2017 Top 10 Blog Posts

As the end of 2017 is fast approaching, let’s recap on the year’s most popular blogs as we did in 2015 and 2016. 

2017 has proved a quieter year for blogging - especially when compared with my exceptionally busy year of 2016. The year's writing still resulted in some very popular blogs with readers judging by my analytics. Event blogs remained popular. They were beaten by a number of other blog subjects this year. The early year blogs were the most popular. The cultural blogs of 2016 seemed somewhat dampened by Brexit.

I have remarked on a number of occasions that clients are not interested in translation. I therefore try to engage them via cultural aspects or by illustrating important considerations using another subject - e.g. boat industry safety, ice skating, art, etc. As a number of these blogs appear in the top 10 below, I consider that this strategy is working. Blogs raise a freelancer's profile and go on working for you when you are busy. Old blogs are revisited frequently. That was certainly the case for this year's No. 1.

Top Blogs

1. French v. British Cultural Debate
Summary of a French Chamber of Great Britain debate that took place at the French Ambassador's Residence in London. It centred on the differences between French and British business approaches and education. 

Every time Brexit discussions became tricky, the visits to this blog seemed to increase. Analytics reveal around 3,500 views - not bad for a freelancer's blog.

Post from 25 January 2017

2. A Bubble about to Burst?

Summary of the FIT President's Presentation at the University of Bristol in the presence of the Chair of GALA and a former Chair of the ITI. There was much discussion on the night and following the event - especially about hype affecting the translation industry.

Post from 16 February 2017

3. Video for SMEs

Review of Guardian Masterclass on Video production and editing by Rosenblum TV - and my experiences of putting what I learnt into practice afterwards.

Post from 10 January 2017

4. Boat Show Quality Translated

This could be considered number 2 if I combined all the viewings for the French and German versions too. An example of trying to explain translation issues to clients using safety and quality considerations from another field.

Salon nautique : comment se traduit la qualité ?

Bootsausstellung: Qualität übersetzt

Post from 13 January 2017

5. Virtual Reality as an Art Form
This high entry surprised me. Art is a field that interests French clients. However, the subject is relevant to considerations on artistry and innovative tools in the translation industry. The possibilities are only just beginning. Real excitement tinged with concerns as with any new field.

Post from 12 January 2017

6. Is Speech Technology Unstoppable?
A blog inspired by a webinar on speech technology by TAUS. This is probably the most controversial subject matter and approach of the year. However, given how the year has developed with President Trump and North Korea, etc, the concerns seem even more relevant. The technologists have been dictating the direction of the translation industry for some time, it is time for the human-centred counterrevolution.

Post from 17 January 2017

7. Australian Impressionists - Glocalisation in Art?
Review of the National Gallery's Australian Impressionists' Exhibition. It was interesting how the Australian artists were inspired by French Impressionists to depict their own country. Is native expression better in art as in translation?

Post from 20 January 2017

8. Inspirational Legacies of Words
Summary of talk linked to South African exhibition at the British Museum. Consideration of the legacy of words left by Presidents Mandela and Obama. Some great quotations and an emphasis on the importance of education.

Post from  18 January 2017

9. Canary Wharf Winter Lights Festival
Review with video of the light festival in Canary Wharf, London.

Post from 25 January 2017

10. Choosing an Inspirational Statue
Comments on leadership inspired by the selection of models for the next Fourth Plinth Statue in Trafalgar Square.

Post from 26 January 2017

A reminder of last years' top blogs:

Top Business and Cultural Blogs in 2016

Plant Diversity in 2016-17?
What can you expect in 2017? The MSc in Plant Diversity at the University of Reading is keeping me very busy, but you can probably expect more on botanical, ecological and climate change subject matter. There's a rich seam of material and comparisons yet to be explored.

In the meantime, have you seen my Advent Blogs on Dr Alastair Culham's site at the University of Reading?
The Glastonbury Thorn
Christmas Cyclamen 

Have you seen the botanically-inspired blog about professional translation?

Cow Parsley or Hemlock








Season's Greetings and Best Wishes for 2018
Karen


Karen Andrews is a French to English marketer and marketing strategist, translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She holds an MSc in Scientific, Technical and Medical Translation with Translation Technology from Imperial College London (2005-7). She is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, Society for Editors and Proofreaders, Society of Authors and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators. She can also offer your brand the value of over 15 years' expertise and experience in global marketing. Karen Andrews is  studying for an MSc in Plant Diversity at the University of Reading (2017-18).

