Why working with TM can suck...

The current job includes a number of sentences that have been mindlessly inserted by software at the client's office, the idea being that if a source sentence is sufficiently similar to something already in the database (75% in the case below) it makes sense to stick the corresponding translation from that database in the source file and have the translator "edit" the result.

The idea is not so much to make the translator's life easier or to expedite the turnaround of the job, but to reduce the payment made to the translator, since the rate of payment for "editing" is, with this client, 25% of the rate paid for translation.

Take the following example, consisting of the original text, followed by the "suggested" translation, followed by my, um, "edit":

Договор будет толковаться и исполняться, а споры, вытекающие из Договора или связанные с ним, будут разрешаться в соответствии с материальным правом Российской Федерации, исключая коллизионные нормы.

Limitation of liability of the Parties”), the Agreement shall be interpreted and carried out in accordance with the Governing Law (the substantive law of Russia, excluding provisions pointing to the laws of another jurisdiction).

The Contract shall be interpreted and performed, and disputes arising from the Contract or related to it shall be resolved, in accordance with the substantive law of the Russian Federation, except for rules governing the choice of laws.

Just a light edit, dontchaknow.

If I had been engaged to translate the sentence, I would have earned 38 units for 38 words translated. However, as there were 34 words in the original "suggested" translation, and since what I am asked to do is simply "edit" the suggested text, what I actually end up with is 12.5 units... for 38 words translated.

It's not all as bad as this example, but the fact is that, in the long run, doing a conscientious job costs me money.

Enough whining. I'm about 1/3 of the way through today's quota. Back to the face of the salt mine.

Cheers...

Gently, gently...

The day got off to a pretty fast start, with 930 words committed to phosphor by 9:30 am (though a lot of that chunk was a repetition of the obligations of the Contractor, rephrased for the Customer). Still, I was able to get halfway through my goal for the day by noon, despite distractions.

In the afternoon, despite additional distractions and a trip to the Sam's Club, I managed to get within 700 words of my goal by 4 pm, and after returning from the drive, walking to the Kroger's to pick up The Departed, and watching Rick Steves galavant about Naples on the local public TV channel after getting back from the store, I sat down for a final "push" and actually overshot my goal by a couple of hundred words.

* * *While at Sam's I noted the display of a book that, on first impression, tweaked my curiosity, as it purported to relate the story of what happened in the ISS program both aboard the station and on the ground after the Columbia tragedy. I have since forgotten the title of the book and the author, but I have not forgotten part of the blurb on the inside flaps of the cover, which I think painted a grossly unfair picture in a very short time.

Specifically, the blurb paints a strange picture of the Soyuz space craft, which is the station's "Assured Crew Return Vehicle," which is NASA-speak for "lifeboat." Soyuz spacecraft have a 6-month life on orbit because the seals between the Soyuz and the station, which keep atmosphere from leaking into space, are only rated for that period. As a result, Soyuz spacecraft are routinely replaced, being flown up by new crews (occasionally accompanied by "space tourists") and deorbited by old crews.

Somehow, in the space of a few words, however, whoever wrote the blurb painted a picture of a highly untrustworthy craft, hoping (I suppose) to entice the reader into buying the book to see how the apparently marooned station crew gets out of their predicament. For all I know, the book may actually be pretty good, but the advertising definitely turned me off, for now.

Time to go watch the DVD and exercise my fingers. :^)

Cheers...