Forum: Japanese / 日本語
Topic: Handling agencies that believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity of 参考資料
Poster: conejo
Post title: What they are asking is unreasonable
Yes, when we receive reference material, we should follow it to the best of our ability. However, if there are many terms that are clearly unnatural in English, or things they are telling you to do that will cause the quality of the translation to be bad because of what they are asking, I would really think twice about doing that. I don't think I could work for a client that insisted I use terms that clearly sound unnatural, especially if there are many such terms.
Also, when there are many unnatural terms they are requesting that you use, and if you have to put a comment and explanation for each one when you don't use the unnatural translation, and there are hundreds of these, Orrin is right that it is so not worth it to do this, because all it is doing is causing you to have to spend hours longer doing your work because the reference material is of low quality, none of which is your fault. If the rate is 4-5 yen per character, this type of detailed commenting on why the reference material is wrong is well beyond the scope of translation, which is what you are supposed to be doing. I have been working as a freelancer for 11 years and have never encountered a situation like what you are describing, and if I did encounter it, I would never work for that client again.
If you're not getting paid enough money to offset the extra time you're spending (and annoyance that you're having to endure), it's time to find a new client. Really. Think about how much you make per hour when you do translation under normal conditions, and how much you're making when you have to do everything they're asking. And think about whether you want to work for that kind of a low rate, and whether it is worth that to you or not.
Good luck.
Topic: Handling agencies that believe wholeheartedly in the sanctity of 参考資料
Poster: conejo
Post title: What they are asking is unreasonable
Yes, when we receive reference material, we should follow it to the best of our ability. However, if there are many terms that are clearly unnatural in English, or things they are telling you to do that will cause the quality of the translation to be bad because of what they are asking, I would really think twice about doing that. I don't think I could work for a client that insisted I use terms that clearly sound unnatural, especially if there are many such terms.
Also, when there are many unnatural terms they are requesting that you use, and if you have to put a comment and explanation for each one when you don't use the unnatural translation, and there are hundreds of these, Orrin is right that it is so not worth it to do this, because all it is doing is causing you to have to spend hours longer doing your work because the reference material is of low quality, none of which is your fault. If the rate is 4-5 yen per character, this type of detailed commenting on why the reference material is wrong is well beyond the scope of translation, which is what you are supposed to be doing. I have been working as a freelancer for 11 years and have never encountered a situation like what you are describing, and if I did encounter it, I would never work for that client again.
If you're not getting paid enough money to offset the extra time you're spending (and annoyance that you're having to endure), it's time to find a new client. Really. Think about how much you make per hour when you do translation under normal conditions, and how much you're making when you have to do everything they're asking. And think about whether you want to work for that kind of a low rate, and whether it is worth that to you or not.
Good luck.