment; one of their project managers will be contacting the translator if and when their services are needed.
Of course, this is the end of the story. The translator will never hear from them again.