| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Off topic: Photos in agency websites Thread poster: Jessica Noyes
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Jessica Noyes wrote:
Thanks for everyone's take on this little aspect of the translators' world. While it had occurred to me that the agencies are seeking to make themselves look more professional/glamorous, I am impressed by the theory that rapid staff turnover makes using actual photos pretty much impossible, especially for low-budget outfits. And it makes sense as well that it's cheaper to buy stock photos than have them professionally taken. Still, I'd like to see some photos of the founders, owners, and managers, and get an idea of whom I might be working with.
The same applies to us translators and our portrait pics (or mugshots, if you prefer). I know of at least one case of a translator who is using a portrait that is not her. As for mine, well..it was a few years ago and since then I have lost some weight, but I continue to use it because I'm laughing and not self-consciously posing for my photograph. I think our clients also want to have some idea of what we look like, and that we don't cheat by using a picture of someone else.
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Tom in London wrote:
I know of at least one case of a translator who is using a portrait that is not her.
Are you by any chance referring to me, Tom?
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Surely, if any companies are to have a healthy dose of ethnic diversity on their website, it should be translation companies?
I too like to see mugshots of real people somewhere on a company's site, but you can't expect them on the front page. The cost of that kind of professional photography would be prohibitive.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Chris S wrote: Tom in London wrote:
I know of at least one case of a translator who is using a portrait that is not her. Are you by any chance referring to me, Tom?
No, but thanks for the confession.
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| OFF-TOPIC: Come on! | Jan 18, 2017 |
Chris S wrote: Tom in London wrote:
I know of at least one case of a translator who is using a portrait that is not her. Are you by any chance referring to me, Tom?
For St. Jerom's sake, Chris! You know quite well that you no longer have them shock absorbers in your bike as in the profile picture!
(Just kidding around, folks!)
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X) 
Spain
Local time: 06:51
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Tom is referring to me | Jan 18, 2017 |
Have to come clean - you've got me there, Tom. God knows how you rumbled me, but no, that's not me here. Straight up. Just a photo of some awfully poised chap at an Italian café I snapped one day, surrounded by women. First I asked him what he did for a crust, and he said:
You've seen all those photos of power-breakfasted corporate go-getters sitting around whiteboards in smart offices on websites, haven't you?
Of course. Who hasn't?
Well, I'm the one poi... See more Have to come clean - you've got me there, Tom. God knows how you rumbled me, but no, that's not me here. Straight up. Just a photo of some awfully poised chap at an Italian café I snapped one day, surrounded by women. First I asked him what he did for a crust, and he said:
You've seen all those photos of power-breakfasted corporate go-getters sitting around whiteboards in smart offices on websites, haven't you?
Of course. Who hasn't?
Well, I'm the one pointing out the globe on the table to the grinning CEO beside me. I'm a professional globe pointer.
Can I use your photo as me?
Sure, man. Buy me a couple of bottles of Peroni and it's yours. I'm just sorry I don't have the globe with me.
[Edited at 2017-01-18 11:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Wrong. It's not you either, Mervyn
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 06:51
Spanish to English
+ ...
| That's what I said ... | Jan 18, 2017 |
... it's not me, it's that globe-pointer bloke.
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@Mervyn: Lol.
@Tomas: You're right.
@Tom: It's not a confession!
I was referring to a previous social experiment (would a hot profile photo attract more customers) that ruffled a few feathers here among the humourless and sadly wasn't allowed to run its course.
It's interesting that things like appearance and gender matter so much to people, even though both this forum and the translation business are places where they genuinely don't make any... See more @Mervyn: Lol.
@Tomas: You're right.
@Tom: It's not a confession!
I was referring to a previous social experiment (would a hot profile photo attract more customers) that ruffled a few feathers here among the humourless and sadly wasn't allowed to run its course.
It's interesting that things like appearance and gender matter so much to people, even though both this forum and the translation business are places where they genuinely don't make any difference at all... ▲ Collapse
| | | | MK2010
United States
Local time: 00:51
French to English
+ ...
| Why IS there such a high turnover at agencies, anyway? | Jan 18, 2017 |
I don't work with a lot of agencies, but the one I have worked for for several years has gone through more great, talented, highly professional project/program managers than I can recall. Why is that? Is the pay bad? The environment too stressful? Does it have to do with losing big contracts with big clients? For example, there was a lot of personnel change at this agency when they lost the contract with the U.S. State Dept. However, PMs have come and gone at other times too, pretty much consist... See more I don't work with a lot of agencies, but the one I have worked for for several years has gone through more great, talented, highly professional project/program managers than I can recall. Why is that? Is the pay bad? The environment too stressful? Does it have to do with losing big contracts with big clients? For example, there was a lot of personnel change at this agency when they lost the contract with the U.S. State Dept. However, PMs have come and gone at other times too, pretty much consistently over the years.
