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Pay to receive work?
Thread poster: Thayenga
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:13
English to German
My initial reaction is NO! Jun 21, 2017

You mention the client has extensive experience in sales, is it possible that there is some connection between the agency and the software company, so that the agency benefits from the sale of software?

If not, is it a software that is widely used by other agencies or clients in the subtitling industry? If yes, it might be worth the investment if you are planning to specialise a bit more in this field - but I wouldn't buy it solely for this one client who might never give you any wo
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You mention the client has extensive experience in sales, is it possible that there is some connection between the agency and the software company, so that the agency benefits from the sale of software?

If not, is it a software that is widely used by other agencies or clients in the subtitling industry? If yes, it might be worth the investment if you are planning to specialise a bit more in this field - but I wouldn't buy it solely for this one client who might never give you any work in the end...
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mariealpilles
mariealpilles  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 04:13
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
Pay to receive work Jun 21, 2017

I do not know about other countries but in France such practice is illegal. No potential employer is allowed to ask you to pay anything to get work. I guess France is not the only country with such a law; it may be worth checking. Personally I do not think it is right to ask the translator to pay for a software they want you to use since this is an open door to abuse - they may as well ask you to buy such or such a computer, etc.... The tools used by a professional are his/her own choice and pre... See more
I do not know about other countries but in France such practice is illegal. No potential employer is allowed to ask you to pay anything to get work. I guess France is not the only country with such a law; it may be worth checking. Personally I do not think it is right to ask the translator to pay for a software they want you to use since this is an open door to abuse - they may as well ask you to buy such or such a computer, etc.... The tools used by a professional are his/her own choice and preference, and the door was open with many insisting the translator uses Trados or any other CAT tool. I repeat what I have been stating for a long time, over and over again; when I buy a piece of meat I am interested in the end product and I do not force the butcher to use such or such a knife - it is his job and he knows what he should use to sell me the best possible product so I am happy with what I am paying for. Translators bend over too much to agencies and employers....Collapse


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I wouldn't touch it. Jun 21, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Today I saw a very interesting job post, a call for subtitle translators who where to receive lots of work from this intended long-term collaboration. Since this sounded very promising I read on until I reached the requirements.

In order to work with this agency, the translator must buy or lease a particular subtitling software. The licence costs "only" (!!!! that's a full day's translating for me!!) USD 420.00 per year.

I can't pinpoint why this raises a flag, since the owner is well settled in various types of enterprises, also having worked in sales.

So I am very interested in your thoughts.


The only sure thing about this "offer" is that you are being invited to shell out "only" USD 420.00 (which for me equates to something like a full day's translating work !!!) EVERY YEAR for a piece of software about which you are told nothing. It might be a really lousy piece of software, and it might not even work.

What's even worse, you're being asked to sign a contract before you get a chance to try the software.

Personally I wouldn't touch it, not even with a still-unused, vacuum-sealed mint pair of surgical tweezers.

As a general rule. beware of agencies that promise "lots of work".


[Edited at 2017-06-21 12:52 GMT]


 
Gabriele Demuth
Gabriele Demuth  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:13
English to German
But... Jun 22, 2017

mariealpilles wrote:

I do not know about other countries but in France such practice is illegal. No potential employer is allowed to ask you to pay anything to get work. I guess France is not the only country with such a law; it may be worth checking. Personally I do not think it is right to ask the translator to pay for a software they want you to use since this is an open door to abuse - they may as well ask you to buy such or such a computer, etc.... The tools used by a professional are his/her own choice and preference, and the door was open with many insisting the translator uses Trados or any other CAT tool. I repeat what I have been stating for a long time, over and over again; when I buy a piece of meat I am interested in the end product and I do not force the butcher to use such or such a knife - it is his job and he knows what he should use to sell me the best possible product so I am happy with what I am paying for. Translators bend over too much to agencies and employers....


1. A translator isn't an employee.

2. Agencies deal with large projects into different languages, somehow they need to coordinate all that and if half the files they receive are not compatible and cause problems it might turn into a nightmare.

3. But I think the translator should make a well considered choice what tools to invest in and which tools make sense for their business - not because one agency promises work, that seems rather dubious.


 
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