WARNING: ******** Robot Translations

[miiila]

From your buying history, I can see you’ve purchased from a seller who offers to translate upto 18000 words in 24 hours.

I don’t recall what their current offer entails, but my translations have all been about 5 pages and I have never received (nor expected) the job to be completed before 3-5 days. The amount of time promised for delivery is not something dependent upon me and I don’t submit them for rush delivery. I am not sure I follow what your point is here.

It’s not possible to manually translate so much so quickly while maintaining quality.

I agree. What does that have to do with me?

but even if it’s true, she’s still at risk of suffering from severe fatigue, which will affect the quality of the final product.

Are you making excuses for people that take jobs they know they can’t complete? If they suffer from fatigue, they do not need to take the jobs.

@maitasun is right. Your vetting process needs work.

That may be, but unless you can give actual examples of what that might entail (and assuming it’s not something I already do), your opinion has very little application here. Maitasun had the same opinion, but also could not offer anything new to what I have already been doing.

It’s not possible to manually translate so much so quickly while maintaining quality.

The point is, why would you trust someone who promises something that’s not possible in their gig, I think (not the gig they did for you, their general gig).

---

There are some profiles/gigs with so many and/or so obvious red flags that I’m at a loss why anyone would buy.

For example, even if you can’t at all estimate how many words a translator can translate in good or at least okay quality per workday, that’s easily Googled (it varies per language pair, by the way, which is an important and useful thing to know in itself).

And if you buy gigs often/plan to make any money from whatever you buy/give your brand a good-looking face in foreign languages, or whatever your purpose is, it’s in your own interest to do your due diligence and get yourself at least a tiny bit acquainted with what you are buying, all the more if it’s not a one-off thing but you’ll buy it regularly.

I could write a lot more but I need to be off to finish a very time-intensive manual translation, so, just …

If it sounds too good to be true, it should make one pause and wonder

and sorry to hear you didn’t get what was advertised.

[ahmwritingco]

From your buying history, I can see you’ve purchased from a seller who offers to translate upto 18000 words in 24 hours.

I don’t recall what their current offer entails, but my translations have all been about 5 pages and I have never received (nor expected) the job to be completed before 3-5 days. The amount of time promised for delivery is not something dependent upon me and I don’t submit them for rush delivery. I am not sure I follow what your point is here.

It’s not possible to manually translate so much so quickly while maintaining quality.

I agree. What does that have to do with me?

but even if it’s true, she’s still at risk of suffering from severe fatigue, which will affect the quality of the final product.

Are you making excuses for people that take jobs they know they can’t complete? If they suffer from fatigue, they do not need to take the jobs.

@maitasun is right. Your vetting process needs work.

That may be, but unless you can give actual examples of what that might entail (and assuming it’s not something I already do), your opinion has very little application here. Maitasun had the same opinion, but also could not offer anything new to what I have already been doing.

I don’t recall what their current offer entails, but my translations have all been about 5 pages and I have never received (nor expected) the job to be completed before 3-5 days. The amount of time promised for delivery is not something dependent upon me and I don’t submit them for rush delivery. I am not sure I follow what your point is here.

My point is you hired a person that isn’t even able to create the illusion of competence. Why you expected competence from them is a mystery to me.

That may be, but unless you can give actual examples of what that might entail (and assuming it’s not something I already do), your opinion has very little application here. Maitasun had the same opinion, but also could not offer anything new to what I have already been doing.

Be careful when hiring people who promise outrageous things (even if you don’t take them up on their promises). Their behaviour suggests they’re lying or are inexperienced.

If you’ve learnt that lesson already, then great. You just haven’t showed that you have, which is why @maitasun and I posted.

[nomosian]

Why would you give such glowing reviews like these:

the best translator on fiver 🙂

Excellent translation!

Most fiverr translators I have used use google translate - it is immediately obvious if you speak the language which the text is being translated into. All fiverr translators claim they do not do this. [seller] is the first translator I’ve used on fiverr that actually does manual translations and it is for this reason that I would recommend her!

and then expect to get refunded on the orders?

If you left those without checking the work properly then you can’t seriously expect a refund.

Check the work when you get it, once you are sure it’s ok then leave a review. If you can’t check it within the review deadline then don’t review.

Why would you give such glowing reviews like these:

That’s a good question. With this particular translator, her initial work was done manually. Later she began doing a combination of manual and automated translations, but forgot to review the automated translations. Some of the subsequent reviews were my fault for assuming they were like the first. That is my fault and I did not expect anything by way of compensation. My praise was ultimately on how quickly she was completing the work (on average, 4-5 days) and also that she was very pleasant to work with. Again, no making excuses, this was my fault and I accept responsibility for not double checking she was cheating the system before submitting my review.

and then expect to get refunded on the orders?

I didn’t expect refund on those orders, nor did I submit a complaint on them. I am not sure why you’ve made that assumption based upon what was written above. Also, it might help for you to know that the work I’ve submitted has not only been under the account associated with this nickname. So if looking at whatever reviews have been submitted under it do not reflect the totality of my experience.

Check the work when you get it, once you are sure it’s ok then leave a review. If you can’t check it within the review deadline then don’t review.

Yes, I realize that now and have adopted that practice. That’s good advice for people that have been cheated on fiverr.

[nomosian]

From your buying history, I can see you’ve purchased from a seller who offers to translate upto 18000 words in 24 hours.

😳

I went to check on @nomosian’s profile and on his so praised seller to see by myself…

It’s simply humanly impossible to manually translate that amount of words in just 1 day!!! Not even the 8000 words she offers on her basic package to do in 1 day - that would mean not being able to eat, stand up to stretch herself or to go to the bathroom, or to get a glass of water… She would end up in a hospital… :roll_eyes:

Oh well… I guess what you wrote said it all. 😉

In retrospect, there has been some good advice given here regarding how one can be more careful. It was hard for me to appreciate that as I was more focused on (what I understood as the message communicated), “it’s your fault you were cheated because you were not careful enough”. In light of what has been shared, there is more that I could have done that I did not have in mind.

My apologies for my abrasiveness.

[eoinfinnegan]

Why would you give such glowing reviews like these:

That’s a good question. With this particular translator, her initial work was done manually. Later she began doing a combination of manual and automated translations, but forgot to review the automated translations. Some of the subsequent reviews were my fault for assuming they were like the first. That is my fault and I did not expect anything by way of compensation. My praise was ultimately on how quickly she was completing the work (on average, 4-5 days) and also that she was very pleasant to work with. Again, no making excuses, this was my fault and I accept responsibility for not double checking she was cheating the system before submitting my review.

and then expect to get refunded on the orders?

