Merlin: Translation News, Services & Directory

Forum: KudoZ
Topic: Voters for pro/non-pro should also provide an answer or peer comment
Poster: Neil Coffey
Post title: The rationale…

[quote]writeaway wrote:

[quote]Neil Coffey wrote:

One measure that springs to mind to stop some of the backbiting might be to just assume that if a paid member posts a question, that questions is automatically PRO and cannot be voted as non-PRO.

Or are people really paying a hundred dollars a year to find out how to say “I love you” in another language…?
[/quote]

Wow. So paying members of Proz are sublimely “pro” and their questions should be pro too.
Hmm let’s see. What “qualifications” or even “translations skills” are needed to become a paying member? Oh, yes. Have a bank account, a PayPal account or even a credit card. And know how to make online payments. Definitely need to be an experienced skilled translator for that….. Paying just confirms what everyone already knows: I am a PRO!!!
[/quote]

I think the logic is more like this:

- on the whole, people who pay for a ProZ membership will be people with a “serious” interets in translation;
- on the whole, people with a “serious” interest in translation will not be posting questions of the “I love you” kind, and will have a more-than-average idea of whether a particular term could be answered by any random bilingual.

Ergo, on the whole, there are unlikely to be many grounds for calling into question a paying member’s decision about whether a particular term can be answered by any random bilingual or not.

Incidentally (and implied in what I’ve just said), I do agree that paid members should be able to deliberately classify their own question as non-PRO if they wish.

[quote]writeaway wrote:
For instance, what does a question from a pro translator look like? Well, imo, it’s one for which translators do their own research, spend time and thought on possible answers, check all possible resources and only THEN do they consider bothering fellow translators with a Kudoz question. Naturally that question is very likely a difficult one (a “pro” question) because if it were easy, it wouldn’t be asked. That IS how things work here, right? Or only “paying” members work like that….. right?
[/quote]

It’s not that ONLY paying members work like that, it’s just that by law of averages, if you take just the subset of members who have paid, the majority of that subset probably are “linguistically sensitive” enough to make the PRO/non-PRO decision. Of the other subset comprising non-paying members, I’m not saying that they are or aren’t as linguistically sensitive, I’m saying that we make no judgement about that subset of members.

(N.B. That’s strictly what this is about — it’s not actually about research skills etc.)

[Edited at 2010-09-03 20:49 GMT]

[Edited at 2010-09-03 20:50 GMT]

Forum: French
Topic: Do you speak Braderie ?
Poster: Sheila Wilson
Post title: Lille c’est un peu loin pour moi …

Mais ici dans le Midi c’est pareil : les traductions sont confiées aux salariés qui ont peut-être un niveau intermédiaire et peuvent donc se faire comprendre en anglais. Mais les erreurs à l’écrit … elles y restent en noir et blanc.

J’habite une région où les deux industries principales sont le vin et le tourisme. Un supermarché vient d’ouvrir à deux pas d’un lac classé par UNESCO, donc endroit très touristique. La direction se montre consciente de sa clientèle non-francophone en publiant un dépliant bilingue. Ce dépliant parle de “nearness services” (services à proximité) avec “optics” (opticien) …..

Je leur ai dit, en présentant ma carte de visite, que la traduction professionnelle du dépliant coûte moins de 50 euros. Mais je doute qu’ils me contacteront l’année prochaine. La réponse était plutôt “mais vous l’avez compris non ?” en haussant les épaules quand je leur ai remarqué que c’était ridicule.

Non ce n’est pas amusant. Je vois les néerlandais, les allemands, les scandinaves … tous fiers de leur niveau extrêmement élevé en anglais tout en appréciant leurs lacunes et j’ai honte de cette région qui refuse quelques sous d’investissement dans la communication internationale.

Forum: Money matters
Topic: Voice Over Prices (German)
Poster: philgoddard
Post title: Hi Andreas

We’ve had quite a lot of posts on this subject that may be helpful - just type “voiceover” into the search box in the top right-hand corner.

