25 bids for one translation ??

almost all  of the bids are too high

and the rest are poor

or the translator is not small enough comparing to how small the company is )

Originally written by Stefan Macovei on September 13, 2009 8:31 PM 25 bids for one translation ?? almost all  of the bids are too high and the rest are poor or the translator is not small enough comparing to how small the company is )

None of the above. I bet that the client has never hired a translator before but thinks that he is being smart in apparently calling for an unspecified "high quality" for an unspecified "low price". As a result, he is going to have to sift through 25 replies only to find that not one if them will do a, for him, satisfactory job, i.e. not be able to deliver the highest possible quality for the lowest possible price which is what he is apparently looking for.

It is not as easy to find a good translator as a lot of people appear to think. To make matters worse, he is in Lithuania, poor fellah!

I partly blame TC, as far as I can see they do not provide any useful guidance for people looking for a translator.

Derek

Originally written by Derek Thornton on September 13, 2009 10:15 PM I partly blame TC, as far as I can see they do not provide any useful guidance for people looking for a translator.

http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/FR/HowTo.asp#How%20to%20Buy%20a%20Translation

Originally written by Derek Thornton on September 13, 2009 10:15 PM I partly blame TC, as far as I can see they do not provide any useful guidance for people looking for a translator. Derek

blaming TC is hardly fair or justified... the ones to blame are the 25 or 53 or 82 so-called "professional" translators who reply to and accept 2/3/4/5 US cent offers (even 7 is really too low for EU countries...). After all TC is meant as a site for "professional translators" and isn't intended to be a babysitter for anybody: we're supposed to be grownups, fully empowered, responsible for ourselves, with a sharp and discerning mind and knowledgeable about our profession. If not, well... we'd also be wannabes slaving at 2 cents... and deserving no more.

df

PS: thank you, Laurent C., for the reality check... (and your list doesn't even include the numerous forum threads where this has been discussed over and over again, some with links to other articles elsewhere)

Originally written by dominique f. on September 13, 2009 11:38 PM the ones to blame are the 25 or 53 or 82 so-called "professional" translators who reply to and accept 2/3/4/5 US cent offers. After all TC is meant as a site for "professional translators"

Dominique,

This site has almost 98,000 registered users. You surely don't think there can be 98,000 people meeting your desired professional profile hanging out in the virtual world, do you?

 ...what do we do about good translators which set a low price by themselves due to  "very well know reasons"

since there is no law to protect translators from fraud of other translators accepting too low prices, it's a standard anyone can break at any given time with no legal consequences what so ever. In fact we even shouldn't have this conversation.  It shouldn't have been an issue. Is there such a thing like "translator's social protection"? If there are no prices stipulated in a law for translations, then too low is too high and too high is too low, total relativity ... (and i am not mentioning certified translations) There are also countries where teachers have been doing translations for the last 20 years while translators are not legally protected in any way.