I didn’t expect refund on those orders, nor did I submit a complaint on them. I am not sure why you’ve made that assumption based upon what was written above. Also, it might help for you to know that the work I’ve submitted has not only been under the account associated with this nickname. So if looking at whatever reviews have been submitted under it do not reflect the totality of my experience.

Check the work when you get it, once you are sure it’s ok then leave a review. If you can’t check it within the review deadline then don’t review.

Yes, I realize that now and have adopted that practice. That’s good advice for people that have been cheated on fiverr.

Fair enough on all those points.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ($150/1000 words)

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ($80-110/1000 words)

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ($40/1000 words)

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ($3.20/1000 words)

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

[maitasun]

In retrospect, there has been some good advice given here regarding how one can be more careful. It was hard for me to appreciate that as I was more focused on (what I understood as the message communicated), “it’s your fault you were cheated because you were not careful enough”. In light of what has been shared, there is more that I could have done that I did not have in mind.

My apologies for my abrasiveness.

In retrospect, there has been some good advice given here regarding how one can be more careful. It was hard for me to appreciate that as I was more focused on (what I understood as the message communicated), “it’s your fault you were cheated because you were not careful enough”. In light of what has been shared, there is more that I could have done that I did not have in mind.

My apologies for my abrasiveness.

Apologies accepted, @nomosian.

[fastcopywriter]

Fair enough on all those points.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ($150/1000 words)

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ($80-110/1000 words)

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ($40/1000 words)

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ($3.20/1000 words)

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

I doubt anyone does 100% manual translations. Using machines and editing the work cuts a lot of wasted time, it’s also a great help when dealing with technical jargon a writer might not know about. After all, industries like logistics, real estate, finance, banking, insurance, have extremely complicated words that Google Translate already understands.

The mistakes Google makes are easy to fix. Spanish and German have the informal you (tú/Du) and the formal you (usted/Sie). Which one is correct depends on the situation and the judgement of the translator, that’s one thing machines and AI lack for now.

In the end, I hire people based on reputation. If I needed a translation into a language I don’t speak, I would hire one person to translate it and another person to proofread it. I think that would ensure accuracy.

[nomosian]

Fair enough on all those points.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ($150/1000 words)

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ($80-110/1000 words)

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ($40/1000 words)

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ($3.20/1000 words)

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy. Yet, as in any free market, demand determines cost.

So yes, by 1st world standards, the price is rather low. But by the standard of other economies (such as mine), it is not unusual.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Thanks for sharing the advice above. It seems like a good course of action going forward.

[maitasun]

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy. Yet, as in any free market, demand determines cost.

So yes, by 1st world standards, the price is rather low. But by the standard of other economies (such as mine), it is not unusual.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Thanks for sharing the advice above. It seems like a good course of action going forward.

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that.

Just to clarify… No, Venezuela’s minimum daily wage is not half of that. Worst, not even a tenth of it…

$2 US is the monthly minimum wage in Venezuela. Sad and hard to say, but that’s what it is…

Thanks for sharing the advice above. It seems like a good course of action going forward.

Hope you get a positive response from customer support. Just an advice, if I may.

Once you contact CS, please be patient and don’t keep mailing them, since it will be seen as spamming. They might not reply immediately and take some days to do, depending on how much work the have, but eventually you will receive a response from them.

[cyaxrex]

Fiverr is known for having low rates and the seller is a new seller but even with both of those things considered, the price is very low. Just worth keeping in mind when choosing a seller too. Yes, the cost of living where they are may be lower but (in that instance) the rate is far less than the minimum wage of that country if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy. Yet, as in any free market, demand determines cost.

So yes, by 1st world standards, the price is rather low. But by the standard of other economies (such as mine), it is not unusual.

Needless to say, it’s not good that you got substandard work and going to support is the right thing to do in this situation. I find sending an email to support@fiverr.com is better than the support system - just be sure to include all the info such as your username, seller’s name and the order number.

Thanks for sharing the advice above. It seems like a good course of action going forward.

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy.

This is the biggest mistake any buyer on Fiverr (or any other freelance platform) can make.

Buyers believe they are paying a fair price because Google tells them that what they are paying is a lot of money in their sellers country. Either this, or buyers believe that because $5 is a months wages in Venezuela, paying $5 to someone like a Venezuelan writer gets the Venezuelan equivalent of Jane Austen working on their project.

First off, minimum wages are rarely representative of living wages on the ground.

Where I live, the minimum wage is $800. Nobody can live off that, neither do many people earn that amount. Double will get you a comfortable lifestyle. However, even that is before tax.

Take Bulgaria as an example. The minimum wage is $500 (approx). However, a typical freelancer will pay the equivalent of 50% in taxes and rents for a reasonable place to live start at $400.

Aside from minimum wages vs actual costs of living, you have to ask yourself why even if $5 in Mexico is a lot of money, a top-notch translator working on a global marketplace would never try to charge for what they are really worth?

Would you ever think to yourself, “well my salary is pretty decent, I’ll just live on this for the rest of my life, even if my peers are getting paid a lot more for the same work?”

It is tempting to think as a buyer, that freelancers in poorer countries set heavily discounted rates because although being experts at their game, they are big into philanthropy. The reality is, it’s usually because they are a bit rubbish.

A good freelancer is a good business person. A good business person knows that higher prices set higher quality expectations and attract better quality clients. For this reason, sellers advertising bottom dollar rates are usually doing so because they are desperate, or because what they are charging is representative of the kind of quality buyers can expect.

[maitasun]

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy.

This is the biggest mistake any buyer on Fiverr (or any other freelance platform) can make.

Buyers believe they are paying a fair price because Google tells them that what they are paying is a lot of money in their sellers country. Either this, or buyers believe that because $5 is a months wages in Venezuela, paying $5 to someone like a Venezuelan writer gets the Venezuelan equivalent of Jane Austen working on their project.

First off, minimum wages are rarely representative of living wages on the ground.

Where I live, the minimum wage is $800. Nobody can live off that, neither do many people earn that amount. Double will get you a comfortable lifestyle. However, even that is before tax.

Take Bulgaria as an example. The minimum wage is $500 (approx). However, a typical freelancer will pay the equivalent of 50% in taxes and rents for a reasonable place to live start at $400.

