Translation, editing and postedition Thread poster: Alison Dryvers
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Hi, I have been offered my first ever translation job recently and have been asked by this potential client to translate a website, and he requested the following services: translation, editing and post-editing and asked me which ones I could provide. Can I translate, edit and post-edit my own work? And if so, how should I rate it, if they pay by weight word count?
Thank you in advance.
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Hi Alison! Congrats on that opportunity.
If you decide to take the translator position, I think that you shouldn't be the one who edits or post-edits your own translation. It's better if someone else does the editing and postediting part because they can see your work from another point of view. Also, you will receive feedback on your translation. From what I know, the three positions should be carried out by three different people.
I hope that this can help you!
| | | | Heike Holthaus 
United States
Local time: 09:39
Member (2012)
English to German
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| Different services | Jan 11, 2022 |
Hi Alison,
Congrats on the job offer!
I think the potential client wants to know which of those services you offer. If you offer all of those services, it could look like this for the website translation:
a) you translate and hire a proofreader
b) you hire a translator and you proofread
c) you run the text through a machine (do not use a free online service as that would violate a potential NDA) and then post-edit (direct client) OR if agency: they sen... See more Hi Alison,
Congrats on the job offer!
I think the potential client wants to know which of those services you offer. If you offer all of those services, it could look like this for the website translation:
a) you translate and hire a proofreader
b) you hire a translator and you proofread
c) you run the text through a machine (do not use a free online service as that would violate a potential NDA) and then post-edit (direct client) OR if agency: they send you a machine translated file and you post-edit that.
You would quote
a) your translation rate + the proofreader's rate (plus a margin because you still have to check the proofread file). No need to split it up. Quote it as one rate.
b) the translator's translation rate + your proofreading rate. Quoted as one rate.
c) your post-editing rate. Note: agencies like to offer low rates for this, assuming 30-40% time savings. They apply match rates on top of the already low rate, even-though the machine does not recognize reps and translates even 100% matches differently. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mihai Badea (X)
Luxembourg
Local time: 15:39
English to Romanian
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| Terminology does not seem right | Jan 11, 2022 |
For a website, you could have translation, editing and a final check when all text is in place (online), sometimes called LQA - language quality assurance.
Indeed, terminology can vary. For instance, in ISO 17100:2015, editing - comparing source and target to make sure the translation is correct - is called revision.
As to post-editing, it is a completely different concept, which practically excludes translation and editing. You work on a text that has been produced (tr... See more For a website, you could have translation, editing and a final check when all text is in place (online), sometimes called LQA - language quality assurance.
Indeed, terminology can vary. For instance, in ISO 17100:2015, editing - comparing source and target to make sure the translation is correct - is called revision.
As to post-editing, it is a completely different concept, which practically excludes translation and editing. You work on a text that has been produced (translated) by a specialised software. ▲ Collapse
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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Those are 3 different services.
Translation is done by hand, post-editing/MTPE is cleaning up machine translation, and revision/editing is going back over somebody else's work.
Price points should be in about a 3 : 2 : 1 ratio.
If a client asks about MTPE, their main thing will almost inevitably be MTPE... therefore, pay the most attention to that number and treat the translation quote as probably-irrelevant. They might start you out on a few translation ra... See more Those are 3 different services.
Translation is done by hand, post-editing/MTPE is cleaning up machine translation, and revision/editing is going back over somebody else's work.
Price points should be in about a 3 : 2 : 1 ratio.
If a client asks about MTPE, their main thing will almost inevitably be MTPE... therefore, pay the most attention to that number and treat the translation quote as probably-irrelevant. They might start you out on a few translation rate jobs but will inevitably move to pure MTPE. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mihai Badea (X)
Luxembourg
Local time: 15:39
English to Romanian
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| Slightly off-topic: post-editing | Jan 11, 2022 |
Please note there is a standard for post-editing:
ISO 18587:2017
P.S. The rather confusing nature of the term post-editing has been duly reported to the responsible body (some time ago).