Struck by Honey Fungus?

Armillaria is fatal. It attacks the roots. By the time the danger is spotted, you’re a goner. Honey Fungus (Armillaria) attacks trees not the translation industry. It nonetheless provides an interesting metaphor for the current state of the translation ‘family’ tree.

If you are bathed in sunshine in the topmost branches, it’s easy to overlook or play down the creeping fungus. A well-known proverb states:

‘A fish rots from the head down’.

When an organisation fails, it is the leadership that is the root cause. By contrast, a tree rots from the bottom up. When the root system fails, the top of the tree comes crashing down too.

Pollution is reportedly bad in London. There is a fight for oxygen in the upper branches. It is no doubt a relief to see that competitive Lionbridge branch take a pruning.

While your eyes are focused on the competitive branches, the honey fungus takes hold below. No problem, you think? You’ve taken measures to ensure a good flow of nutrients; the direct flow of the best university students is secure for your future growth. I’m all right, Jack*.

Future represented by conkers

Those down at the roots are much more aware of how toxic the environment is becoming than those in the uppermost tree branches.

Every now and again, those in the topmost branches have a ‘little chat’ with the established freelancers below. Those below naturally want a good rapport with those above. They need the light from above. Even if deep down they are more than a little worried about the impending storm above and the creeping fungus below, they want to sound positive and smile sweetly.

Established freelancers are the trunk of the tree. It’s a good, solid place to hang on. Honey fungus is merciless. It cracks and bleeds the bark from the base. As the summer temperatures rise, upper parts of the tree die too. The leaves look smaller, paler and less healthy than in the past. Branches die back over several years. The root system fails, just like the feared toxic environment for today's freelancers and future generations of linguists.

Horse Chestnut tree with leaves turning yellow

Until recently my mother’s house looked out on a magnificent horse chestnut tree. Now, there is a gaping hole in the view and a rotting stump. The local children used to love collecting the conkers as they waited for the local school bus in the autumn.

Honey Fungus on a rotting tree stump

The honey fungus has spread from garden to garden – just as toxic pricing and anti-competitive practices have spread from continent to continent, country to country and company to company.

When honey fungus brings a tree down, it’s the uppermost branches that take the biggest crash of all.

Can we plant a new tree? The ground remains toxic. There are no effective chemicals. The only effective remedy is to excavate and destroy. Burn all the infected root and stump material.

To stop the fungus spreading you need to build a physical barrier and bury it deep in the soil. Very few trees are resistant to honey fungus.

Maybe tech has the solution? Hasn’t it got the solution for everything according to all the hype? I recently revisited Bristol’s Millennium Square. The metal Energy Tree looked somewhat sad after its European Green Capital heyday. I can’t help thinking that it’s a bit like Rules-based Machine Translation (RMT) or Statistical Machine Translation (SMT). They are now abandoned for the shiny new Neural Machine Translation (NMT).

A metal tree is no match for a real tree's healthy foliage however shiny

NMT isn’t a match for strong, healthy human translation despite the hype. And that metallic Energy Tree is no match for the gloriously healthy foliage of a Horse Chestnut.

The moral of this tale for those in the uppermost branches of the translation industry at GALA, EUATC, ELIA and FIT? Watch out for the translation equivalent of honey fungus. Deal with the problems at the roots, even if you feel that they are not your problems... YET.

References:

A fish rots from the head down

*I’m all right, Jack.

Collins Dictionary: a remark indicating smug and complacent selfishness.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/18/im-all-right-jack-philip-french-classic-dvd

Honey Fungus

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Is speech technology unstoppable?

Too many like-minded techies around the TAUS table?

What do you call a huge, powerful and overwhelming force? A juggernaut. This afternoon TAUS ran a webinar entitled: TAUS New Year’s Reception 2017. The TAUS tagline is Enabling Better Translation. The webinar carried out a self-congratulatory review of TAUS ‘achievements’. The TAUS website claims to support the whole translation industry. Does it?

Alarm Bells

TAUS CEO Jaap van der Meer is very pally with all the IT companies. IT Companies think TAUS is a wonderful organisation. Freelance translators don’t trust TAUS. Hardly surprising, judging by the flippant and dismissive tone adopted towards some of their key concerns. TAUS has become a juggernaut in hock* to the major, largely US IT companies. It’s another classic case of too many like-minded people continuing regardless of alarm bells. And the alarm bells were ringing very loudly. They just ignored them.

They were all so excited about the latest technological developments in speech technology, machine translation and machine learning. They touched on robots putting translators and project managers out of jobs. Oh, something else would come up for them. It was so exciting.