Aside from minimum wages vs actual costs of living, you have to ask yourself why even if $5 in Mexico is a lot of money, a top-notch translator working on a global marketplace would never try to charge for what they are really worth?

Would you ever think to yourself, “well my salary is pretty decent, I’ll just live on this for the rest of my life, even if my peers are getting paid a lot more for the same work?”

It is tempting to think as a buyer, that freelancers in poorer countries set heavily discounted rates because although being experts at their game, they are big into philanthropy. The reality is, it’s usually because they are a bit rubbish.

A good freelancer is a good business person. A good business person knows that higher prices set higher quality expectations and attract better quality clients. For this reason, sellers advertising bottom dollar rates are usually doing so because they are desperate, or because what they are charging is representative of the kind of quality buyers can expect.

It is tempting to think as a buyer, that freelancers in poorer countries set heavily discounted rates because although being experts at their game, they are big into philanthropy. The reality is, it’s usually because they are a bit rubbish.

A good freelancer is a good business person. A good business person knows that higher prices set higher quality expectations and attract better quality clients. For this reason, sellers advertising bottom dollar rates are usually doing so because they are desperate, or because what they are charging is representative of the kind of quality buyers can expect.

Cy, please don’t generalize. Also, kindly allow me to reply, since I feel directly pointed by your words. I’m speaking for me.

I’m not desperate and, absolutely, I’m no rubbish. I’m an excellent translator and proofreader, and my work is premium class!

I don’t know how many times I’ll have to explain this, but I’ll repeat it. My rates are low, because I’m in no position of setting them higher. Not because I’m a fraud, or because I don’t have the value.

In great amount, English speaking buyers (especially Americans) DON’T value the Spanish language, so they are not willing to pay high rates. To that, you have to add that Spanish speaking sellers also contribute for that to happen, finding that many of them will even sell their mothers for just $5.

And this is so true, that most buyers prefer to buy from sellers who offer 3000 words for $5, just because they will be saving some bucks, than from me charging $5 for 1000 words.

Spanish has been undervalued by the same people that, after receiving rubbish, complain they have been scammed. Being so, who’s fault is it?

I have tried raising my prices, but the system is against me. I’m a level1 seller with very few reviews, although all of them are great and my deliveries are high-quality. Buyers “eat” through their eyes so, until I get to level 2 or have more reviews (and not all buyers leave them), I’ll continue having a hard time getting hired whenever I raise my rates.

Only few pay me on Fiverr what I’m worth. And may I say, all of them are European buyers, and very few Americans.

[nomosian]

Mexico’s minimum wage is just over 100 pesos daily ($5 US). I have read that a country like Venezuela is half of that. The rates you’ve listed above are exceedingly greater than what a medical doctor makes in Mexico. For that reason, I suspect there will always be people willing to work for a equitable wage within their own economy.

This is the biggest mistake any buyer on Fiverr (or any other freelance platform) can make.

Buyers believe they are paying a fair price because Google tells them that what they are paying is a lot of money in their sellers country. Either this, or buyers believe that because $5 is a months wages in Venezuela, paying $5 to someone like a Venezuelan writer gets the Venezuelan equivalent of Jane Austen working on their project.

First off, minimum wages are rarely representative of living wages on the ground.

Where I live, the minimum wage is $800. Nobody can live off that, neither do many people earn that amount. Double will get you a comfortable lifestyle. However, even that is before tax.

Take Bulgaria as an example. The minimum wage is $500 (approx). However, a typical freelancer will pay the equivalent of 50% in taxes and rents for a reasonable place to live start at $400.

Aside from minimum wages vs actual costs of living, you have to ask yourself why even if $5 in Mexico is a lot of money, a top-notch translator working on a global marketplace would never try to charge for what they are really worth?

Would you ever think to yourself, “well my salary is pretty decent, I’ll just live on this for the rest of my life, even if my peers are getting paid a lot more for the same work?”

It is tempting to think as a buyer, that freelancers in poorer countries set heavily discounted rates because although being experts at their game, they are big into philanthropy. The reality is, it’s usually because they are a bit rubbish.

A good freelancer is a good business person. A good business person knows that higher prices set higher quality expectations and attract better quality clients. For this reason, sellers advertising bottom dollar rates are usually doing so because they are desperate, or because what they are charging is representative of the kind of quality buyers can expect.

Buyers believe they are paying a fair price because Google tells them that what they are paying is a lot of money in their sellers country.

I live in Mexico and specifically hire people from the same country (when possible) because they generally have a better grasp of the nuances of a Mexican dialect. It may be your opinion that the richest countries on the planet should set the standard for fair compensation, but not everyone agrees with your preference.

This is the biggest mistake any buyer on Fiverr (or any other freelance platform) can make.

It’s only a mistake if one is required to adopt your preference on the matter. Fiverr represents an international market and prices are determined by market demand, not our arbitrary preferences.

Where I live, the minimum wage is $800. Nobody can live off that, neither do many people earn that amount. Double will get you a comfortable lifestyle. However, even that is before tax.

Nobody is suggesting a payment of minimum wages, nor was it proposed as a standard to determine a reasonable form of compensation. Sellers can charge whatever they want. The demand of the market will determine what they actually get paid. If someone in Mexico wants to pay the standard compensation for translation done in that country, the buyer can choose to accept or reject. The beauty of fiverr is the door of opportunity it opens for both buyers and sellers.

Aside from minimum wages vs actual costs of living, you have to ask yourself why even if $5 in Mexico is a lot of money, a top-notch translator working on a global marketplace would never try to charge for what they are really worth?

The market determines what one’s work is really worth - not our emotions or the preferences we derive from them. People in poor countries can charge a lot more on fiverr because there are a lot of buyers from rich countries. But the demand from those in rich countries does not always exist (or there’s too much supply), so the seller has to determine if they are willing to work for a wage commensurate to their own nation’s economy or not.

[cyaxrex]

It is tempting to think as a buyer, that freelancers in poorer countries set heavily discounted rates because although being experts at their game, they are big into philanthropy. The reality is, it’s usually because they are a bit rubbish.

A good freelancer is a good business person. A good business person knows that higher prices set higher quality expectations and attract better quality clients. For this reason, sellers advertising bottom dollar rates are usually doing so because they are desperate, or because what they are charging is representative of the kind of quality buyers can expect.

Cy, please don’t generalize. Also, kindly allow me to reply, since I feel directly pointed by your words. I’m speaking for me.