I've often wondered about that. It's a real bummer to lose PMs you really like working with. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Entirely agree! | Jan 18, 2017 |
MK2010 wrote:
It's a real bummer to lose PMs you really like working with.
I completely agree. Maybe turnover at agencies is very much the normal turnover of any company that is moving, but we notice it more because we are always there and grow to love specific people.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
Spain
Local time: 06:51
Spanish to English
+ ...
| The downside to globing | Jan 18, 2017 |
After this bloke had thrown back a beer or two on a sweltering Italian afternoon, though, he admitted he didn't want to be a globe pointer all his life. Or a "glober", as apparently they say in the trade. He put down his glass wistfully and beckoned to the waiter for another Peroni:
I've worked my way up to glober after years of shots where I'm the bloke smiling as he offers lattes and petits-fours to the laughing executives in the board room. Then I went through a phase of being th... See more After this bloke had thrown back a beer or two on a sweltering Italian afternoon, though, he admitted he didn't want to be a globe pointer all his life. Or a "glober", as apparently they say in the trade. He put down his glass wistfully and beckoned to the waiter for another Peroni:
I've worked my way up to glober after years of shots where I'm the bloke smiling as he offers lattes and petits-fours to the laughing executives in the board room. Then I went through a phase of being the junior with potential, grinning at a clipboard beside the main bunch of yuppies, and got far enough up to be actually standing in the smile group fourth on the right, eyes twinkling as I hold out a sheaf of important-looking papers for the main man to sign.
He sighed.
The main man, yes, that's my target. One day I hope to play the number one honcho. The man who cuts the deal, that's who I want to pretend to be, one of those tall chaps who play the sharp-suited movers and shakers, seen signing off $$$$$$$$$$ gigs on a firm handshake with the sun glinting down on a glassed-in mezzanine walkway, now that's what I aspire to. That's where the real money is.
He sipped sadly at his Peroni and then said: So what do you do?
Me? Oh, well, you mentioned those wheeler-dealers on the mezzanine. The real ones, I mean. I translate all the blaargh that their secretaries write down and put into reports to make them all that dosh. Like you said, that's where the real money is. If only I could figure out a way of syphoning quite a lot more of it off to myself.
[Edited at 2017-01-18 15:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| Back at the Globe Theatre | Jan 18, 2017 |
Does he get to go out yet with the girl who laughs at the big boss's jokes, or does he have to settle for the smiley girl with the headset?
Does he get danger money for posing in a hard hat?
And has he ever had to do blackface to play the ethnic parts?
So many questions...
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 06:51
French to English
| staff turnover 2 | Jan 18, 2017 |
MK2010 wrote:
I don't work with a lot of agencies, but the one I have worked for for several years has gone through more great, talented, highly professional project/program managers than I can recall. Why is that? Is the pay bad? The environment too stressful? Does it have to do with losing big contracts with big clients? For example, there was a lot of personnel change at this agency when they lost the contract with the U.S. State Dept. However, PMs have come and gone at other times too, pretty much consistently over the years.
I've often wondered about that. It's a real bummer to lose PMs you really like working with.
Speaking for the sharks that bought out the agency I worked for:
- yes the pay is bad. minimum wage kind of bad
- yes it's stressful, you have clients and sales people saying it has to be done for Friday, and translators saying "do you mean the 28 or the Friday after that?", you're basically the buffer in between. Not to mention the big boss who dreams of shouting "You're fired" like on "The Apprentice".
Apart from that, it seems that most PMs are wannabe translators, they do a stint in an agency to understand how it works, possibly do some proofreading, perhaps enjoy the relative comfort of being an employee, but quickly see that they're better off working as a freel-ance translator. The agency will often be their first client, happy that the translator knows what their client is expecting.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:51
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| So many questions... | Jan 18, 2017 |
Chris S wrote:
Does he get to go out yet with the girl who laughs at the big boss's jokes, or does he have to settle for the smiley girl with the headset?
Does he get danger money for posing in a hard hat?
And has he ever had to do blackface to play the ethnic parts?
So many questions...
So many questions...of which one is "why do you assume the boss is white"?
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