Jianjun’s Blog

Before the main content, a few words about my blog:

Politics is not part of my blog’s coverage. But for the last few weeks, such things infiltrated into this place. Although I categorized them as cultural, I know they are more political. Now my blog is back in normal mode.

Yesterday I attended a translators Powwow. We had lots of discussions about the market, the client, the rates and the quality. Obviously ‘bypassing the agencies to get direct clients and high rates’ was of great interest to many translators. But there were agency representatives present. Their feedback was unless you can achieve a high standard of quality, let’s not talk about rates.

A colleague from Italy expressed concern that in her country the rates have been going down. I don’t really know what the situation there in Italy. But rates are dependent upon many factors. Different language pairs have different rates. For some language pairs the market demand is very low while the supply is over abundant (too many translators) - such as between some of the most popular western languages. The market situation for such languages is very challenging. But there are still successful translators who get well paid for their superb quality job.

For some languages, rates could be extremely varied and, needless to say, with very different qualities - Chinese for example. Unless there is a reliable source that can provide true reference for quality translators, it’ll be difficult for both good clients and good translators to recognize one another. One of the purposes for me to attend the meeting was to identify such translators as my partners. Some colleagues expressed similar intent and we agreed a Trusted network is the way to go.

How to identify good translators? I pay more attention to the way they speak, how they socialize and interact with other colleagues than their translating experience. I enjoy working with responsible and optimistic people. Equipped with good language skills, necessary training and correct work attitude, work experience could accumulate through real work. One of the rarest virtues of a translator is the willingness and the ability to self-adjust and self-improve in regards to quality.

I agree with Jeffrey of Insupro who says freelance work makes people seclusive and very characteristic. This is actually detrimental to any collaborative teamwork. Sometimes we see a translator and a proofreader mutually pointing fingers at each other. Translators must realize this problem and be more open-minded and sociable instead of close-minded and bigoted. Even though the nature of the work is such that translators are mostly confined to their little space, I found interacting with social media guys do make me feel better and my mind become more active.

I also had a chance to personally see the guy who copied my content. He doesn’t look like the person who did such things.

With 2008 Beijing Translators’ Powwow (3pm - 6pm, April 19) just around the corner, I posted a reminder for possible live broadcast via BlogTV in the ProZ Chinese forum. While most colleagues responded the thread positively, there was one colleague expressed his concern over the live show.

He noted that not everyone might like to reveal his/her true identity on the web and said China is still not a ‘common peoples’ society’（公民社会或平民社会）and ‘individual rights have to be protected by oneself, and probably may not be fully protected.’（个人的权益需要自己注意保障，而且未必保护得过来。）

Although other colleagues were mostly joking about his comment, I see in China some people do think revealing their true identity may cause them discomfort or even ‘danger’. What are these people? I know lots of people in China fake girls in chats. The fun won’t be there if their manly faces were caught by a cam. I know there are guys who only use cloaked identity to write anti-government posts, comments, etc…

But I don’t think a professional should be afraid of showing his/her true identity. What do you fear and why?

As a matter of fact, IMHO, I believe showing my own identity is the only effective way to fight against those swindlers who claim they are somebody but not. By letting potential clients see who you are and what you think as a real person, you are more likely to build a business relationship. One of the purposes for me to come to this Powwow is exactly to see who’s who and what they are going to say…

Powwow Reminder - Broadcast your self LIVE

This year’s Translator Powwow will be held on April 19 at N. E. Courtyard Hotel in Beijing. If you are a translator and interested in it, there’s still time to reserve your place. So hurry up and visit http://www.proz.com/powwow/1876 now and register to attend the event.

If you bring your photo ID and your ProZ profile number (the digits at the end of your profile url) with you, I will verify your ProZ identity. Verification adds credibility to your ProZ profile - the client will know you are really the person you claim to be - and your forum posts will appear immediately after posting, even though you are not a ProZ paying member. ProZ staff may charge five bucks for ID verification, but I won’t charge you anything and there’s no catch. Isn’t this cool?

Powwow discussion topics include ‘tips for new comers’ and ‘networking’. I myself am seeking potential partners to expand the Yeasir Network of Trusted Professionals. If you are interested, try to differentiate yourself during the Powwow! I’m sure you will draw my attention and I’ll hand you a note (secretly) for a possible private meeting and discussion.

Cheers!

A colleague asked me about ProZ Translation Contest some time ago. I think my reply to him may also help other people who are interested in it. So, after some editing, I put it here in my blog.

ProZ translation contest, or Proz.com Translation Contest, was first launched by ProZ.com on Feb 01, 2007. Now, after a year, there have been six such contests. From professional point of view, however, due to its business oriented nature, ProZ translation contest is not comparable to other professional translation contests. And it has many unique characteristics that are not commonly shared by such competitions:

• To participate in ProZ.com Translation Contest, you have to be a ProZ member (in ProZ terms, the sacred title ‘member’ is only reserved for a paying guy, otherwise you are a free user). And, as far as I know, this is the only ‘qualification’ you need to take part in it. In other words, ProZ.com Translation Contest is something for ProZ members - a closed-door contest.
• There is no fixed and qualified judging panel! Potentially anyone, even if a layman with no knowledge of translation, can vote. This time you don’t need to be a member!! And the translator who got the most votes wins! Certainly, this leaves open an option for a guy to call his friends from around the world to give him a vote! (You just need to take a few minutes to register a free ‘ghost’ account.) I remember in the xxxxth ProZ Contest, a guy posted in the ProZ Chinese forum publicly calling on friends to vote for him. And later he was indeed the winner. Maybe this is only a coincidence, but here is the loophole.
• The ProZ translation contest is running like crazy, one after another in a row. Within a year, there have been six such contests! The winner is issued an electronic certificate with signatures from the contest organizer - a ProZ staff - and the founder of the site. So you have something to ‘prove’ your ability. I can’t remember any well-known professional level contests are running like this, with such a ‘commercially signed’ certificate.

I personally believe ProZ.com Translation Contest is too profit-oriented to produce a fair, balanced and professionally qualified result. Of course, in which direction the contest is going to develop totally depends on ProZ itself. If they want the contest to become professionally recognized world-wide, they should change that ‘pay-before-you-can-participate’ attitude as the first step.