I’m not desperate and, absolutely, I’m no rubbish. I’m an excellent translator and proofreader, and my work is premium class!

I don’t know how many times I’ll have to explain this, but I’ll repeat it. My rates are low, because I’m in no position of setting them higher. Not because I’m a fraud, or because I don’t have the value.

In great amount, English speaking buyers (especially Americans) DON’T value the Spanish language, so they are not willing to pay high rates. To that, you have to add that Spanish speaking sellers also contribute for that to happen, finding that many of them will even sell their mothers for just $5.

And this is so true, that most buyers prefer to buy from sellers who offer 3000 words for $5, just because they will be saving some bucks, than from me charging $5 for 1000 words.

Spanish has been undervalued by the same people that, after receiving rubbish, complain they have been scammed. Being so, who’s fault is it?

I have tried raising my prices, but the system is against me. I’m a level1 seller with very few reviews, although all of them are great and my deliveries are high-quality. Buyers “eat” through their eyes so, until I get to level 2 or have more reviews (and not all buyers leave them), I’ll continue having a hard time getting hired whenever I raise my rates.

Only few pay me on Fiverr what I’m worth. And may I say, all of them are European buyers, and very few Americans.

Cy, please don’t generalize.

I’m not generalizing. I’m stating facts. I appreciate that they might not be emotionally convenient facts, but they are facts.

I’m not desperate and, absolutely, I’m no rubbish. I’m an excellent translator and proofreader, and my work is premium class!

I’m not saying you are rubbish. Nor am I arguing that you do not offer a premium service. However, the price of your gigs does not position them as premium in any way.

Searching for Spanish translators in Mexico and Venezuela, I just found a ton of $5 gigs, but also a few $10 and $25+ gigs which grabbed my attention more. Why did they grab my attention more? - Because I’ve bought things on Fiverr before for $5 which were pretty much always a bit rubbish, and the sellers in question have great reviews.

It might sound a bit brutal, but that is how buyers often think. You are thinking like a seller and trying to defend your art. I am thinking like a buyer, and being brutally honest about how buyers perceive prices. (At least, buyers worth working with.)

And this is so true, that most buyers prefer to buy from sellers who offer 3000 words for $5, just because they will be saving some bucks, than from me charging $5 for 1000 words.

This is true in every niche of Fiverr for one specific type of buyer. Usually, that means scammers and cheapskates. Of the gigs I just found (searching for Spanish to English translation in Mexico and Venezuela) the average wordcount for $10 seemed to be 600.

I’m afraid though, that when you say that this is true for most buyers, you become the one who is generalizing. To most buyers, $5 prices are a turnoff, not an incentive. This is why in most searches for most business niches on Fiverr, you will find tens of search result pages full of $5 gigs which have either made zero or just a few sales in their lifetime.

Usually, gigs which stay around the longest do so because they try to escape the clutches of the $5 crowd.

I’m sorry that you have tried raising prices but found doing so difficult. The truth is, it is difficult for everyone. From my experience, raising prices is difficult because it scares away repeat buyers. What you can do, is experiment with creating a gig alongside your existing $5 gigs which offers what can be perceived as a more premium version of what your other gigs offer.

The market determines what one’s work is really worth - not our emotions or the preferences we derive from them.

You can say this. However, really it nullifies your entire argument. My argument is that for a decent translation, you need to be more realistic about the prices you pay. This in response to a thread where you are stating that all $5 translators are scammers who just use Google Translate to translate text.

I have used numerous translators on fiverr (English to Spanish) and without exception, every single ‘translator’ has used google translate all or in part. My last transaction was 100% google translate without deviation.

And as @eoinfinnegan has already clarified, going market rates for translation are higher than what you are currently paying.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ( $150/1000 words )

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ( $80-110/1000 words )

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ( $40/1000 words )

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ( $3.20/1000 words )

[nomosian]

Cy, please don’t generalize.

I’m not generalizing. I’m stating facts. I appreciate that they might not be emotionally convenient facts, but they are facts.

I’m not desperate and, absolutely, I’m no rubbish. I’m an excellent translator and proofreader, and my work is premium class!

I’m not saying you are rubbish. Nor am I arguing that you do not offer a premium service. However, the price of your gigs does not position them as premium in any way.

Searching for Spanish translators in Mexico and Venezuela, I just found a ton of $5 gigs, but also a few $10 and $25+ gigs which grabbed my attention more. Why did they grab my attention more? - Because I’ve bought things on Fiverr before for $5 which were pretty much always a bit rubbish, and the sellers in question have great reviews.

It might sound a bit brutal, but that is how buyers often think. You are thinking like a seller and trying to defend your art. I am thinking like a buyer, and being brutally honest about how buyers perceive prices. (At least, buyers worth working with.)

And this is so true, that most buyers prefer to buy from sellers who offer 3000 words for $5, just because they will be saving some bucks, than from me charging $5 for 1000 words.

This is true in every niche of Fiverr for one specific type of buyer. Usually, that means scammers and cheapskates. Of the gigs I just found (searching for Spanish to English translation in Mexico and Venezuela) the average wordcount for $10 seemed to be 600.

I’m afraid though, that when you say that this is true for most buyers, you become the one who is generalizing. To most buyers, $5 prices are a turnoff, not an incentive. This is why in most searches for most business niches on Fiverr, you will find tens of search result pages full of $5 gigs which have either made zero or just a few sales in their lifetime.

Usually, gigs which stay around the longest do so because they try to escape the clutches of the $5 crowd.

I’m sorry that you have tried raising prices but found doing so difficult. The truth is, it is difficult for everyone. From my experience, raising prices is difficult because it scares away repeat buyers. What you can do, is experiment with creating a gig alongside your existing $5 gigs which offers what can be perceived as a more premium version of what your other gigs offer.

The market determines what one’s work is really worth - not our emotions or the preferences we derive from them.

You can say this. However, really it nullifies your entire argument. My argument is that for a decent translation, you need to be more realistic about the prices you pay. This in response to a thread where you are stating that all $5 translators are scammers who just use Google Translate to translate text.

I have used numerous translators on fiverr (English to Spanish) and without exception, every single ‘translator’ has used google translate all or in part. My last transaction was 100% google translate without deviation.

And as @eoinfinnegan has already clarified, going market rates for translation are higher than what you are currently paying.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ( $150/1000 words )

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ( $80-110/1000 words )

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ( $40/1000 words )

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ( $3.20/1000 words )

You can say this. However, really it nullifies your entire argument. My argument is that for a decent translation, you need to be more realistic about the prices you pay. This in response to a thread where you are stating that all $5 translators are scammers who just use Google Translate to translate text.

