Customer asked me to use Translator´s Intuition Thread poster: Brandis (X)
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Brandis (X)
Local time: 22:27
English to German
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Hello all!
Lately I am confronted with a customer asking services to be rendered using Translator´s Intuition. I have checked the website and the product information priced at almost USD 2000,- Does anyone have experience with it, and can give me useful alternatives to go around the tool, as it is very expensive (is it so special?)
I shall appreciate all help.
Brandis
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2004-05-11 00:14]
| | | | | Ask the customer to pay for it | May 11, 2004 |
It is time the customer is told in clear terms as to what he can expect and what he cannot. He is worried about getting his translation with good quality. How we go about that job should be entirely up to us. He is just not qualified to discuss the tools with us. Yet it is depressing to see the client commanding reductions for fuzzy matches, repetitions on the basis of some doubtful TM's at his disposal.
If the client insists on a particular CAT tool, more often than not he is an agent for... See more It is time the customer is told in clear terms as to what he can expect and what he cannot. He is worried about getting his translation with good quality. How we go about that job should be entirely up to us. He is just not qualified to discuss the tools with us. Yet it is depressing to see the client commanding reductions for fuzzy matches, repetitions on the basis of some doubtful TM's at his disposal.
If the client insists on a particular CAT tool, more often than not he is an agent for such a tool. Be careful with such clients. Call his bluff by asking him to get you the tool at his expense.
Regards,
N.Raghavan ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marc P (X) 
Local time: 22:27
German to English
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| Translation and pink hats | May 11, 2004 |
This is the same issue as that raised yesterday in the "Prices for larger translations with Transit" thread.
Why does the customer want the translation done using particular software? Does the customer simply have files in a particular format, and wish to receive the translation itself and/or translation memories in that format? That's a valid wish on the customer's part, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there is only one technical solution. Standards (e.g. TMX) exist for transl... See more This is the same issue as that raised yesterday in the "Prices for larger translations with Transit" thread.
Why does the customer want the translation done using particular software? Does the customer simply have files in a particular format, and wish to receive the translation itself and/or translation memories in that format? That's a valid wish on the customer's part, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there is only one technical solution. Standards (e.g. TMX) exist for translation memory, and all major CAT tools support these standards, so it's worth investigating whether it is actually necessary to use the software requested by the customer.
The customer's wish for a particular technical solution may be based on ignorance, for example of the fact that most modern CAT tools are able to exchange translation memories in the TMX format. A new (German) customer of mine recently sent me a Word file in which all the lines had been numbered. It transpired that she hadn't understood that a "standard line" in Germany has a defined length. My mistake for not making this clear when I accepted the order, though German customers who aren't familiar with the standard line system usually ask beforehand.
If as a customer, I want a custom solution, I must expect to have to pay more for it. And if I want a supplier to work in a particular way, perhaps using unfamiliar technology, I can expect it to cost more, even if the end result is the same.
It strikes me as common sense that the solution to this kind of question is to find an arrangement in which the customer is provided with a satisfactory service and at the same time, the supplier is able to work in an acceptable way. That invariably involves examining alternative solutions, discussing them with the customer, and possibly also educating the him or her. Yet for some reason, the customer seems to be the last person with whom his or her requirements are discussed. What would people do, I wonder, if customers suddenly began asking translators to wear pink hats whilst working? Would we see long discussions here of the advantages/disadvantages of the new headgear, and of the discounts that should or shouldn't be granted for wearing it?
Marc ▲ Collapse
| | | | NGK
United States
Local time: 15:27
| This Hat Says 50% Off Our Already Low Low Prices | May 11, 2004 |
MarcPrior wrote:
What would people do, I wonder, if customers suddenly began asking translators to wear pink hats whilst working? Would we see long discussions here of the advantages/disadvantages of the new headgear, and of the discounts that should or shouldn't be granted for wearing it?
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| brilliant, Norbert! | May 12, 2004 |
that really got me laughing out loud ))
[and got me thinking about a very Off-Topic topic: what do translators wear when working at home, at unearthly hours like 5 am or 23 pm? - but I'll leave that for another time so no answers to this question in this thread pls!]
Roberta
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