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NEVER ask the client
Thread poster: Daniel Frisano
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:32
Member (2016)
English to German
... Apr 8, 2021

Daniel Frisano wrote:

Never ask the client, ever.


For years, my CV has contained the note "I ask the right questions".
It's a feature, not a bug.


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P.L.F. Persio
Thomas T. Frost
expressisverbis
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Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:32
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English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
  Apr 8, 2021

Jan Truper wrote:

For years, my CV has contained the note "I ask the right questions".



And then you discovered that "I find the right answers" is a better option?

All right, I'll check back in a few days, I have a monster called "Neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1 and uses therefor" waiting for me. Cheers.

[Edited at 2021-04-08 16:34 GMT]


Gerard Barry
 
Robert Forstag
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United States
Local time: 07:32
Spanish to English
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[Deleted] Apr 8, 2021

-

[Edited at 2021-04-08 16:39 GMT]


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Hmm Apr 8, 2021

Daniel Frisano wrote:
I don't even want to know what happened in the previous pages.

What’s the point in starting a discussion if you’re not interested in what people have to say?

A little humility might be in order, as most of us would have agreed that you shouldn’t bother customers unnecessarily, but unfortunately that is not what you said.


Thomas T. Frost
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Robert Forstag
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
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Spain
Local time: 12:32
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Antibodies Apr 8, 2021

All right, back to work then, Daniel, but I wonder would you ask the customer any questions on those antibodies? Would you tell us if you did? You would, wouldn't you? Or would you keep quiet about it? You wouldn't lie to us, would you? You would tell us it like it is or was, wouldn't you?

That's definitely enough woulds and wouldn'ts for anybody. Wouldn't you agree? Oh, blast ...


P.L.F. Persio
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P.L.F. Persio
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Netherlands
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English to Italian
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HIV-1 Apr 8, 2021

Daniel Frisano wrote:

All right, I'll check back in a few days, I have a monster called "Neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1 and uses therefor" waiting for me. Cheers.

[Edited at 2021-04-08 16:34 GMT]


With all this COVID-covfefe, I almost forgot there's still this killer in town.


Mervyn Henderson (X)
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Baran Keki
Baran Keki  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 14:32
Member
English to Turkish
The benefit of the doubt Apr 8, 2021

I personally don't believe that there are translators who ask their clients* Kudoz-like terminology questions (i.e. the kinds of questions that you can solve with a few minutes of online research or have someone solve it for you by asking them in the Kudoz section here) all the time. I just find it hard to believe that there might be such people who're willing to shoot themselves in the foot like that. But if there were, indeed, such 'inept translators' out there, then I would agree with all the... See more
I personally don't believe that there are translators who ask their clients* Kudoz-like terminology questions (i.e. the kinds of questions that you can solve with a few minutes of online research or have someone solve it for you by asking them in the Kudoz section here) all the time. I just find it hard to believe that there might be such people who're willing to shoot themselves in the foot like that. But if there were, indeed, such 'inept translators' out there, then I would agree with all the insults heaped on them by the OP.

But, that said, I don't see the point in launching into such an outburst over these people as they won't be around too long to bother their clients with their questions.

*Btw how do you ask your 'client' (by that I understand the 'end client') questions? Isn't a PM, who mostly sends and receives translations, your first and only point of contact? If you're dealing with a 'direct client' (that Holy Grail that all of us are in search of) and bothering them with easy terminology questions then you're a.... well, you know what I mean.
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Gerard Barry
Gerard Barry
Germany
Local time: 12:32
German to English
Wehret den Anfängen Apr 8, 2021

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

But I did leave her alone. Alone on that stage. So did the crowd, by the looks of things. The security guard left her alone. In the end she even left herself alone, too, and walked off in a huff.

Now, what would Sophie have done? Sophie wasn't given the chance to either stand up on a stage or go off in a huff, as I remember it. Do you see the difference? It takes a bit of querdenking, but you'll get there in the end.


In German, they have a saying "Wehret den Anfängen", which is about nipping fascism in the bud. If we apply that to the present times, it should be clear to most people that the authoritarian rules and laws that have been introduced in response to corona could be the start of something more sinister. That means, among other things, that while people who oppose the German government's corona politics at present might be "only" be attacked on social media and vilified by the mainstream media (e.g. Jana from Kassel), this could quite easily escalate into something much more serious. The Germans have had two dictatorships over the past 100 years so they should really be more suspicious of those in authority. Instead, they're choosing to look the other way and attack the government's critics, including the Querdenker.


 
Gerard Barry
Gerard Barry
Germany
Local time: 12:32
German to English
Querdenker, AfD and PEGIDA Apr 8, 2021

Matthias Brombach wrote:

Gerard Barry wrote:

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

What's even funnier is seeing the same lack of any faces at all agreeing with yours.


.... under your post:)


... to your view upon the world, being prosecuted all the time by secret forces, Bill Gates, Angela Merkel, the WEF, the asylum seekers, and the Germans, who all unreflectively stick to their rules, as apparently can be seen in their history according to your sources? I'm sure that you have a lot more followers there, where you dare to show your face and your real name, when marching together with your Querdenkers and visiting PEGIDA events or AfD gatherings.