I have not employed translators for $5, nor have I stated that all $5 translators are scammers. Where did you get this idea from?

I don’t know what your conception of a ‘decent’ translation entails, but assuming we are on the same page, I don’t think we have the same conception of what it means to be “realistic about the prices”. The proposed market rates suggested by eoinfinnegan would mean I would pay roughly 4-5 times what a doctor makes in my country for the same labor hour as a translator.

And as @eoinfinnegan has already clarified, going market rates for translation are higher than what you are currently paying.

Apparently you are of the belief that his summary is an accurate reflection of the fiverr market value for translation, but I’m not sure why. That’s certainly not been my experience, though like yours, my experience using fiverr translation is infinitesimal proportionate to the available offers out there. Anecdotal evidence is more biographical than anything else. Is there data to actually support those numbers (data that takes into consideration demographic info of sellers)?

But even if that summary were even remotely close to reality, it would then lead to the conclusion that people like you and me (in poor countries) would have no economic incentive to use the services offered on fiverr. I can get translation work done locally by eminently more qualified people at a fraction of the price found in his summary of alleged market rates.

My incentive to use fiverr over someone locally is the abundance of sellers, which increases competition, which for buyers entails paying less for equal or better work.

If sellers on fiverr want to target only those in economically wealthy countries, then people in economically less wealthy countries will just go elsewhere (to another online service or locally). No one in Malta is going to pay $150 an hour for translation service if they can get the same work done for half the price or less elsewhere.

[nomosian]

Cy, please don’t generalize.

I’m not generalizing. I’m stating facts. I appreciate that they might not be emotionally convenient facts, but they are facts.

I’m not desperate and, absolutely, I’m no rubbish. I’m an excellent translator and proofreader, and my work is premium class!

I’m not saying you are rubbish. Nor am I arguing that you do not offer a premium service. However, the price of your gigs does not position them as premium in any way.

Searching for Spanish translators in Mexico and Venezuela, I just found a ton of $5 gigs, but also a few $10 and $25+ gigs which grabbed my attention more. Why did they grab my attention more? - Because I’ve bought things on Fiverr before for $5 which were pretty much always a bit rubbish, and the sellers in question have great reviews.

It might sound a bit brutal, but that is how buyers often think. You are thinking like a seller and trying to defend your art. I am thinking like a buyer, and being brutally honest about how buyers perceive prices. (At least, buyers worth working with.)

And this is so true, that most buyers prefer to buy from sellers who offer 3000 words for $5, just because they will be saving some bucks, than from me charging $5 for 1000 words.

This is true in every niche of Fiverr for one specific type of buyer. Usually, that means scammers and cheapskates. Of the gigs I just found (searching for Spanish to English translation in Mexico and Venezuela) the average wordcount for $10 seemed to be 600.

I’m afraid though, that when you say that this is true for most buyers, you become the one who is generalizing. To most buyers, $5 prices are a turnoff, not an incentive. This is why in most searches for most business niches on Fiverr, you will find tens of search result pages full of $5 gigs which have either made zero or just a few sales in their lifetime.

Usually, gigs which stay around the longest do so because they try to escape the clutches of the $5 crowd.

I’m sorry that you have tried raising prices but found doing so difficult. The truth is, it is difficult for everyone. From my experience, raising prices is difficult because it scares away repeat buyers. What you can do, is experiment with creating a gig alongside your existing $5 gigs which offers what can be perceived as a more premium version of what your other gigs offer.

The market determines what one’s work is really worth - not our emotions or the preferences we derive from them.

You can say this. However, really it nullifies your entire argument. My argument is that for a decent translation, you need to be more realistic about the prices you pay. This in response to a thread where you are stating that all $5 translators are scammers who just use Google Translate to translate text.

I have used numerous translators on fiverr (English to Spanish) and without exception, every single ‘translator’ has used google translate all or in part. My last transaction was 100% google translate without deviation.

And as @eoinfinnegan has already clarified, going market rates for translation are higher than what you are currently paying.

Worth noting too that English to Spanish translation rates tend to be around as follows:

Certified - $0.15/word ( $150/1000 words )

Experienced, native speaker - $0.08 - 0.11/word ( $80-110/1000 words )

Post machine editing, native speaker - $0.04/word ( $40/1000 words )

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ( $3.20/1000 words )

And for clarity to eoinfinnegan’s summary of what I paid:

Rate you paid on those orders I mentioned above - $0.0032 ( $3.20/1000 words )

This is not accurate. All of my jobs have been custom offers from the seller, that took the size of document and time needed into consideration. So for instance, my second to last document was roughly 3500 words and I paid just over 600 pesos ($30 US). That particular translator offers low per/word rates on large jobs (presumably for books or other things), but I most certainly did not pay $3.20 for 1000 words as was alleged.

[cyaxrex]

You can say this. However, really it nullifies your entire argument. My argument is that for a decent translation, you need to be more realistic about the prices you pay. This in response to a thread where you are stating that all $5 translators are scammers who just use Google Translate to translate text.

I have not employed translators for $5, nor have I stated that all $5 translators are scammers. Where did you get this idea from?

I don’t know what your conception of a ‘decent’ translation entails, but assuming we are on the same page, I don’t think we have the same conception of what it means to be “realistic about the prices”. The proposed market rates suggested by eoinfinnegan would mean I would pay roughly 4-5 times what a doctor makes in my country for the same labor hour as a translator.

And as @eoinfinnegan has already clarified, going market rates for translation are higher than what you are currently paying.

Apparently you are of the belief that his summary is an accurate reflection of the fiverr market value for translation, but I’m not sure why. That’s certainly not been my experience, though like yours, my experience using fiverr translation is infinitesimal proportionate to the available offers out there. Anecdotal evidence is more biographical than anything else. Is there data to actually support those numbers (data that takes into consideration demographic info of sellers)?

But even if that summary were even remotely close to reality, it would then lead to the conclusion that people like you and me (in poor countries) would have no economic incentive to use the services offered on fiverr. I can get translation work done locally by eminently more qualified people at a fraction of the price found in his summary of alleged market rates.

My incentive to use fiverr over someone locally is the abundance of sellers, which increases competition, which for buyers entails paying less for equal or better work.

