ProZ.com Translation Forums

Quote request | Yes! It's usual (modern) university practice

Maria Laura Curzi — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:07:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Maria Laura Curzi
Post title: Yes! It's usual (modern) university practice

[quote]Andrus Lauringson wrote:

[quote]Jennifer Levey wrote:

Given the fact that the bakery you have named does actually exist ( [url removed] ), I venture to suggest that as a role-playing 'project manager' seeking to impress your faculty peers and elders, you would at some point in the process need to establish that your fictional client does actually have the copyright-holder's authorisation to have the document translated into Chinese.

Of course, in the 'real world' no-one gives a damn about the copyright in derivative works (a translation in this case), but for as long as you are a a student currently studying for my MA in translation and interpreting the verification of such 'details' ought to be on your check-list when setting up business deals - whether as a seller or a buyer of translations.

Also, as a fork off that line of thought, I wonder if whatever academic institution it was that gave you this assignment has sought and obtained clearance from the bakery in question, allowing the (mis?)appropriation of their name - and their annual report - in this manner... [/quote]

I think both translating the text and using a real company name in a fictional scenario are fine as long as everything is kept in the academic context, the translation is not actually used except for the coursework and the work is not made publicly available. [/quote]

Exactly! I fully agree with you, Andrus.

Here in Argentina, it's a usual university practice for students to have an early sense of how's “real life” working environment, before they reach the senior year when internships are proposed. It's a way to help students get mentally ready for those internships and what the “real-life” companies will expect from them.

Furthermore, in most cases, companies/enterprises are the ones that contact the university interested to engage in this type of assignments/trainings. So they have a previous contact with senior students that aren't in the final year yet, and still can't apply for internships. Also, it's a great way of publicity for the companies.

This is a modern practice, that probably started in this XXI century, so older people aren't aware about it. Then, doubts about clearance or lawfulness are absurd, since university programs ought to be legally approved by the government's Department of Education and are public access information.

Quote request | Sure, but

Andrus Lauringson — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 15:41:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Andrus Lauringson
Post title: Sure, but

[quote]Jennifer Levey wrote:

Given the fact that the bakery you have named does actually exist ( [url removed] ), I venture to suggest that as a role-playing 'project manager' seeking to impress your faculty peers and elders, you would at some point in the process need to establish that your fictional client does actually have the copyright-holder's authorisation to have the document translated into Chinese.

Of course, in the 'real world' no-one gives a damn about the copyright in derivative works (a translation in this case), but for as long as you are a a student currently studying for my MA in translation and interpreting the verification of such 'details' ought to be on your check-list when setting up business deals - whether as a seller or a buyer of translations.

Also, as a fork off that line of thought, I wonder if whatever academic institution it was that gave you this assignment has sought and obtained clearance from the bakery in question, allowing the (mis?)appropriation of their name - and their annual report - in this manner... [/quote]

I think both translating the text and using a real company name in a fictional scenario are fine as long as everything is kept in the academic context, the translation is not actually used except for the coursework and the work is not made publicly available.

Quote request | What are you being marked on?

Rachel Waddington — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 14:20:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: What are you being marked on?

Is the objective to come up with a realistic price or something else?

Seems like an odd exercise to me. If you were really a PM for a translation agency you would have pricing guidelines to work with. Working this out from scratch involves knowing what your company's overheads are and how much profit you need to make on each job, as well as everyone's salaries and how quickly they work. I have no idea how you are supposed to answer this question without this information.

Did you get any more guidance with the assignment?

Quote request | Copyright?

Jennifer Levey — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 23:11:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Jennifer Levey
Post title: Copyright?

Given the fact that the bakery you have named does actually exist ( [url removed] ), I venture to suggest that as a role-playing 'project manager' seeking to impress your faculty peers and elders, you would at some point in the process need to establish that your fictional client does actually have the copyright-holder's authorisation to have the document translated into Chinese.

Of course, in the 'real world' no-one gives a damn about the copyright in derivative works (a translation in this case), but for as long as you are a a student currently studying for my MA in translation and interpreting the verification of such 'details' ought to be on your check-list when setting up business deals - whether as a seller or a buyer of translations.

Also, as a fork off that line of thought, I wonder if whatever academic institution it was that gave you this assignment has sought and obtained clearance from the bakery in question, allowing the (mis?)appropriation of their name - and their annual report - in this manner...

Quote request | I'm not clear what you're asking for.

philgoddard — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 22:00:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: philgoddard
Post title: I'm not clear what you're asking for.

Is this a real job, or a pretend one? What do you mean by 'get the opinion from working translators'?

Quote request | Professional associations/guilds and directories

Maria Laura Curzi — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:10:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Maria Laura Curzi
Post title: Professional associations/guilds and directories

I had those “real-life” exercises at university as well.

I would start by checking the suggested rates on pages of professional associations or guilds in your area/city.

Then, since your assignment already has the language pair and word count, I would check on agencies directories (like the one in here) for agencies located in that city/area.
If they have a website, I see if they post their prices, if not, I would send them a message asking for their quote and telling them it's for a college assignment with a deadline.

That way, if you need to justify the data/numbers of your assignment, you have the webpages or the e-mails as citations or bibliographical references.

Quote request

Lucinda Williams — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 12:41:00 +0000

Forum: Getting established
Topic: Quote request
Poster: Lucinda Williams

Hello,

I am a student currently studying for my MA in translation and interpreting. For one of our assignments, the project manager (me) has to research a quote for the translation of a 1311 word document. The document needs to be translated into Chinese (which my colleague will do). I need to come up with a quote and I wanted to get the opinion from working translators please? The deadline for the translation to be completed is 10th March (and the request was sent to me on 4th February). The document is in a PDF and it's important that it is formatted the same, maintaining the same pagination (which the translator is aware of). I also have a terminologist (another colleague) who will create a glossary and term base for it. The document is an annual report for the English bakery chain 'Greggs'.

I look forward to hearing from you with your ideas and suggestions. Thank you so much!

Lucinda