Testing, testing

I was recently contacted by an agency that was interested in working with me (they contacted me through LinkedIn, but that's a story for another time, perhaps) and one of the things that was mentioned was that a free test translation would be necessary. A few of the blogs I have read tend to be against this saying that almost no other field makes this demand and we don't ask for test payments, etc. (I'd link to them but it's late and I don't remember any names off-hand).

I'm not entirely sure were I stand in this debate. When I started writing I thought that test translations might be a necessary evil, especially for beginning translators. An agency (do direct clients ask for test translations?)  is taking a chance on someone who doesn't have a lot of experience and they want to be sure that this translator is up to scratch. Otherwise, they have to find someone to fix or re-translate the document and they risk losing a job or a client. An agency may ask for a portfolio or examples of work but beginning translators are not likely to have a large portfolio other than what they may have done in their own time (I'm not saying work done on your own isn't worthwhile but it may not necessarily be appropriate) or it may be confidential (most of the work I have done recently has been for WIPO and may not be published for a number of months yet, if at all), so agencies need some other way to measure the skills of the translator. I can understand why an agency would ask for a test translation.

On the other hand, maybe agencies need to have a closer look at the credentials of prospective translators. A test translation would be inappropriate, maybe even insulting, to ask of someone who has been translating for 15 or 20 years. I have been accredited as a professional translator by NAATI in Australia. This involved translating three articles on three different topics in eight hours. Sure, the articles weren't long but the standards are high and it was in no way easy. I also need to translate an average of 10,000 words per year every three years to maintain that accreditation (although this is under review). I don't think it's too much to expect agencies to know about various accreditation systems like this and the standards involved, I would even go so far as to say it is essential. I also have a master's degree from the MAJIT program at the University of Queensland, possibly the best Japanese-English translation program in the country, so I'm led to believe, and one of the few schools that WIPO recruits from worldwide for their fellowship programme. Again, agencies, especially larger ones, should probably know a bit about various education programmes. And these are all things that are considered in other fields, fields that don't involve free tests, when one applies for a job: education, qualifications and experience. So, I can understand why some translators may not want to do test translations.

As I said, I'm not entirely sure where I stand here. I can see why an agency might feel that a test translation is necessary, especially when dealing with a translator who is just starting out, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder how necessary it is. If a prospective translator has no academic qualifications or experience to speak of, it may be a good idea, and as someone relatively new to the business I do these free tests and will probably continue to do them, but if an agency wants experienced translators, who have the luxury of turning down this kind of offer, this probably isn't the best tactic. A translator without an agency can still translate, but what can an agency without translators do?

This post has been rescheduled

I'm late. I intended to put up a post at least once every two weeks and I'm late.

In my defence, things have been a little chaotic lately. I got back from visiting S____'s family a couple of weeks ago, my dad and brother were visiting and I just moved halfway across the state (which is larger than most European countries). On top of all this, I have been working as well.

But the brilliant thing is that I have the flexibility to do this, so long as I have a computer and an internet connection. When we were visiting S____'s family, I was able to keep working when we spent two weeks at her sister's house, when we were at her parent's place and when we spent the day visiting her uncle.

Working freelance is also flexible enough that when my family was visiting and I was preparing to move, I was able to reduce the amount of work that I was doing. (A dearth of work hasn't been a problem for me, yet.)

I have, however, noticed a drawback to all this flexibility. Related to the motivation issues that I have discussed earlier, if one has all flexibility and no structure, it can be very difficult to get things done. So, despite being able to work in the middle of the night if I want, I still try to keep a relatively normal schedule.