[Edited at 2022-01-12 03:57 GMT]
| | | | | I agree it's about taking on different roles | Jan 12, 2022 |
When translating, you edit the text as you go whenever you come up with better ideas, and then you proofread your own translation to make sure there are no grammar mistakes or typos, and in my case, this almost always results in more edits. The final work is a translation project, no extra charge for editing, just good practice. If they are willing to pay extra for editing, you'll need to find someone else, who's competent enough, to edit your work. You could also take the role of that competent... See more When translating, you edit the text as you go whenever you come up with better ideas, and then you proofread your own translation to make sure there are no grammar mistakes or typos, and in my case, this almost always results in more edits. The final work is a translation project, no extra charge for editing, just good practice. If they are willing to pay extra for editing, you'll need to find someone else, who's competent enough, to edit your work. You could also take the role of that competent person and edit someone else's translation, but this will take some judgment: one fine day, I just gave up on freelance editing projects because they all had to do with taking a completely botched translation (sometimes performed by two or more translators who hadn't communicated with each other during the work) and rebuilding it from the ground up for half the standard translation rate and at three times the standard translation pace. If what you're offered for editing is just as botched as I described, you can tell it's so in less than a minute if you're a good editor. For post-editing, I imagine it can work on simple projects in some language pairs (not mine, anyway), but I believe the simple and repetitive texts that can be handled via MT + post-editing will soon leave the domain of human translation altogether and many a post-editor will lose their jobs ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 15:39
Member (2009)
English to German
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| Post-editing | Jan 12, 2022 |
Alison Dryvers wrote:
Can I translate, edit and post-edit my own work?
Post editing normally refers to machine translated text. This means, you can translate and review your own work (not really advisable), but because you are not a machine, you can't post-edit your own translation. Perhaps your client means a second review?
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Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 07:39
Dutch to English
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| post-editing | Jan 12, 2022 |
If this is a direct client who wants his/her website translated, they may not be familiar with the various terms used in translation/editing. Post-editing is not relevant for this job. Maybe they just mean checking and proofreading, which we normally do anyway. It may be best if you clarify with the client what he means by that, so you know what to do and what not to do.
A website can have many sub-pages that may have a lot of text. Make sure you read them all, so you don't miss a... See more If this is a direct client who wants his/her website translated, they may not be familiar with the various terms used in translation/editing. Post-editing is not relevant for this job. Maybe they just mean checking and proofreading, which we normally do anyway. It may be best if you clarify with the client what he means by that, so you know what to do and what not to do.
A website can have many sub-pages that may have a lot of text. Make sure you read them all, so you don't miss anything in your quote. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 15:39
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| What "post-edit" is | Jan 12, 2022 |
Alison Dryvers wrote:
Can I translate, edit and post-edit my own work?
When agencies say "post-edit", they don't mean a task that comes after editing. They mean "translation, but using machine translation, and charged at a much lower rate".
You should reply and tell them that you are only one person, so you can only offer translation OR editing. You should obviously check your own translation before delivery, but if this is an agency they're probably looking for a service done by a separate person. Some agencies seem to believe that translators all have a colleague next door who can do the "editing" portion.
Adieu wrote:
Price points should be in about a 3 : 2 : 1 ratio.
I agree. E.g. translation 9 cents, post-editing 6 cents, editing 3 cents.
[Edited at 2022-01-12 19:54 GMT]
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| It sounds like they're considering adding you to their database | Jan 12, 2022 |
Hence the generic "please quote all your rates."
The job in question may or may not materialize for you, but they may decide to use that quote to offer you future work.
| | | | Alison Dryvers
Spain
Local time: 15:39
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all so much for taking the time in explaining to me the different concepts. It makes much more sense to me now what editing and post-editing are, which, to tell you the truth, was confusing me, but I didnt want to let the client think that I could not do the job. Now I see that it is much better to stick to what I do, which is translating, and not be scared to ask the client for explanations when needed.
Once again, thank you!
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