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Non-payment for repetitions in PDF document Thread poster: Camilla Ferard
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Camilla Ferard 
Spain
Local time: 04:24
Member (2007)
French to English
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An agency doesn't want to pay me for repetitions in a PDF document. But I cannot translate a PDF with Trados so surely this is unreasonable? Please help. Thanks
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imatahan
Brazil
Local time: 23:24
English to Portuguese
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| Dear Camilla | May 24, 2010 |
It's happened to me. I had a legal document, where only the name on top of it would be changed.
I didn't ask any payment for that. I've just copied the translation made of the first text and put the other name on it.
Some things we have to ask for and other I think we don't need to.
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just translate the repeated text once and let the agency copy and paste... 
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| they must have an editable version | May 24, 2010 |
To analyze the file they must have its editable version - why don't you ask them for it?
BR
S
And I assume that if they demand a discount they had analyzed a file otherwise how could they?
[Edited at 2010-05-24 13:20 GMT]
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Alex Eames
Local time: 03:24
English to Polish
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| I agree with Giovanni | May 24, 2010 |
If they won't pay you for text, don't work on it. It really is that simple. Unless it's just one or two words.
Alex Eames
http://www.translatortips.com/
helping translators do better business
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Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 04:24
English to Dutch
+ ...
They probably expect you to convert the PDF to Word (or any other Trados editable format). I would do that anyway - that way I can make use of reps and earlier translations.
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Jan Willem van Dormolen wrote:
They probably expect you to convert the PDF to Word (or any other Trados editable format). I would do that anyway - that way I can make use of reps and earlier translations.
let's have them convert the PDF to Word and then they can have a discount for the repetitions... but they have to be paid... any other way is wrong.
And there are programs that can count the words in a PDF files...
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ATIL KAYHAN
Türkiye
Local time: 05:24
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
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Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote: just translate the repeated text once and let the agency copy and paste...
I agree with that.
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imatahan
Brazil
Local time: 23:24
English to Portuguese
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| Some archives | May 24, 2010 |
We cannot convert to word. They are copies of documents, and it happens all the time with legal translations.
They are figures. You have to translate in word, and digit the whole work.
So, what to copy and paste?
Are we going to ask payment for copy and paste?
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| Does copy + pasting take you no time? | May 24, 2010 |
imatahan wrote:
Are we going to ask payment for copy and paste?
If so, give it away for free. Otherwise charge for your time.
And you might even consider charging a higher hourly rate for the utter boredom and abuse of your intelligence.
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Abba Storgen (X)
United States
Local time: 21:24
Greek to English
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| Be a good sport :-) | May 27, 2010 |
Tell them "Ok, I agree. Please mark on the PDF only the sections which I will translate and contain no repetitions".
Charge them a per hour fee for copy-paste for the other parts.
You should charge based on reasonable expectations. You take a break every 30 minutes for at least 10 minutes (otherwise it's bad for your back) etc etc.
See if they like that.
Alternatively, think of this situation under a different light: do you really want "all" jo... See more Tell them "Ok, I agree. Please mark on the PDF only the sections which I will translate and contain no repetitions".
Charge them a per hour fee for copy-paste for the other parts.
You should charge based on reasonable expectations. You take a break every 30 minutes for at least 10 minutes (otherwise it's bad for your back) etc etc.
See if they like that.
Alternatively, think of this situation under a different light: do you really want "all" jobs that come to your Inbox, regardless of the stress they may cause? Regardless of the opportunity cost? (all the other good jobs you' re not taking because you' re trapped copying-pasting).
Or, could it be better to just say "No" for this one?
Maybe this agency already heard numerous "No" before they contacted you. Are you going to be the "easy" one? ▲ Collapse
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John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 22:24
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Free isn't reasonable | May 27, 2010 |
Camilla Ferard wrote:
An agency doesn't want to pay me for repetitions in a PDF document. But I cannot translate a PDF with Trados so surely this is unreasonable? Please help. Thanks
Even if it was an editable Word document, they still should pay you for repetitions. Some discount may be reasonable (I offer a 65% discount for repetitions), but "free" is unreasonable. You still have to check the context, and there's no time saved when proofreading.
And if its a non-convertible, image type PDF, there aren't any "repeats" because there's no "text", it all has to be created from scratch. Even with good OCR software, converting from an image often takes extra work to correct the character recognition, and repeats don't give any advantage there.
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Claim copyright on the finished text and refuse to release it to them until final and full payment has been made. How much more abuse do we have to suffer at the hands of so-called professional agencies??
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| How very sweet to see translators who want to give their work away | May 27, 2010 |
But I am not one of them.
I think Giovanni's solution is best or else just turn the job down.
PDF files can be converted, I convert them all the time, including scanned legal documents, however that takes time and I wouldn't do it for free.
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