| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Have you ever worked as an 'assessor' correcting test translations? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 02:27
Member
English to Turkish
| Conflict of interest | Feb 13, 2022 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
No, it's better for an agency to ask one of their trusted translators to do it, because otherwise the agency will have great difficulty determining whether the independent party is good enough to be an assessor to begin with.
Where would one find such an external party? The external assessor would have to be another translator, but before you can use a translator to evaluate another translator's translation, you first have to determine if that other translator is a good translator. And how would you do that, if you're only allowed to use other other translators whose levels of skill are unknown to you?
On one or two occasions it was clear to me that the person whose translation I was assessing was meant to be my replacement at that agency (but that's not a problem if I would not be available for the type of work that the agency is trying to get a new translator for). Mostly, though, the translation tests are for larger projects that I would not be involved in anyway, or alternatively they are for projects where I would be just one of the translators, and the agency is wondering if I approve of the potential colleagues.
There are external assessors for this particular purpose, but they are mostly native English speakers and working from major languages like German, Spanish, French etc., not from/into Afrikaans or Turkish.
For Afrikaans and Turkish, the agency has no choice but to rely on their 'internal resources'. These people may do a conscientious job and make an honest assessment of a test piece or fill it with one too many track changes (the usual replacement of words with their synonyms) to influence the VM's decision. I've seen both. I just don't want to take a chance with an internal resource who doesn't want see competition in his language pair, if you know what I mean?
You, better than anybody else on these forums, must appreciate how few and far between the jobs are in 'exotic' language pairs (like English to Afrikaans or English to Turkish).
Btw I'm talking about agency onboarding tests, not tests for a particular project, which is usually assessed by the agency's end client (in which case the assessor is a translator)
[Edited at 2022-02-13 11:08 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-13 11:23 GMT]
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 20:27
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Of course not, Baran | Feb 13, 2022 |
Baran Keki wrote:
it is wrong to ask a translator, who have a financial interest in a particular agency, to assess a newcomer's test. Such assessments should be made by independent, external parties who have never worked with that agency.
If you had an agency, you'd surely use your trusted professionals to do that, not an unknown external professional. Your comment considers that every translator will be dishonest and discard every candidate because they are competitors. Please note there are decent and honest people too. I know the agency hires several other translators in my pair, but, fisrt of all, I'm not afraid of competition, I beat it. Second, I never did what you are suggesting, and that precisely why the agency trusts me.
| | | | Laura Kingdon
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:27
Member (2015)
French to English
+ ...
| Opposite for me | Feb 14, 2022 |
Denis Fesik wrote: Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
I never thought to consider whether I liked doing it or not, so I voted "Other." Never occurred to me either. I've reviewed many test translations, and the only thing I can say I like about it is that reviewing tests is easier than doing translations yourself or editing those done by others. A few people thanked me for my reviews, even for negative ones (as the HR people told me), which is nice. The 'like' factor may have to do with feelings like 'Oh, I'm so clever and that guy is so stupid,' but I guess anyone who is in a position to assess other people's work will have enough self-discipline to nip such thoughts in the bud
I'd rather just proofread or edit any day rather than fill out a spreadsheet commenting on every error and why it's wrong. I am often asked to evaluate translations, and I do it when I have time, but it takes so much more time, agencies often seem to underestimate the amount of time it takes to do a thorough job, and it's just not fun.
| | | | | I just shared my experience... | Feb 15, 2022 |
Laura Kingdon wrote:
I'd rather just proofread or edit any day rather than fill out a spreadsheet commenting on every error and why it's wrong.
which is that I'm most often familiar with the source text and have an idea how to translate it properly (but I can't say it was a big problem when I recently had to review a test translation from a source that was new to me). I guess the original poll mainly targeted freelance translators/reviewers, and I'm not currently in that league. Having to fill out spreadsheets where every single error is quantified according to its type would be a nightmare to me, I just point out the errors (or the most egregious ones where the overall translation quality is exceptionally poor), comment on them, and then grade the entire test (we do have those spreadsheets and a 'rigrorous' grading procedure but most of the time I'm not required to use them). It's not a straightforward process, so I understand how a great translator who's never been asked to assess other translators' work will find it difficult. There are typical errors that pop up again and again in different people's tests, and sometimes you have to get really subjective and overlook some of them when making your judgment. Maybe this wouldn't be possible in some parts of the world where you have to follow all the rules at all times, so many a good talent would be denied employment opportunities for purely formal reasons. Btw, once I was asked to prepare at least a half-dozen translation tests in different subject-matter areas with the requirement that they be impossible to pass, and then to come up with a 'perfect' translation for each of them and submit the whole deal to the customer. Don't know what became of that job, except that they told me my tests were 'admirably difficult'
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