Dismissive of human aspects

Jaap van der Meer raised a major concern. Yet, he didn’t seem to fully appreciate its human significance and repercussions. He mentioned universities’ difficulties in obtaining software licences for students. He felt bad about it. Never mind, Mr van der Meer predicts that post-editing will be dead in the next 5 years. They need to move on to new challenges.

It’s all very well for the TAUS juggernaut and IT pals to move on, but it isn’t so simple for the universities - or past and present students trained in a soon-to-be obsolete technology. And of course, the fact that the technology will die means that he can dismiss trying to resolve post-editing pricing controversies. They will simply recur more urgently with the next technology. Wait and see.

A university curriculum cannot change at the drop of a hat. How do course leaders explain wasting so much time, money and effort on an obsolete technology? How do they explain to university administrators that the old stuff is useless? Will they trust TAUS and IT developers before making new purchases? Not one iota.

EU Linguistic Expertise v. US Isolationism

An EU Quality Manager made an interesting point. An EU survey revealed that quality is 6 times more important than cost efficiency. It seemed to fall on deaf ears. You can’t get more experienced than the EU in procuring multilingual translations. It's difficult for TAUS to listen because its advisors are largely American. They only really worry about English and Spanish. They dismiss valid European concerns as ‘scepticism’. We can’t hope for any enlightened leadership on linguistic matters from the US over the next 4 years. Hell, the President-elect wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

Not good enough

And what of all the translators working in the market who were trained to meet post-editing ‘good enough’ standards? How do they suddenly learn the creativity required by the increasing demand for transcreation? How do course leaders find enough trainers? The older generation learnt to translate literally. The younger generation were told that ‘good enough’ was ‘good enough’. You can change technology, but it isn’t easy to unlearn what will now be regarded as bad practices for transcreation.

Raw deal for the young

I feel for the younger generation. They endured successive, unpaid internships. Then, they got cheated out of 50% of their potential earnings. So how are they now supposed to finance their retraining and buy new software?

No answers to society’s challenges

To be fair to TAUS: Technology is transforming other industries too. Digital transformation threatens many jobs. No-one has the economic answers on how society supports a workforce for whom there are no jobs. People need to feel valued and productive to maintain good mental and physical health. Those who feel excluded can wreak havoc on society - as we have already seen with terrorist attacks. If a section of the population is left ill-informed and poorly educated, they can vote extremist political parties into power to exact vengeance.

Property prices in my London borough have increased 71% over 10 years. How do you deal with that, a reduction in earnings and a need to retrain? The UK population has the consequences of Brexit to deal with too.

Speech technology and cultural incompetents

How many other industries could start an apocalypse? TAUS says nothing on the importance of cultural competence to translation and interpreting. The lack of cultural understanding coming from the US, IT companies and the future President is alarming. Speech technology could start a nuclear war in their hands. The scientists who made atomic bombs no doubt found their technology oh so exciting too.

Implications for military applications in the field? 

It’s time to stop the TAUS juggernaut and take stock of the human implications. We need a powerful European organisation to consider the ethical, societal and human elements of current directions. TAUS is patently not representing the whole industry.

* in hock to - (meaning 3) if you are in hock to someone, you feel that you have to do things for them because they have given you money or support.
Usage example: It is almost impossible for the prime minster to stand above the factions. He always seems in hock to one or the other
Collins Cobuild Advanced English Learners' Dictionary

Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.

Email Karen for further information via karenanglicityen@gmail.com in French, German or English.

Elia Together Conference

Barcelona extended a warm welcome to the first Elia Together Conference last week. It was the first European conference bringing freelance translators and Language Service Providers together. Over 350 participants gathered at the World Trade Center from 39 different countries.

Bringing everyone together in such numbers for a new initiative was an achievement. Difficult subjects were broached and discussed openly. The atmosphere remained pleasant and constructive to a previously unprecedented degree.

Some may argue that only the converted attended. Maybe so, but word travels fast in the translation industry.  Freelancers’ voices from the end of the “food chain” have been heard. The food chain collapses if plankton die out. The human translation chain risks dying out if conditions become too “acidic” for freelancers.

The planning committee chaired by Arancha Caballero and Manuele Vecchi put on an interesting series of presentations to address current challenges. The conference had three tracks: 

1. Relationships - moderated by Jost Zetzsche
2. Growth - moderated by Iwan Davies, ITI's Chair
3. Technology - moderated by José Blanco Pérez

The conference team was also supported by Danilo Monaco.