Forum: Wordfast support
Topic: Clean up in WF 2.3.0
Poster: Agnieszka Moczynska
Post title: Definitely Wordfast Professional

[quote]Yasmin Moslem wrote:

Wordfast Pro will NOT convert the file back to PDF. Could that be that you are using Wordfast Classic. Could you please let me know the one-two-three steps you are following exactly for translating this file.[quote]

Dear Yasmin,

It is definitely WPro.

1. I opened a .pdf document in Wordfast
2. translated it segment by segment
3. comitted to TM
4. saved as translated file

The file has been saved as .pdf_PL.doc and when I open it, it opens Word and shortly after gets open in Adobe Acrobat - it has probably more to do with Acrobat than Wordfast.

I opened the file in Word by right clicking the file and selecting Word manually. After numerous attempts to solve the problem I realised that my translated document has two “layers”. One is my target text in Word format, and the other consists of .pdf objects with the source text (in the form of one page each), covering over my target - in the effect I had one text over the other.

I tried different things and in the end discovered, than if I select a .pdf object and delete it, I will have my source text left. It took me a long time but I got there in the end :)

Where did I go wrong? Any ideas?

Best regards,

Agnieszka

Forum: Powwows
Topic: Powwow: Lima - Peru
Poster: myrc
Post title: Qué tal Dunkin Donuts?

Hola, si, el Café de la Paz es simpático, pero creo que es caro, quizá por eso no se apuntan más? pero hay un Dunkin Donuts casi en la esquina del Ovalo de Miraflores con Ricardo Palma, simpático, con opciones más moderadas y es un ambiente cerrado como para conversar. quizá el powwow se pueda postergar unos días más para que se apunten más colegas, que les parece mi sugerencia?

[Edited at 2010-09-03 20:44 GMT]

[Edited at 2010-09-03 20:45 GMT]

Forum: KudoZ
Topic: Voters for pro/non-pro should also provide an answer or peer comment
Poster: philgoddard
Post title: Voting a question PRO or non-PRO is simply a message to the asker.

The first means “Actually, this is a bit more complicated than you think”. The second means “Use your brain, or if’s taken the day off today, look it up in a dictionary”.

Forum: Portuguese
Topic: Uso do portunhol em traduções
Poster: Wolf Kux
Post title: …

so chuft es dann auf den Poltronen, wenn die Janellen offen sind.

(assim chove nas poltronas se as janelas estiverem abertas).

Ou essa:

Ich habe in der Früh das Vieh versorgt und bin gleich in die Roça* capienen*. Mein Mann hat den Mato* gefoiçt*, denn wir wollen viel Aipi pflanzen…: am frühen Morgen habe ich das Vieh versorgt und bin gleich auf unser Land jäten gegangen, mein Mann hat das unterholz weggehackt, denn wir wollen viel Manioka pflanzen…

Tem mais aqui:

[url removed]

Forum: SDL Trados support
Topic: Can’t add term within Studio 2009
Poster: Susanne Rieg
Post title: Solved

After several experiments I finally found the answer. Yes, it was the “Repair Multiterm 2009″, however, you have to reboot the PC immediately afterwards. It did not tell me to do so and I always started Studio right after the repair. Apparently it will then overwrite changes the Repair did and the problem was not solved.

Once I did the rebooting straight after the repair, the functionality was back.

Thanks Jerzy and Jane for pointing me in the right direction.

Sanne

Forum: Being independent
Topic: Blog article: You Whiny Little “Freelancers”
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Maybe.

[quote]Elías Sauza wrote:

I guess those ones who trade with peanuts can also become Business Owners.

Elías [/quote]

Technically, one dollar shop owners are also business owners, yes.

Forum: Being independent
Topic: Blog article: You Whiny Little “Freelancers”
Poster: Francisco Pavez
Post title: Thank you for the swift kick in the a**

Seldom do we listen to what we need to hear.

We are often too defensive, too timid, too cowardly to look at our selves with the same cold detachment we’d like to think we look at others.

