posted 14 December 2001 16:29            

1)Late delivery: the delivery dates are negotiated between the agency and the supplier. It is common courtesy and a sign of professionalism to let the client know if you cannot deliver on time and the reasons for that. Project managers are understanding most of the times and could manipulate their timelines to fit you in. (that's why they are called project managers). What makes me furious is:
a) the supplier does not reply to my desperate emails
b) delivers late and doesn't apologise

2) Not being able to follow instructions. One might argue that it depends how the instructions are written, how clear they are etc. Fair enough. I do not expect wonders. But if I take the trouble to write a comprehensible (sort) brief and I ask something simple such as "do not change the text in red" and you do change it...

3) Not being asked for clarifications on terminolgy/any points of the translation brief or deliverables. A project manager should aim to facilitate the translators with their work and ensure that the translator has understood all aspects of the project he/she is translating. I do not find acceptable post-delivery comments such as "can you double check this term? I did not know how to translate it". I have to say though, that the translators I usually work with are not shy. They do tend to keep me busy... I do the research for them, they do the translation on time.

4) Lie about one's software/technical apptitude. Depending on the sort of the project (online, offline, TMs, PP, word, excel, Quark etc) a supplier needs to have the necessary software and knowledge how to use it. More than once I was told over the phone "yes, I can handle the HTML page" only to find out that the supplier did not know anything about it. That did not impress me...

5) Not being able to accept criticism. Sometimes suppliers are very defending and insulting if their work is criticised (not by the project manager but the in-country client). A translator who wants to offer a better service and is client oriented will usually say that they will try to improve that aspect of their work/will re-work the translation/will improve communication... will do something to be proactive.

6) Not being told if something is seriously wrong with the file/translation/terminology because that is not part of the supplier's brief. The key words here are: Value Added Service

7) Recently we had the example of a Polish supplier who named her file in Polish F*** off. Need I say more here? You cannot treat your clients as dummies, and lack of respect never won anyone anything.

What I do appreciate, apart from the obvious (good translation, service, delivery on time) etc, are the little things. A nice joke, a x-mas card, the 5 words I need to have translated urgently free of charge... these help built the relationship with a long term client.

posted 14 December 2001 16:46            

I completely agree with all your points. I also cannot abide the basic lack of proofreading and omission of spell checking! A spell checker does not always pick up words as the mispelt word may in fact exist (as another word I mean, of course!). Therefore a proof and re-proof is always necessary to be sure that your text is 'perfect'.

Overshooting deadlines is my biggest bugbear! Particularly when a translator calls you 10 mins before delivery to say it will be late. ARGH!

I am very lucky with the translators I work with, they are great. The ones who let me down do not get a second chance it is as simple as that. Actually maybe that is a little unfair, I work with one fantastic translator who I have worked with for a number of year who uncharacteristically 'let me down' and was so apologetic - in such situations where I know it was a human oversight, I do understand!!!

posted 31 January 2002 02:49            

There's also the problem of not following instructions, especially in formatting files, including both clean and unclean text, naming files, etc. All of this adds up to one big headache for the PM, which is why I would never want to take on their job, and admire them greatly for what they go through.