For the most part, I attended the Relationships track. Regular reports kept us informed about key points discussed in other tracks.

In the keynote address, Stephen Lank drew our attention to some incredible ironies in the translation world:

1. We facilitate communication for clients yet the translation industry has internal communication problems.
2. Communicating across cultures is our job – yet we have a cultural communication problem. Most communications are not in a native language. We fail to make the same allowances as we would for clients in similar interactions.

The various presentations will be available on the Elia Together website shortly, so I will not summarise them all here. I felt that there was a new atmosphere and a new energy at Elia Together. It is for us to shape our industry. At the end of the day, all sides desire the same: professional respect and trust.

This two-day conference promises to transform our maturing industry. Bullying is out for example. Whether by LSP or freelancer, it will be no longer be tolerated.

Elia already has a series of dates in the calendar to drive the discussions and strategy forward. Project managers were described as the stress sponges for all sides. The December dates devoted to them seem a particularly welcome initiative.

Elia Together will reconvene in Berlin in 2017. See you there?

Future Elia Events:

21-22 April - ND Focus, Elia's Networking Days for Executives, Mallorca/Majorca, Spain

October 2016 - Elia's Networking Days, Brussels, Belgium (exact dates to be confirmed)

December 2016 - ND Focus, Elia's Networking Days for Project Managers, Barcelona, Spain (exact dates to be confirmed shortly)

February 2017 - Elia Together, 2nd Conference, Berlin Germany (call for papers and exact dates to follow)

More about Elia

A long open letter to SDL

Dear SDL,

I attended your London Roadshow at the Sofitel London St James Hotel on 22nd October 2015. This was my third SDL Roadshow. It was my first as a freelance translator. I was a translation buyer/project manager and client on the two previous occasions. I wish to share my Roadshow impressions with you from my multiple perspectives on the localisation industry.

 TM Experience

As an MSC student in Translation Technology, I gained experience in a wide range of software including SDL Trados, Multiterm and Passolo. My preference back in 2005-7 was Déjà Vu. Since turning freelance in 2012, I have preferred Kilgray's MemoQ as more intuitive. I have also tried WordFast and OmegaT. It was in hearing of the improvements in SDL Trados from fellow professionals that I signed up for this year's Roadshow.

Great organisation

As a former marketer, I couldn't help but be impressed by the new slickness of SDL's marketing and event organisation. I liked the way you extended an equal welcome to all your different types of clients - even humble freelance translators. The coloured-edged badges made it easy for your sales team and attendees to find each other. Your sales manager came up to us early on and made it known where we could make enquiries or seek answers to technical issues. Not pushy, just available. I liked that.

The presentations were well planned. The room was wider than it was long. It had a screen for both sections of the room. This meant that it was easy to follow the software demonstrations.

Listening to clients

My biggest impression was that SDL is taking much more notice of its clients' and end-users' opinions than it did in the past. A number of developments in SDL Trados Studio 2015 relate directly to such customer requests.

Clear vision

As a translator with a Smart Cities' specialisation, I was particularly interested in SDL's focus on the Internet of Things (IoT). This demonstrated to me that SDL is thinking well beyond client requests too. The videos and explanations to explain that vision were very clear.

Interactive

I liked the use of interactive questions with the audience using their smartphones and tablets to respond. The analysis was available in real-time too. 66.67% said that they had a much clearer understanding by the end of the Roadshow. What a great way to measure how your audience is responding to your messages during a live session. It was so much better than a cagey show of hands.

Open to criticism

Your Roadshow team invited comments from the audience - good, bad and indifferent. I was generally very impressed by SDL's Roadshow. I do have one major misgiving.

Word counts

My concern relates to how SDL has responded to project manager requests over word counts. It was very hard to hold my tongue when I hear that SDL allows project managers to "manipulate data". Someone is losing the plot when word count scrutiny gets to the level of quibbling over whether a hyphenated word should be one word or two.

Surely it cannot be common sense for SDL to spend valuable IT development time on such "manipulations"? In the demonstration, a word count was reduced from 112 to 79 words.

If we take a very average rate of say £70 per 1000 words, 33 fewer words mean a saving of £2.31.

Maybe company project managers feel the "manipulations" are worthwhile on large projects? Such quibbling is responsible for creating bad feeling between translation companies and freelancers. It makes freelancers feel aggrieved towards SDL and other tool manufacturers too.

