Do you say NO to a translation?
It is every freelance translator’s wish to maximize his/her incomes, which means that the situations in which a translator refuses to work on a project are quite exceptional. The most common reason for rejecting a translation project is the lack of expertise in the field of the project. This is, in fact, the very first lesson of translation ethics ”when you’re not sure you can handle a certain text, don’t agree to work on it”. There are, however, other situations in which someone should reject working on a project.
For instance, I would definitely think twice before translating propaganda texts written by political or economic organizations (I exclude marketing texts from this category). I would never translate texts written by extremist organizations or parties and I would definitely reject translating a text promoting hate, racism or antisemitism. Some might argue that the translator is anonymous and no-one will find out who performed the translation. This is true, however, working on such a project actually means promoting the message and being involved in the process. Not only are you working on a text that is against your moral principles, but also helping conveying a ”polluting” message.
I would also refuse to work on a project if the source text was incomprehensible. Sometimes, the text is so badly written that it would be impossible to understand it, let alone translate it. Don’t forget that Murphy’s law ”Garbage in, garbage out” applies to translations as well.
These are only a couple examples of situations which would make me reject a translation. I am very curious to find out what other translators have to say about this topic, this is why I would like to have your input in the comment section 
.
*Photo by Naypong
I say No to a translation when I will not have the time to do it properly. Or more accurately, I ask for more time, and decline the job if it is not possible. I always try to give the name of another translator in the same langages/area of expertise.
Deadlines are indeed becoming tighter and tighter… I also believe that we should negotiate when it comes to deadlines.
I fully agree with Sylvie Schaff. I won’t accept a translation for a topic I don’t have any experience or if the deadline time is too short. I always suggest another translator when possible.
There are two good reasons to do that:
The first is that you can get more time to do the work.
The second is that if you give a possible solution to a customer that, perhaps, will come again.
However, if you accept a work that you cannot really do in the required manner you will lose your customer and, also, your money.
Except of the reasons you specified, I once refused to translate a text that was basically instructions for making drugs at home. I told this person this is not in my area of expertise. As with unmoral issues, I didn’t want to help somebody to produce harmful and illegal substances.
Also, I have now reached a position that allows me to choose the more interesting and profitable jobs, but it took me some years and continuous hard work to gain this privilege.
You would be well within your rights to report such a client to the police.
I am not sure that submitting a file to translation can be regarded as a crime itself. Anyhow, it was many years ago.
Hi,
As I’m very specialized, clients rarely offer me jobs out of my domain. So, I won’t take those very few cases into account here.
This morning, I had to say NO to a job offer, because the agency had a rather poor score on the ProZ Blue Board (3.8). I clearly explained to the contact person why I refused.
Here is her incredible answer :
“Dear Catherine,
We currently work with over 60 translators per month, in a period of about 10 years, and we have only the complaints you see on Proz. We do not respond to those complaints. The percent of problem jobs is actually very, very low. We process more jobs than 98% of the buyers listed in Proz, so you can do the math.
This client is XY Company, a large international corporation, and you are paid provided they accept the job and use your work. You are welcome to interface with the client yourself if you feel the client is unreasonably not approving your work.
You would get paid 30-60 days after your submit your invoice. Our other XY Company translators do not have a problem.
Please let me know if you would consider to work with us on this job. You would experience any problem with good work.”
So, I had to renew a big NO-NO with this reply :
“Dear Z,
I appreciate your fast reply and your comments.
Sincerely, I think you should respond to the complaints on Proz, as it has a very negative impact on your reputation.
Anyway, I can’t help you with this job, because when I deliver a translation, the agency – which is my client – must pay me. The final client is not my client but the agency’s one. Even though I always deliver high quality, and am universally known as a top medical translator, if the final client does not use my work – for whatever reason – he is free to do so and it’s not my problem. The delivered work must be paid, final dot.
So, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to collaborate.
