{Ero molto indecisa stasera se iniziare a parlare di questo articolo:Â http://www.translationtribulations.com/2010/11/subprime.html oppure di questo:Â http://www.wikihow.com/Procrastinate.
In realtĂ il primo si riferisce a questo:Â http://patenttranslator.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/why-it-usually-makes-no-sense-to-fill-out-forms-sent-to-you-ahead-of-time-except-when-you-are-a-subprime-translator/
Tre articoli interessanti, ma quello che mi ha colpito di piĂą stasera, perchĂ© mi ha colpito personalmente, è sicuramente l’articolo Procrastinate.
Dei due articoli intesi per traduttori (e clienti) mi è parso piĂą “pratico” quello di translationtribulations:
Yesterday’s interesting post was about agencies who send out silly sign-up forms for folks like you and me to become part of the great feed lot of translating cattle waiting to be slaughtered by translation consumers hungry for low rates.
“Subprime” doesn’t necessarily mean bad translators. But I find the term interesting in this context, and some of PT’s associated comments got me to thinking that there is potential in that word to describe some of the high-risk behavior of LSPs who package and resell services from way down the food chain like others packaged and passed on junk loans until banks and other institutions started suffering a bit of a melt-down a few years ago. The sort of melt-down I’ve seen in the historical slag of past translations from a few major direct clients who used to deal with Top Ten Volume LSPs.
Some of these LSPs who make elaborate marketing promises for multiple levels of review and other crap they probably never bother with in reality probably have a lot in common with the sharks who sold subprime loans to borrowers who never understood the hook that was being set. Translation consumers (individuals, companies and organizations who pay the ultimate bill for the work) are too often unaware of what really goes on with their projects.
So if the translators and the end customers are getting screwed in these subprime relationships, cui bono? The pimps as usual.
Fortunately, in my experience, this does not describe all of the MLV landscape, which is usually populated by diverse and interesting people, at least among SMEs. The serious ones worth working with add real value and can educate their customers to understand how this works so that they pay the rates needed to support viable results. One interesting organization that I know even follows a strategy of basing its offers to translators on a share of the gross rate from which the known overhead and target profit share are deducted, so depending on the particular deal negotiated with an end customer a translator’s proposed compensation may vary widely. The intention behind that is certainly honorable and reflects good business planning at the MLV level, but I do wonder whether the translators taking everything that comes their way at whatever price are keeping an eye on their fixed overhead costs. I personally find it tiring to see fixed rate offers for which I have to calculate constantly whether it’s worth getting out of bed and putting on the coffee. The MLV relationships that really work for me are the superprime ones where my target rate is respected and I don’t care if the agency has a 300% markup, but where my time and effort is clearly respected and appropriate surcharges are offered for anything rushed or unreasonable before I have to bring those matters up. I’ve also noticed over the years that these MLVs usually practice the best hygiene with their customers’ data, and even over years I see little unacceptable content infecting the TMs.
Mi piace perché anche in questo articolo, come fa spesso, Lossner descrive sia i bad practices , sia i good practices.
Propongo invece di leggere per intero quello che parla della procrastinazione: “rimandare, rinviare, temporeggiare, indugiare; tirare per le lunghe”.
A me ha tolto molto peso dallo stomaco ;>)) Questa societĂ , questo mondo aziendale, vuole tutto organizzato e programmato, meglio fare ora che farlo domani. Ma è una cosa tipicamente maschile. L’istinto invece è femminile. E se l’istinto mi dice che è meglio fare una certa cosa domani e non oggi, un buon motivo c’è. E i traduttori sono per il 85% traduttrici.
Non sto scherzando. L’ho preso molto sul serio quel post. Spiega bene per esempio perchĂ© è del tutto inutile sentirsi in colpa perchĂ© “come al solito mi mancano pochi giorni alla consegna e ancora non ho neanche iniziato”. Se ti succede spesso, probabilmente sei una di quelle persone che lavorano meglio sotto pressione. Se lo sai, puoi “programmare” la procrastinazione! E lavori in sintonia col tuo ritmo personale.
Io aggiungerei una cosa a quel post. Lasciare che il cervello lavori da solo, la notte mentre dormi, è ancora meglio che riflettere certe volte, soprattutto se si tratta di dover scegliere tra diverse soluzioni. Una bella mattina ti alzi e mettendo un piede fuori dal letto, ecco che la decisione giusta, l’idea giusta, quella da mettere in atto, ti sta scritta nel cervello in lettere chiare e tonde. Solo allora ha senso riflettere, perchĂ© rifletti su quella determinata idea, su come metterla in atto e non piĂą su cosa scegliere.
Frauke
PS Il gatto sul divano è di Robidò