Translation company salaries

I understand that SDL is responding to project managers' requests. Not every client request is practical in the cold light of day. The translation industry is not noted for its financial acumen. Salaries in the industry have fallen behind other fields.

I remember reading in the lead-up to the UK's ATC conference that even a senior translation project manager could only expect a salary in the £20,000 range. I pity junior project managers trying to survive near the breadline in London. Maybe this explains why £2.31 seems so important?

Client viewpoint

Clients are looking to save thousands or hundreds of thousands in their documentation processes - not £2.31. Process streamlining is more likely to deliver real savings. Translation makes up a very small fraction of a project's costs. The real savings are always to be made in multilingual design and other production costs.

As a client, I valued and set a value on my time. It strikes me that while a freelance translator and a project manager are quibbling over £2.31 neither can be working productively. The freelancer will not be earning at all. The project manager's time will no doubt have far exceeded the saving he is pursuing too. And what price do you place on the damage to a working relationship?

Relationships

I fear that SDL must shoulder some of the responsibility for the bad blood between freelancers and translation companies. I was a client when SDL and other agencies started selling their discounted rates based on full and fuzzy matches. The words "discounts" and "savings" are always music to clients' ears. They impress senior management and go down well in performance reviews.

Pricing strategy

Clients are not responsible for the translation industry's ludicrous pricing system. They readily accept hourly and daily charges from other suppliers working on the same projects. Clients generally want a bottom-line translation price to add to other project costs. They need the reassurance of price comparison to ensure that they are paying a fair market rate for their stated quality level.

My colleagues never fully understood the complexities of translation pricing. One translation company presented a price study that claimed massive savings. The claimed savings exceeded our annual translation budget.

How realistic are TM savings?

With translation company help, I set about analysing actual translation memory savings over the long-term on live projects. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the figures. I would be unable to reveal them for confidentiality reasons anyway. However, I can say that for marketing texts, where there is far greater originality from job to job, the TM savings were minimal.

Greater savings are made in repetitions on financial and legal documents. Such projects involved hundreds of pages and were produced in multiple language versions. I would still argue that TM savings are insignificant by comparison with the cost benefits from genuine multilingual design and streamlining production processes.

TM discounts v. Quality

In my view, the translation industry's focus on TM discounts has been to the detriment of quality. When translators do not get paid for 100% matches, they understandably do not waste valuable time on pressurised projects checking them. This approach once resulted in large chunks of English copy appearing in a Spanish prospectus after a problem with SDL Trados extraction. To add insult to injury, the said prospectus was then certified to be a fair and true translation of the original. It still was the original...

A project experience

I remember that my mildest-mannered colleague once became practically apoplectic over a marketing translation. The English sentences had been reworked into a different order. This meant that every single sentence in the German version started in exactly the same way. It strikes me that when a software system and pricing focus override creativity and common sense, then something needs to be done. My colleague got a very poor impression of the translation industry from this particular translation.

Translating Europe Forum 2015

There was an amazing new generation of confident, entrepreneurial at the Translating Europe Forum in Brussels last week. They are digital natives. Many have a Masters in translation and are trained in translation tools. (Only 50% of Proz translators use translation tools). SDL's Roadshow demonstrated how much these new language professionals are needed. The demand will outstrip the supply. There are concerns that they will not stay beyond five years after training.

TransCert

During the forum, it was possible to gain access to the training materials for TransCert. There were 182 slides to explain translation estimating and invoicing. This demonstrates how ridiculously complicated translation pricing is. I pity both trainers and students grappling with the subject.

Time-based pricing

In switching sides of the industry, I have become aware of how some translation companies take advantage of newbie translators. The best favour that SDL (and other translation tool providers) could do for the next generation of language professionals is to drop TM discount calculations from its software. This would encourage simpler and fairer time-based pricing. It would bring localisation pricing more in line with what clients expect from other creative industries.

Poaching risk

This new generation of language professionals is talented, confident and entrepreneurial. They will be poached away by other industries if the word-based pricing approach does not change. SDL's own Roadshow showed how much they are needed. We can't afford to lose any of them. We need to attract many more enthusiastic recruits.

SDL, I reiterate that you are not to blame for the way the translation industry has implemented your software. The ball is in your court (and that of other translation tool providers now). You can help to drive the localisation industry towards the sustainable pricing strategy that it so desperately needs.

I hope this letter will empower other translators, project managers, buyers and clients to give further examples in support of this change from their experiences.

Thank you for an impressive, informative and friendly event. I hope you will see this letter in the positive manner in which it was intended - as part of your own drive for continuous improvement.

Thank you for reading.

