posted 29 October 2002 08:54            

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I work as the sole in-house translator at an agency.

While I am not involved in any PM activities, our PMs and coordinators sit next to me, and I have noticed that at our company, they hardly ever use translators other than our regulars. It happens, but it's once in a blue moon.

Is this typical, or is it representative of agencies in general?

posted 29 October 2002 15:55            

Which is why it's so important to impress a client with the first job you do for them. Deliver early if you can, make sure the layout is stunning even if the original wasn't, get your invoice in on time and essentially just bend over backwards to make their lives easier.

Then you end up being one of those favoured few. It works!

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posted 31 October 2002 12:14            

However, I've also seen regular translators who repeatedly did something "naughty" over a short space of time, and these people just have to hope that old PMs leave and are replaced with new ones who find their details in the company database but haven't heard about their transgressions... This does happen from time to time.

In addition, even if you and the client can fix the problem between you, an apology is always a good idea - amazing how many translators don't apologise for getting things wrong! That kind of attitude is much more likely to lose you a client.

No, if you've done something wrong, the best thing to do is come clean, apologise and say it was a momentary lapse and you won't do it again. Getting all defensive and "well it wasn't my fault because..." will just annoy people and get you labelled as a troublemaker.

So to summarise... Be Nice!

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posted 01 November 2002 01:52            

quote:

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Originally posted by Apollo:
So to summarise... Be Nice!

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Right. Sound common sense. At our company, I have heard a couple of our PMs complaining of translators who gyaku-gire - the Japanese term for getting angry when someone takes the trouble to point out your mistakes.

I'm fairly sure we don't use those people twice.

It seems fairly obvious that good manners are important to generating good will, and therefore work, but a lot of translators in Japan (especially the very experienced ones) are very haughty, and some even act as if they're doing you a favour by dealing with you.

posted 01 November 2002 09:01            

quote:

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[B] At our company, I have heard a couple of our PMs complaining of translators who gyaku-gire - the Japanese term for getting angry when someone takes the trouble to point out your mistakes.

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This is actually surprisingly common!! I've seen it many times, and occasionally my agency clients will contact me with other translators' angry comments on client "feedback" (i.e. criticism) and ask me for an impartial view. The fact that the agencies feel they have to take the step of asking a third party for views is a measure of how seriously they take it - it costs them money, after all!

quote:

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some even act as if they're doing you a favour by dealing with you.

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This is less common on the UK market than it was, but there are still some people out there who do it, believe it or not. Sometimes you even hear "why would I want to work for you? I have my own regular clients". Crazy.

Fortunately the numbers of translators who behave like this is dwindling. People are realising that it pays to be pleasant! A little courtesy costs nothing.

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