If sellers on fiverr want to target only those in economically wealthy countries, then people in economically less wealthy countries will just go elsewhere (to another online service or locally). No one in Malta is going to pay $150 an hour for translation service if they can get the same work done for half the price or less elsewhere.

Apparently you are of the belief that his summary is an accurate reflection of the fiverr market value for translation, but I’m not sure why. That’s certainly not been my experience,

Then what is your experience? You are the one complaining about hiring sellers who are providing you with robot translations. I and @eoinfinnegan are suggesting that you possibly need to up your budget a bit.

I am arguing that lowball prices are often indicative of poor quality deliveries.

You are arguing against this by saying lots of competition = better quality on a budget, yet this does not match what your experiences seem to be. Which is it? Have you had good experiences working with budget sellers? Or have you have bad experiences?

So for instance, my second to last document was roughly 3500 words and I paid just over 600 pesos ($30 US)

Well, most budget writers charge $5 for 500-words articles. Translating a text manually would involve more work. In this case, I would expect the rate of a translator to be higher.

The Mexican and Venezuelan translators I looked up whom I would personally order a translation from, offer to translate 500-600 words for $10. This price to me seems realistic.

No one in Malta is going to pay $150 an hour for translation service if they can get the same work done for half the price or less elsewhere.

Malta is home to most of the world’s online gambling industry and most of the worlds licensed cryptocurrency/blockchain startups. Translators for online web content and multilingual customer service representatives are in high demand. $150 an hour to hire a freelancer would be about what most businesses would expect to pay.

[nomosian]

Apparently you are of the belief that his summary is an accurate reflection of the fiverr market value for translation, but I’m not sure why. That’s certainly not been my experience,

Then what is your experience? You are the one complaining about hiring sellers who are providing you with robot translations. I and @eoinfinnegan are suggesting that you possibly need to up your budget a bit.

I am arguing that lowball prices are often indicative of poor quality deliveries.

You are arguing against this by saying lots of competition = better quality on a budget, yet this does not match what your experiences seem to be. Which is it? Have you had good experiences working with budget sellers? Or have you have bad experiences?

So for instance, my second to last document was roughly 3500 words and I paid just over 600 pesos ($30 US)

Well, most budget writers charge $5 for 500-words articles. Translating a text manually would involve more work. In this case, I would expect the rate of a translator to be higher.

The Mexican and Venezuelan translators I looked up whom I would personally order a translation from, offer to translate 500-600 words for $10. This price to me seems realistic.

No one in Malta is going to pay $150 an hour for translation service if they can get the same work done for half the price or less elsewhere.

Malta is home to most of the world’s online gambling industry and most of the worlds licensed cryptocurrency/blockchain startups. Translators for online web content and multilingual customer service representatives are in high demand. $150 an hour to hire a freelancer would be about what most businesses would expect to pay.

Then what is your experience? You are the one complaining about hiring sellers who are providing you with robot translations. I and @eoinfinnegan are suggesting that you possibly need to up your budget a bit.

It’s very possible that to get quality translation on fiverr, I would have to pay more than what I am currently willing to pay. But as stated previously, paying more than local market value disincentives the use of fiverr. It very well could be that in this area, fiverr is not going to be a good value for me because it is catering to people in much wealthier countries than my own.

I am arguing that lowball prices are often indicative of poor quality deliveries.

I agree with the general principle - but obviously conceptions of ‘low-ball prices’ vary enormously between people in wealthy countries and people in poor countries.

You are arguing against this by saying lots of competition = better quality on a budget, yet this does not match what your experiences seem to be. Which is it?

It’s a general economic principle that increased supply over demand entails greater competition which yields lower prices. Charging more certainly is no assurance of better quality either. If you charged double your current rates, I suspect your buyers are not going to get double the quality (however that might be measured).

The Mexican and Venezuelan translators I looked up whom I would personally order a translation from, offer to translate 500-600 words for $10. This price to me seems realistic.

It is only realistic when the buyers are from economically wealthy countries. Obviously, under similar circumstances, people in those countries are never going to pay something so substantially higher than they can get in their own local economy.

Fiverr doesn’t represent buyers and sellers from one economic demographic. That is what makes setting and paying prices such a challenge for both buyers and sellers. There is no one market value of work on fiverr because of the diversity of people that use the site.

Malta is home to most of the world’s online gambling industry and most of the worlds licensed cryptocurrency/blockchain startups. Translators for online web content and multilingual customer service representatives are in high demand. $150 an hour to hire a freelancer would be about what most businesses would expect to pay.

I really don’t know anything about Malta, other than it looks like a really interesting place to visit and has a rich history. $150/hour in a country where $1600 a month has you living comfortably? Sounds like one could live rather luxuriously there.

[miiila]

I have used numerous translators on fiverr (English to Spanish) and without exception, every single ‘translator’ has used google translate all or in part. My last transaction was 100% google translate without deviation. The ‘translator’ insisted she did the work, but obviously that was not true (it is impossible).

If you get translation work done, you can verify yourself if google translate was used. If the text is for a native population, have them read it. You do not have to rate the translator in any given time, so once you have verified it is a 100% manual and good translation, then you can leave your review.

I should move to Malta.

---

To be on-topic, though, nomosian, if you got a “100% Google translation without deviation” that was sold to you as manual translation or Google translation edited by a native speaker or whatever

(you were not clear about that in your post - you said “The ‘translator’ insisted she did the work” which, for all we know, could mean she meant she copy/pasted the text into and out of Google translate. 😉 I’m being half-serious, by the way, there are some gigs here that sell things I’m surprised anyone would buy instead of doing themselves, people who are extremely naive, people who have no idea that things like IP and copyright exist or at least a complete lack of sense of guilt about it, … I wouldn’t rule it out that some people might mean exactly that with “did the work”, pushing some buttons),

and you have sufficient proof of that, you can always try to make support see your point of view. If several people raise the same complaint about a seller, with evidence, or even one, I don’t know, they might investigate.

Apart from that, you seem to have found a good solution with your Buyer Tip:

If you get translation work done, you can verify yourself if google translate was used. If the text is for a native population, have them read it. You do not have to rate the translator in any given time, so once you have verified it is a 100% manual and good translation, then you can leave your review.

(with the caveat, as has been pointed out, that the “any given time” is 10 days currently (and has been since quite a while now))

[muhammadaqib102]

i am worry to know this

[pacquo]

if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

I doubt anyone does 100% manual translations. Using machines and editing the work cuts a lot of wasted time, it’s also a great help when dealing with technical jargon a writer might not know about. After all, industries like logistics, real estate, finance, banking, insurance, have extremely complicated words that Google Translate already understands.