Thank you, Jeff, for the link

Forum: KudoZ
Topic: Voters for pro/non-pro should also provide an answer or peer comment
Poster: JaneTranslates
Post title: Hear, hear.

[quote]Eutychus wrote:

In fact, it could be argued that being able to abide by rules even when one has issues with them is just as much an indication of professionalism as the particular type of question one asks.

[/quote]

Forum: Being independent
Topic: Blog article: You Whiny Little “Freelancers”
Poster: Elías Sauza
Post title: Thanks for sharing this

I guess those ones who trade with peanuts can also become Business Owners.

Elías

Forum: Romanian
Topic: Fapte bune
Poster: ClaudiaDragomir
Post title: Legătura dintre faptele şi gândurile bune

Situaţiile descrise de Cristina, cele trăite de mine aici şi cele auzite de la cunoştinte şi prieteni din Canada, S.U.A, Germania etc. (sau citite de pe net şi din presă) mă duc cu gândul la o înrăutăţire a situaţiei la nivel mondial: lipsă educaţiei, lipsa valorilor, relaţiile umane aproape inexistente sau destul de reci, lipsa comunicării, creşterea episoadelor de violenţă, a egoismului, a prostiei…şi lista ar putea continua la infinit.
Dacă urmăm exemplul unor oameni deosebiţi şi curajoşi ca Mile Cărpenişan, poate că totuşi ceva se va schimbă până la urmă şi vom avea o societate mai normală şi mai civilizată.
Am primit azi ceva interesant pe mail şi m-am gândit că şi cele descrise acolo pot fi folosite de către cei care vor să facă fapte bune. De multe ori puterea gândurilor şi a rugăciunilor nu sunt cunoscute şi aplicate, deşi se demonstrează a fi destul de puternice şi de eficiente:

“Nu numai pe pământ există bănci, ele există şi în Cer. Toate
emanaţiile noastre luminoase şi pure, toate faptele, sentimentele
şi gândurile noastre inspirate de nobleţe, de dezinteres, de
generozitate sunt clasate fără ştirea noastră de nişte entităţi
care au această sarcină; iar apoi ele sunt depuse într-o bancă
celestă ca un capital în numele nostru. Este ca şi cum ne-am fi
deschis un CONT. Apoi, atunci când trecem prin nişte dificultăţi
sau dorim să facem bine, să ajutăm fiinţele, putem cere un
ajutor, un sprijin: această bancă celestă ni-l acordă imediat.
Dar dacă nu există nici un CAPITAL depus, banca celestă nu ne
cunoaşte.
Câţi nu se întreabă dacă rugăciunile lor sunt sau nu ascultate
de Cer! Iată răspunsul: Cerul ascultă şi împlineşte numai
rugăminţile acelora care au depus BOGATII în banca DIVINA. “

Omraam Mikhaël Aďvanhov

Pentru Cristina
Căutând pe net am descoperit cu încântare că faptele bune îi preocupă şi pe alţii şi nu sunt chiar atât de greu de găsit (chiar se pare că există mulţi continuatori ai iniţiativei lui Mile Cărpenişan).

[url removed] #hl=ro&source=hp&q=fapte+bune&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=cc2e274301fec318

O fi adevărat că Speranţa moare ultima! :)

[Modificato alle 2010-09-03 20:07 GMT]

Forum: Scams
Topic: Possible Scam
Poster: Enrique
Post title: There is a community wiki page on scams

You can read about this scam here.

This is part of the ProZ.com Wiki page on Detecting and reacting to false job offers and other scams.

All members are encourage to contribute to this and other articles in the ProZ.com wiki.

Regards,
Enrique

Forum: Scams
Topic: Possible Scam
Poster: Mariela Diaz-Butler
Post title: Honestly…

If it looks like one, smells like one, and more importantly READS like one, there’s no doubt it is a scam.

Just the badly written message says it all. Plus a person in the U.S. paying in Euros? Really?!? Yeah right!

Mariela