Poll: Do you accept to work with source texts in poorly scanned documents? Лице кое објавува дискусија: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you accept to work with source texts in poorly scanned documents?".
This poll was originally submitted by Thiago Assumpção. View the poll results »
| | | | Muriel Vasconcellos (X) 
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 08:28
шпански на англиски
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I have enough on my plate already.
The only exception I make is for historical research. I have attempted to translate documents from the 18th and 19th century, such as census records and important correspondence. This is essentially a pro bono hobby of mine, and I make that clear from the outset.
For paying clients, if I can't read the text, I can't take responsibility for the accuracy of the translation.
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For some clients and charging a higher rate I will do it, providing that I can read the content of the documents…
| | | | | Only if it is legible | Jun 7, 2013 |
If I can read it, I will translate it. If I can't read it, I will ask whether it is possible to send a better copy. If it still isn't legible then I have to say no. I don't even want to think about the legal implications of guessing what might be written.
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I positively used to enjoy work from a client with semi-illegible handwriting, a designer.
As soon as the PDF arrived, I used to phone him and he would read the text aloud for me, while I made notes about the bits I couldn't read easily.
At the same time he explained his special terminology and we cleared up all potential issues. It was a privilege to talk to him. The drawings were a delight, not to mention the finished products...
He retired, and the big Danish company ... See more I positively used to enjoy work from a client with semi-illegible handwriting, a designer.
As soon as the PDF arrived, I used to phone him and he would read the text aloud for me, while I made notes about the bits I couldn't read easily.
At the same time he explained his special terminology and we cleared up all potential issues. It was a privilege to talk to him. The drawings were a delight, not to mention the finished products...
He retired, and the big Danish company he worked for was sold and merged - more or less dragged from the 19th century and doing everything by hand to the 21st where everything was fully automated, without benefit of the intermediate stages everyone else went through in the 20th century!
I translated a lot of faxed, typewritten texts of varying legibility for them, but they were always very helpful. The agency let me call the client direct, as it was easiest. And they paid more or less for my time, but I learnt a lot too.
The new company's advertising later became very stereotyped, and I no longer work for them.
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Now it is usually possible to get a legible text, and I am less tolerant of sitting with a magnifying glass... Scans are better than the old faxes, which became more illegible and smudgy with every pass. If I can't read the text I ask the client for clarification - and charge extra for my time.
A far bigger problem is conversion of text from PDFs - where often the extra letters in the Danish alphabet are garbled, and they can be a pain.
Or tag soup in Studio - if there are tags between every letter, I really can't read a text, let alone translate, and those get thrown back where they came from!
Have a nice weekend, folks! ▲ Collapse
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Scanned PDFs?
P = Poorly
D = Defined
F - Files
Accepting scanned docments is a bad trip. 1 step forward and 3 steps back to the Stone Age. Ug says "No thank you!" 
New definition
P = Pretty
D = Dead
F - Files
Added new definition
[Edited at 2013-06-08 06:22 GMT]
| | | | Tim Drayton (X)
Кипар
Local time: 18:28
турски на англиски
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It goes with the territory of being a legal translator, at least in my language pair where the majority of litigation documents are in hard form.
| | | | Tim Drayton (X)
Кипар
Local time: 18:28
турски на англиски
+ ...
| Enter "[illegible]" | Jun 7, 2013 |
Helen Hagon wrote:
If I can read it, I will translate it. If I can't read it, I will ask whether it is possible to send a better copy. If it still isn't legible then I have to say no. I don't even want to think about the legal implications of guessing what might be written.
You don't guess, you enter "[illegible]" where this is the case. In a legal dispute, if the translator can make sense of only half of a poorly legible document, this may be of great value.
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Enrico Zoffoli
Италија
Local time: 17:28
Член
германски на италијански
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and of course I charge far more
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Tim Drayton wrote:
Helen Hagon wrote:
If I can read it, I will translate it. If I can't read it, I will ask whether it is possible to send a better copy. If it still isn't legible then I have to say no. I don't even want to think about the legal implications of guessing what might be written.
You don't guess, you enter "[illegible]" where this is the case. In a legal dispute, if the translator can make sense of only half of a poorly legible document, this may be of great value.
The difficulty being, that sometimes there might only be one word in the document which is illegible and that may prevent the sentence having any meaning at all!
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If it's an interesting project and/or document and the client is willing to work with me through some of the patchy bits.
| | | | | Yes, depending on how poorly | Jun 7, 2013 |
A fair chunk of my work consists of scanned PDFs. Always legible, sometimes not of great quality but usually interesting. They come from a good client and I have not had to refuse any yet due to the quality (any refusals so far have been purely because of time or deadline constraints).
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Triston Goodwin
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 09:28
шпански на англиски
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| My bread and butter | Jun 7, 2013 |
I must have translated hundreds of birth certificates or marriage licenses that were barely legible scans of 30 year old documents. It can be a pain, but none of my colleagues will touch them and our clients still need the service. I actually did one just yesterday and I'm working on another one today.
I don't usually charge extra, but I do request an extra day or two.
| | | | neilmac
Шпанија
Local time: 17:28
шпански на англиски
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No way. Not even for my best clients. They can "find another monkey", whoever they are. They have all been well warned in advance about my stance on this.
| | | | | Reluctantly... | Jun 7, 2013 |
...and for a regular customer only!
As Sherlock Holmes very approximately said: "I am accustomed to having a mystery at one end of my problem, not at both"!
Steve K.
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