The mistakes Google makes are easy to fix. Spanish and German have the informal you (tú/Du) and the formal you (usted/Sie). Which one is correct depends on the situation and the judgement of the translator, that’s one thing machines and AI lack for now.

In the end, I hire people based on reputation. If I needed a translation into a language I don’t speak, I would hire one person to translate it and another person to proofread it. I think that would ensure accuracy.

The mistakes Google makes are easy to fix.

I don’t really think so. Good luck with a literal translation…

[fastcopywriter]

The mistakes Google makes are easy to fix.

I don’t really think so. Good luck with a literal translation…

I don’t really think so. Good luck with a literal translation…

I think so because I use it all the time, even before I was on Fiverr. I have translated hundreds of legal disclaimers, print advertisements, TV commercials, car brochures, etc. It’s an invaluable resource.

Yes, mistakes can be made. But guess what? HUMAN translators can make plenty of mistakes. The longer the document, the greater the chance of making a mistake.

[theunicornvibes]

if they were taking the time to do 100% manual translations.

I doubt anyone does 100% manual translations. Using machines and editing the work cuts a lot of wasted time, it’s also a great help when dealing with technical jargon a writer might not know about. After all, industries like logistics, real estate, finance, banking, insurance, have extremely complicated words that Google Translate already understands.

The mistakes Google makes are easy to fix. Spanish and German have the informal you (tú/Du) and the formal you (usted/Sie). Which one is correct depends on the situation and the judgement of the translator, that’s one thing machines and AI lack for now.

In the end, I hire people based on reputation. If I needed a translation into a language I don’t speak, I would hire one person to translate it and another person to proofread it. I think that would ensure accuracy.

Well I do manual translations.

All of them.

Last week I had to translate some volleyball rules.

Needless to say I did not have much idea.

So I had to do some research. That comes with the job.

[miiila]

Let me funify (that’s one thing robot translations really s*ck with, creative use of language, I guess most people would agree on that, at least, but robot translations also manage to s**k with things you’d expect them to excel at, just read on …) this thread a bit with a true story.

Recently, I translated an ebook that had an appendix with some resources, among them a long list with country names.

Just the list, no sentences, context, anything, only this long list of only country names, piece of cake for Google Translate & Co., right? Wrong, oh so very wrong.
Why? Well, the beautiful country of Turkey seems to be a nemesis of Google Translate.

In English, Turkey, could either denote the country, or the bird. In German, however, Turkey, the country, can only be Türkei (the country), while turkey, the bird, can only be Truthahn.
Now guess what made an appearance in Google’s translation of that list of only countries (!)? …
Yep, you guessed it - turkey, the bird. In a list of country names and nothing else. You’d really think Google would get that right, wouldn’t you.

What’s more, the poor lonely turkey, surrounded by a list of countries instead of animal companions, is a rather infamous example of Google Translate fails in Germany, as you can imagine, and I’ve seen web pages featuring exactly that error (guess someone hired “Google translators” for their translation who were either too lazy to check or couldn’t check because they don’t actually speak the target language) as well as web pages making fun of it.
With all the “Automated translations have become so much better”, “Translators should look for a different carreer path”, “Nobody should start learning to be a translator anymore, as soon none will be needed” etc. which we get all the time (often by people who want to sell automatic translation software, of course, and usually present “laboratory environment” tests that show how their software excels but once you, as a translator, test the software with real life texts you get …),
I did not at all expect that Google still doesn’t get that one right, they must have had years to figure that one out now, and it seems to be such an obvious thing, right? And still …

Hope that example wasn’t only funny for translators 😉 .

---

Anyhow, automated translation does have its uses and virtues, I guess few people who know a bit about the topic would argue that, but manual translation, or at least manual editing of automated translations, does as well, and sometimes, it’s the only real option.

And there are still many things where even edited automated translation is absolutely not what you want. Many customers luckily understand that for some use cases, a text translated manually from scratch is far better than even an edited automated translation.

For most things, you simply don’t get the same result if you compare an even well-edited automated translation to one done manually from scratch, and for many things, there’s a big difference and you better make sure you get a translator who knows where “fixing a Google translation” can work and where it means disaster. You might be fine if your translator translates your diet ebook with the help of Google (while manually going through all the text and doing a lot of edits) but you certainly don’t want your novel translated by a translator who only edits automated translations (at least not without so much rewriting that he or she would be faster done if they did it from scratch most probably).

Of course, for some things, let’s say an alarm clock manual, an automated translation might be fine ( … or not … anyone ever stood there, a new gadget in front of them, the robot translation in hand, and scratched their head? …) but still, you definitely don’t want an automated translation that wasn’t checked by a halfways qualified translator, no matter what kind of text. (Remember Google’s most embarrassing Turkey/turkey faux-pas 😉 )

Then, there are other issues like … try telling Google translate to stick to character or even byte limits or to edit your PDF without totally messing up the layout (hint: the same content isn’t the same length in all languages …) … or that you’d like to sell your product to people with a sense of humour or to people who want to see creativity in your tries to sell to them, or you want to have a not just correctly translated but beautiful to behold website, or a video game where the kids don’t talk to their teachers in informal style and the teachers to the kids in formal style, or an email template that’s not a correct translation of your original text but one that gets your point across while not estranging the recipients, or …

Oh, there are so many good reasons for you to want a translator who doesn’t deliver robot translations (or at least heavily edited robot translations), that’s so wonderful for us who don’t.

Anyway, the underlying issue here isn’t “robot translations aren’t good” as much as that you should get what you paid for/what was advertised.

I don’t think any buyer here thinks they are paying for an unedited robot translation when they buy a translation gig and I doubt there are many gigs announcing that they sell unedited robot translations. If you paid for edited automated translation, or for a not specified translation, an edited automated translation probably is what you can expect and get, if you paid for manual translation, you should receive a manual translation.
Under no circumstances should you receive a completely unedited Google translation, because why would you pay for that, unless you’re too challenged to copy/paste yourself.

If you want to find a translator who doesn’t deliver pure unadulterated robot translations (who knows, maybe there are fans of those) - you might need to be a bit attentive, dig a bit deeper, communicate (you might not speak your target language, so you can’t communicate with them in your target and (hopefully) their native language, but, like, don’t hire a translator from English to Whatever if they don’t speak English at an at least decent level and can’t even pretend to on their profile and gig pages, why would you?!), and pay what their time is worth.

