alexpgp | Biting my tongue...

In a discussion of translation practices, it was suggested that there's something fishy about an agency using a free provider such as hotmail to interact with potential translators, i.e., sending and receiving translation tests.

One participant in the forum demurred, saying:

This does not mean anything. The VP Communications of one of my main clients (a chartered Canadian bank) often writes to me using a hotmail address because she often works from home. Her assistant uses a Yahoo address for the same reason.

IMO, any financial institution - much less a chartered one - that allows corporate officers to conduct business using a hotmail or yahoo account in this day and age is simply paving the road for phishers. (Hell, even my one-person translation shop has a better setup than this!)

* * *And while on the subject of translation, there was a posting on ProZ recently from an outfit in California, for a job from French to English. What was notable about the posting was that native French proficiency was demanded, along with a requirement that "No ATA members need apply." My contribution to the fracas:

I have had clients jokingly tell me, for example, "we won't hold your ATA membership against you" (at least, I assume it was said jokingly :^), but you do point to a strange requirement.

[...] A look at the outsourcer's Blue Board entries shows that last November, the outsourcer got a poor rating from a translator who took her case to the ATA (although to the best of my knowledge, arbitration between translators and agencies is not something the ATA does, per se). Perhaps that's the reason for this requirement?

Still, it's strange that an outsourcer would state such a requirement.

Stranger still that they'd care about native French proficiency (and not mention anything about English proficiency) for a translation into English.

The situation has been illuminated additionally since my contribution. To me, it would appear the agency is run along the lines of a one-page description from a book with an alluring title along the lines of 50 Home-Based Businesses You Can Start Up Today!

I need to go out again. I hope it has stopped snowing.

Cheers...