The Querdenker, the AfD and PEGIDA have really only one thing in common and that's the fact that they are all critical of the German government's policies on various issues. Isn't it interesting how this is enough to convince the majority of the German population that they are inherently bad? Maybe you should listen more to the ideas and policies that groups such as these have (preferably by visiting their own websites rather than just adopting the views of them propagated by the mainstream media) instead of casually dismissing them out of hand.


 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 12:32
Member (2016)
English to German
... Apr 8, 2021

Baran Keki wrote:

*Btw how do you ask your 'client' (by that I understand the 'end client') questions? Isn't a PM, who mostly sends and receives translations, your first and only point of contact? If you're dealing with a 'direct client' (that Holy Grail that all of us are in search of) and bothering them with easy terminology questions then you're a.... well, you know what I mean.


I specialize in game and subtitle translation.

For games, it's common to have an online query document accessible to all translators and proofreaders (often across multiple languages). Queries usually get answered directly by the end client. On a big game, there can easily be hundreds of queries, most of them due to lack of context.

For subtitles, there's usually no need for queries -- if the audio doesn't make sense, I more or less have to reflect this senselessness in the subtitles. There are exceptions; I even had a project once where I was given the director's email address in case I had questions (which I didn't).


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Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
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Member (2007)
Dutch to German
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Exemplary Apr 8, 2021

Gerard Barry wrote:
propagated by the mainstream media (and other blaaaargh)

Thank you for all your posts here, they just confirm my assumptions what happens when normally depoliticised people start to politicise again in a complex world, and try to simplify down complex issues to simple solutions. "Wehret den Anfängen" (Beware of the starting processes) should be changed into "Wehret den Anfängern" (Beware of the amateurs). You and your movements you sympathize with, are marching together with true Nazis, antidemocrats, racists and other ultra nationalistic people. Why don't you have the courage to confess yourself to these attitudes, because behind your pseudonym you don't have to fear any consequences here. Come on, raise your right arm!

[Bearbeitet am 2021-04-08 19:48 GMT]


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Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:32
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Getting back to the topic Apr 8, 2021

Getting back to the topic:

Occasionally you may want to impress your client by asking a question, just to show how punctilious you are about getting everything absolutely right.


expressisverbis
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Daniel Frisano
Daniel Frisano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:32
Member (2008)
English to Italian
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TOPIC STARTER
Yes Apr 8, 2021

Tom in London wrote:

Occasionally you may want to impress your client by asking a question, just to show how punctilious you are about getting everything absolutely right.


Now that's probably the cleverest post in the whole thread (unless there is some hidden gem, improbably, in the pages that I skipped), and I admit that in the past I might have indulged in such behavior myself.

My original NEVER is hereby downgraded to a lowercase never to allow for a tiny margin of exception.


Gerard Barry
 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 11:32
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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I can read other clever comments here too! Apr 9, 2021

Daniel Frisano wrote:

Now that's probably the cleverest post in the whole thread (unless there is some hidden gem, improbably, in the pages that I skipped), and I admit that in the past I might have indulged in such behavior myself.



There have been quite a number of colleagues who have answered you that by using other words, including me, but to you we are a bunch of ignorants, right?
Also, I must say that many of the comments I read were quite clever.
You don't skip the answers you've been given or the questions you've been asked in order to understand your 'NEVER ask the client', you just ignore those pages, because you are too focused on your own reflection in a pool of water.
I've tried to understand your side, really, but my patience has a limit... and so my time.
All the best!


[Edited at 2021-04-09 00:12 GMT]


Thomas T. Frost
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
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Mervyn Henderson (X)
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So Apr 9, 2021

... let's see if I've got this right. We should NEVER ask questions, a shedload of people tell you otherwise, for various reasons, including the fact that it could showcase your punctiliousness, you claim you've never even bothered to check them out (but you have), and then suddenly a sinister veteran poster weighs in to make you change your story.

He got to you, didn't he, Daniel? He put the frighteners on you for sure. So what was it? First the car with an NI reg parked outside th
... See more
... let's see if I've got this right. We should NEVER ask questions, a shedload of people tell you otherwise, for various reasons, including the fact that it could showcase your punctiliousness, you claim you've never even bothered to check them out (but you have), and then suddenly a sinister veteran poster weighs in to make you change your story.

He got to you, didn't he, Daniel? He put the frighteners on you for sure. So what was it? First the car with an NI reg parked outside the house 24 hours a day and an 'I Love Ballymena' sticker on the back bumper? The notes you find slipped under the door in the morning, with "I know some ugly, base people, you know. People who don't know even what an apostrophe is or when it's used, people who use double negatives willy-nilly, and people who use capital letters totally at random." Then the faceless, rasping, guttural voice on the phone from an unknown number saying "Tell them I'm the most cleverest, damn your eyes, or else"?

You can't cave in to these people, Daniel. You do it once, and they'll be back, let me tell you.

[Edited at 2021-04-09 06:09 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-04-09 10:24 GMT]
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Thomas T. Frost
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