🍀

[uk1000]

Let me funify (that’s one thing robot translations really s*ck with, creative use of language, I guess most people would agree on that, at least, but robot translations also manage to s**k with things you’d expect them to excel at, just read on …) this thread a bit with a true story.

Recently, I translated an ebook that had an appendix with some resources, among them a long list with country names.

Just the list, no sentences, context, anything, only this long list of only country names, piece of cake for Google Translate & Co., right? Wrong, oh so very wrong.

Why? Well, the beautiful country of Turkey seems to be a nemesis of Google Translate.

In English, Turkey, could either denote the country, or the bird. In German, however, Turkey, the country, can only be Türkei (the country), while turkey, the bird, can only be Truthahn.

Now guess what made an appearance in Google’s translation of that list of only countries (!)? …

Yep, you guessed it - turkey, the bird. In a list of country names and nothing else. You’d really think Google would get that right, wouldn’t you.

What’s more, the poor lonely turkey, surrounded by a list of countries instead of animal companions, is a rather infamous example of Google Translate fails in Germany, as you can imagine, and I’ve seen web pages featuring exactly that error (guess someone hired “Google translators” for their translation who were either too lazy to check or couldn’t check because they don’t actually speak the target language) as well as web pages making fun of it.

With all the “Automated translations have become so much better”, “Translators should look for a different carreer path”, “Nobody should start learning to be a translator anymore, as soon none will be needed” etc. which we get all the time (often by people who want to sell automatic translation software, of course, and usually present “laboratory environment” tests that show how their software excels but once you, as a translator, test the software with real life texts you get …),

I did not at all expect that Google still doesn’t get that one right, they must have had years to figure that one out now, and it seems to be such an obvious thing, right? And still …

Hope that example wasn’t only funny for translators 😉 .

---

Anyhow, automated translation does have its uses and virtues, I guess few people who know a bit about the topic would argue that, but manual translation, or at least manual editing of automated translations, does as well, and sometimes, it’s the only real option.

And there are still many things where even edited automated translation is absolutely not what you want. Many customers luckily understand that for some use cases, a text translated manually from scratch is far better than even an edited automated translation.

For most things, you simply don’t get the same result if you compare an even well-edited automated translation to one done manually from scratch, and for many things, there’s a big difference and you better make sure you get a translator who knows where “fixing a Google translation” can work and where it means disaster. You might be fine if your translator translates your diet ebook with the help of Google (while manually going through all the text and doing a lot of edits) but you certainly don’t want your novel translated by a translator who only edits automated translations (at least not without so much rewriting that he or she would be faster done if they did it from scratch most probably).

Of course, for some things, let’s say an alarm clock manual, an automated translation might be fine ( … or not … anyone ever stood there, a new gadget in front of them, the robot translation in hand, and scratched their head? …) but still, you definitely don’t want an automated translation that wasn’t checked by a halfways qualified translator, no matter what kind of text. (Remember Google’s most embarrassing Turkey/turkey faux-pas 😉 )

Then, there are other issues like … try telling Google translate to stick to character or even byte limits or to edit your PDF without totally messing up the layout (hint: the same content isn’t the same length in all languages …) … or that you’d like to sell your product to people with a sense of humour or to people who want to see creativity in your tries to sell to them, or you want to have a not just correctly translated but beautiful to behold website, or a video game where the kids don’t talk to their teachers in informal style and the teachers to the kids in formal style, or an email template that’s not a correct translation of your original text but one that gets your point across while not estranging the recipients, or …

Oh, there are so many good reasons for you to want a translator who doesn’t deliver robot translations (or at least heavily edited robot translations), that’s so wonderful for us who don’t.

Anyway, the underlying issue here isn’t “robot translations aren’t good” as much as that you should get what you paid for/what was advertised.

I don’t think any buyer here thinks they are paying for an unedited robot translation when they buy a translation gig and I doubt there are many gigs announcing that they sell unedited robot translations. If you paid for edited automated translation, or for a not specified translation, an edited automated translation probably is what you can expect and get, if you paid for manual translation, you should receive a manual translation.

Under no circumstances should you receive a completely unedited Google translation, because why would you pay for that, unless you’re too challenged to copy/paste yourself.

If you want to find a translator who doesn’t deliver pure unadulterated robot translations (who knows, maybe there are fans of those) - you might need to be a bit attentive, dig a bit deeper, communicate (you might not speak your target language, so you can’t communicate with them in your target and (hopefully) their native language, but, like, don’t hire a translator from English to Whatever if they don’t speak English at an at least decent level and can’t even pretend to on their profile and gig pages, why would you?!), and pay what their time is worth.

🍀

For the Turkey error, if you put all the countries on the same line separated by commas it gets it correct (it also seems more likely to get it correct if it’s part of a sentence), but if all the countries are on a separate line it gets it wrong. So maybe it treats it more as a separate thing when they’re on separate lines. Maybe they need more manual changes by the programmers to it to fix things like that but I think it’s more neural networks/deep learning now and maybe without many manual rules so maybe they don’t have that much control of it.

edit:

Also Google’s Translate only works a sentence at a time (maybe that’s the cause of the Turkey error if they’re on each line) and doesn’t take any more than a sentence into account.

[miiila]

For the Turkey error, if you put all the countries on the same line separated by commas it gets it correct (it also seems more likely to get it correct if it’s part of a sentence), but if all the countries are on a separate line it gets it wrong. So maybe it treats it more as a separate thing when they’re on separate lines. Maybe they need more manual changes by the programmers to it to fix things like that but I think it’s more neural networks/deep learning now and maybe without many manual rules so maybe they don’t have that much control of it.

edit:

Also Google’s Translate only works a sentence at a time (maybe that’s the cause of the Turkey error if they’re on each line) and doesn’t take any more than a sentence into account.

Yes, but who does that (certainly the kind of translators who only push buttons won’t add 183 commas, and probably won’t be aware of the issue in the first place, it’s often people who don’t know the language they claim to translate at all). And still, you’d expect if Google Translate was as good as automated translation is praised to be today and gets a list of 184 words, whether separated by commas or not, and all of them are country names, it would not translate one of them as an animal when there is the option of translating it as a country or an animal.

Anyway, it was just supposed to be a fun story 🙊.

And now I’m out of here before I’ll start about expressions, idioms, proverbs, and other nice things, plus, I need lunch. 😉