Poll: Have you ever canceled an already accepted translation or interpretation request? (Accepted by you.) Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever canceled an already accepted translation or interpretation request? (Accepted by you.)".
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I can't remember ever cancelling a job after accepting it, but the truth is that at least once I should have. It happened many years ago, it was an urgent job (minutes of a conference) to do over the weekend based on a bad transcript. I did what I could, but of course it led to a complaint, which was eventually resolved with the client agreeing with me. I think that was the last time I accepted a project without taking a good look at it first. Lesson learnt!
Happy New Year to you al... See more I can't remember ever cancelling a job after accepting it, but the truth is that at least once I should have. It happened many years ago, it was an urgent job (minutes of a conference) to do over the weekend based on a bad transcript. I did what I could, but of course it led to a complaint, which was eventually resolved with the client agreeing with me. I think that was the last time I accepted a project without taking a good look at it first. Lesson learnt!
Happy New Year to you all! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Brent Sørensen 
Germany
Local time: 01:13
Member (2016)
German to English
+ ...
I had just skimmed the text before accepting it, and it seemed like something I could handle. But after I started working on it, I realised that it was pseudoscientific nonsense. There were no references to back up any of the dubious claims made in the text. I sent the 5-10% that I had translated to the agency. I didn’t ask for any compensation and gave them ample time to find another translator.
| | | | | Do not necessarily agree | Jan 2 |
Brent Sørensen wrote:
I had just skimmed the text before accepting it, and it seemed like something I could handle. But after I started working on it, I realised that it was pseudoscientific nonsense. There were no references to back up any of the dubious claims made in the text. I sent the 5-10% that I had translated to the agency. I didn’t ask for any compensation and gave them ample time to find another translator.
A translator need not agree with everything he translates. The fact that a translator agrees to translate an article about UFOs (or UAPs) does not mean that he believes in them.
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| Translators have principles and should abide by them | Jan 2 |
Wilsonn Perez Reyes wrote:
A translator need not agree with everything he translates. The fact that a translator agrees to translate an article about UFOs (or UAPs) does not mean that he believes in them.
True, but there are texts that go against the translator's principles. In my case I might not know enough about the specific jargon or mumbo-jumbo to translate them satisfactorily. I have turned down pseudo-science and religious texts I do not belive in when I have seen the text and had the chance to refuse.
It may also depend what the text is to be used for! I have translated texts to be used as evidence in court which I would never translate for their original purpose.
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And yes, I have turned down at least one text after agreeing to work on it.
It was a strange request that I should revise it and rephrase all sentences using the passive voice! It was back in the days when Microsoft had a pop-up message suggesting a rephrase every time the passive voice was used.
I protested when I was first asked, but the PM persuaded me to have a look at it anyway. Then I started work, and after a section or two I sent an explanation instead that the passive voice was a perfectly valid form of expression, and the only suitable form for many parts of a fairly formal text! So I would not change anything.
I charged for my time, of course.
Happy New Year to everyone!
| | | | | But needs to understand | Jan 2 |
Wilsonn Perez Reyes wrote:
Brent Sørensen wrote:
I had just skimmed the text before accepting it, and it seemed like something I could handle. But after I started working on it, I realised that it was pseudoscientific nonsense. There were no references to back up any of the dubious claims made in the text. I sent the 5-10% that I had translated to the agency. I didn’t ask for any compensation and gave them ample time to find another translator.
A translator need not agree with everything he translates. The fact that a translator agrees to translate an article about UFOs (or UAPs) does not mean that he believes in them.
True, a translator doesn't need to agree with the text in translation, but needs to understand it.
If the translator can't understand a text due to “pseudoscientific nonsense” and lack of references to back it up, it could be hard to translate.
Problems with some pseudoscientific texts are that, for people outside the niche, it seems like nonsense, impossible to understand much less to translate.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 01:13
French to English
I voted no but then remembered that I had turned down a text once. It was for sports gear, I had already done similar translations so I thought it would be OK. The client asked me to do a test and was delighted with my submission.
However the text they then sent was way over my head. I could not understand the technicalities, what the features were for, why they were important or the effect they would have. I made a valiant attempt, soldiering on for two days, and realised that I'd only d... See more I voted no but then remembered that I had turned down a text once. It was for sports gear, I had already done similar translations so I thought it would be OK. The client asked me to do a test and was delighted with my submission.
However the text they then sent was way over my head. I could not understand the technicalities, what the features were for, why they were important or the effect they would have. I made a valiant attempt, soldiering on for two days, and realised that I'd only done a fraction. At the end of the first day I thought it would probably get easier on the second, but it didn't. Surprisingly, the client paid me for what I had managed to do even though I hadn't asked for payment, being so ashamed that I couldn't do it.
I took a look at the the translation on their website when it was published, and saw that they had kept my translation, then the rest had been translated very literally, I'm not sure that native English speakers would have made much of it. It certainly didn't read at all like the websites of competitors in English-speaking countries. ▲ Collapse
| | | | WolfgangS
France
Local time: 01:13
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
In 40+ years it surely happened that I canceled already accepted translations. Once, when I realized that the final client was a manufacturer of war weaponry. It also happened sometimes when I realized that I was not fit for the job.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:13
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Only once when a sudden personal emergency struck and I had to drop everything. I was only able to email the client, with a very short message, and then I had to leave the house urgently.
[Edited at 2025-01-03 16:11 GMT]
| | | | IrinaN
United States
Local time: 18:13
English to Russian
+ ...
Due to sicknesses that have been starting with high fever and promised a fairly long recovery, and once I traded for a better project. Please don't pull your hair out in rage an anger over breach of every bit of professional ethics:-). A few means no more than 3-4 times total in 30 years.
I exercised the privileges and the pros earned over decades of collaboration with major agencies and their super major projects, complemented by personal friendships with owners and PMs. After havi... See more Due to sicknesses that have been starting with high fever and promised a fairly long recovery, and once I traded for a better project. Please don't pull your hair out in rage an anger over breach of every bit of professional ethics:-). A few means no more than 3-4 times total in 30 years.
I exercised the privileges and the pros earned over decades of collaboration with major agencies and their super major projects, complemented by personal friendships with owners and PMs. After having come through numerous times regardless of time differences, times of the day and official calendars, I had a luxury of not having to kill myself without losing a client when I was sick. I have almost never worked on just 2-pagers, which could have been handled regardless. Usually, my chunks were between 5 and 25 thousand words a piece with a proper due date, ample time to give an advanced warning to a strong agency with the pool of excellent translators. I knew they would prefer such approach over begging for an extension in the first place, and I can understand why. My recovery has always been much faster thanks to no looming burden other than the recovery itself.
When I got a sudden interpretation job offer to fly to Japan in 4 days, I asked for 15 minutes to give an answer, called the head of the agency and told her the situation "as is", asking... oh well, wagging my tail and begging:-) to relieve me from 19K of construction site development and reassign the job I'd already started. Not only they were nice and reassuring, they obliged and joked about envying me, claiming that in my case the tail part was not necessary . I was paid for what I've done since I promised that I'll devote one more day to the project, stop translating and do a thorough proofreading of the completed piece instead. When I came back, the next assignment from them was waiting for me. ▲ Collapse
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