Karen

Karen Andrews

Freelance translator

Former client/translation buyer/translation project manager with 15 years' experience

Anglicity Ltd

A pan-European agreement on translation working practices?

 

Future-proofing panel at EC Rep. in the UK © Anglicity

At the French CNET conference, Miklós Bán of Proford explained how a 16-page agreement had transformed the translation business climate in Hungary. The agreement was worked out between AHTI (the Hungarian Association of Translators and Interpreters) and Proford (the Hungarian Association for Language Service Providers). I believe that s similar agreement should be worked out not only in France and the UK, but across the European Union - and maybe even worldwide in the future?

Towards a Pan-European agreement? © md3d

Miklós Bán is the Chairman of Proford, the Hungarian Association of Translators and Interpreters. Proford is a young association by comparison with the French CNET network founded in 1977 or the UK's ATC founded in 1976. It was founded in 2012 and has just 11 members. CNET has a membership of 30 French LSPs and the ATC has a membership totalling nearly 150 worldwide LSPs.

A future for the British translation industry? © UMB-O

Historically, there had been a lot of animosity between the freelancers and LSPs in Hungary. Cooperation was difficult and tough market conditions had exacerbated the situation. It was in the LSP's best interests to reach an understanding. After all, they need good translators for their businesses to function well.

Miklós viewed freelance translation and translation companies as essentially two different professions. There was a lack of understanding between the two sides. They needed a point of reference - a document that could act as a professional standard to outline what each side could expect from the other.

Recommendations

Recommendations for translation company associations to reach a similar agreement included:

1. Start any improvements on your own side first.

2. Do not criticise the freelancers.

3. Be prepared to make the first gesture - in fact, make the first 15 gestures to establish trust.

4. Invite freelancers to translation company events free of charge.

5. Work under the International Federation of Translators' (FIT) umbrella - for an external viewpoint, to check proposals against international practices and legal issues.

6. Recognise that in any conflict, there is generally fault on both sides. Always criticise your own side first.

7. Encourage any translator employees or freelance translators to join the freelance associations - especially younger generations with fresh viewpoints.

8. Share viewpoints on the whole translation process - companies often can't see the freelance viewpoint and vice versa.

FIT Conference in 2014  © Anglicity Ltd

Drafting the agreement

The agreement set out the rules between the parties and had several key stages:

1. agreement on the topics to be covered and scope

2. drafting

3. editing

4. lock-up

5. compromise

6. acceptance and endorsement

By the end of stage 3, they had two separate 16-page documents - a freelance version and an LSP version. At this point, they locked the two sides in a room together to work on a single, unified text. It took 8 hours. 

An lock-up lead to the final agreement © pict rider

Details

1. Definitions

They used those set out in the European translation standard EN15038.

2. Terms of cooperation

Covered non-disclosure, no sub-contracting, NDA, NCA, certification and references.

3. Quality

Mutual requirements. What input is needed? Who does what?

4. Complaint management

5. Technology

CAT, MT, IT, infrastructure

One of the biggest issues was over intellectual property (IP). Case argued for translation memory as client's property.

6. Payment

·      Capacity and output

·      Basis of payment

·      Payment terms - not the exact terms, but they have to be specified in advance and accepted. Payment has to be respected by the LSP.

·      Public procurement

Minimum rate

Proford tried to set a minimum rate. (I will return to my discussion with Miklós in the break on this subject in a separate blog).

The tricky points

Miklós outlined the tricky or sticking points in the negotiations between the two sides.

1.    Gain insight and empathy for the opposing viewpoint. (The viewpoint of the company owner may be far removed from the freelancer, if no project manager experience).

2.    Mutual reality checks on the right way to do business together

3.    Ownership

4.    Basis of payment

5.    Money

6.    Terminology/identity - what is an LSP?

7.    Change - climate change, openness, commitments, responsibility

A chain of agreements from Hungary to UK/Europe?  © H.Peter

The Hungarian document now offers an endorsed outline on best practice in the translation industry. Proford would like to share it outside Hungary. Having worked on nearly all sides of the industry (client, translation buyer, freelancer, project manager), I have witnessed the lack of trust and its consequences for all parties. I believe that this proposal should be given serious consideration and support by all national associations and the European Union.

For further information on Anglicity's services, email karen@anglicity.com.

Karen Andrews runs
Anglicity Ltd. She is a

technical writer and 

translator with over

15 years' marketing

experience. Anglicity offers

marketing consultancy and

content marketing with a 

particular focus on innovation.