Best regards”
Useless to say that when I can express my condemnation regarding such bad practices, I feel some sort of relief or jubilation, which is very pleasant.
Have a nice evening
Catherine Guilliaumet – CGTRADMED
Catherine, highly satisfying and brilliant!
) Well spoken!
Thank you, Marie
Sincerely, I’m sick and tired of the bad manners of some clients of this type. I suppose that when this girl goes to her doctor, she pays him only if she’s instantly healed. It’s pathetic!
Good night
Nice reply, Catherine. However, when you say you’re “sick and tired of the bad manners of some clients of this type,” you’re actually giving way too much credit to the person who contacted you with the proposition of paying you if the end-client accepts. If you follow recent discussions in Proz.com and elsewhere, you’ll see that this is a new trick from scammers, not just rude agencies. See, for instance, “Translator scam alert” at Proz.com. Some of them are even impersonating legitimate agencies with good Blue Board ratings, with the result of cheating freelancers and ruining the reputations of the impersonated companies. Be careful!
Brer Rabbit: “Mind that Tar-Baby”
I systematically refuse jobs that are to unreasonably short deadlines, particularly revisions (“proofing”) that are cavalierly shoved in at the end of an assignment, leaving little time to respond to the full implications of the material being revised. I also turn down work that, as other contributors have noted here, is a “pig in a poke”: you go in at one end, and get stuck in the middle, so that you can’t deliver, or have to work overnight and turn down good work from elsewhere. One needs to inspect the work before deciding wether to take it on. Experience must guide one’s judgement as to whether it is what my long-ago building-site workmates called “a dirty job”.
I also reject a job offer if I can’t agree with the deadline (which is most of the time the case) or if the area of expertise is not mine (which happens less as clients can see my working fields on my profiel page). It has not happened to me as yet to get a translation offer about an immoral subject, but I’m practically sure I would refuse it, for the reasons Thomas mentions above. By the way, racists and extremists are most of the time not very intercultural, so I don’t think they have to translate really much, do they?
It is very interesting reading all of your comments and hearing your points of view.
In the defence of the the language agency I must say that things are tight out there and of course it is no ideal when deadlines are dangerously tight that they threaten the quality.
Whilst it is the translation agency’s responsiblity to actually advise the client and say no to the deadline itself, at times this cannot happen due to client pressures and subsequent print or online deadlines that need to be met. Certainly if the client is a regular client then for sure the agency must step in and educate them about the impact of a deadlines However in the current environment it is tricky to turn down work given the competition on service and price that is expected – aside from quality. In these circumstances however I do try my best and ensure that at the very least -1. I brief the all translator teams clearly and accurately and supplying as much supporting material as possible. 2. To be available for any questions throughout the process – including in the evenings 3. If I cannot improve on the rate becuase the client will not pay extra – that I at least ensure that I never have to be chased for payment and in fact try and pay early!
Still, like all agencies we are not perfect and mistakes will happen and last minute requests will come up – it is how we deal with these situations and work together to transcreat e create conent , that I get satisfaction with this kind of work.
One of the most disturbing things I experience as a freelancer is the irregularity of your work. Sometimes I have to decline orders with short deadlines because I got another order from another agency the day before. On the other side, it also happens to me to have practically nothing to do during several days, and then I think: “How great would it have been if that client would have sent me his order right now instead of last week… ” . Are there many among you who recognize this kind of situations?
Absolutely !
In addition to the obvious reasons mentioned here I have two personal culture-related red lines:
As a descendant of Holocaust survivors I would refuse Nazi or Neo-Nazi propaganda.
Also I have refused to do closed captions for stories about deceased soldiers for the Israel Memorial Day. I’m a mother of two little boys, who will probably have to serve the army when they are 18 like everybody else (unless there will be peace within a decade… I wish!).
As a parent it is very very hard for me to watch these videos about those poor slain young people without wondering about my beloved kids’ future!