| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4] > | Moral dilemma. What should I do? Opinions needed Thread poster: myko312 (X)
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myko312 (X)
Moldova
New user
Hello everyone.
A terrible situation happened in my practice and I want to hear your opinions.
Before sharing my story, I want to make a disclaimer: everything I describe below happened solely due to my overconfidence, poor personal judgment, and, of course, stupidity, not due to greed or any other vices. I am not a bad person, and I really don't want to be one. I want to have only a positive impact on this world and never hurt anyone.
So, on a fre... See more Hello everyone.
A terrible situation happened in my practice and I want to hear your opinions.
Before sharing my story, I want to make a disclaimer: everything I describe below happened solely due to my overconfidence, poor personal judgment, and, of course, stupidity, not due to greed or any other vices. I am not a bad person, and I really don't want to be one. I want to have only a positive impact on this world and never hurt anyone.
So, on a freelance platform, I took a job translating instructions for medical devices (coronary catheters/stents) for an Indian translation agency. The translation was for an international medical company headquartered in India. When applying for this project, I “embellished” my resume by lying about my experience and pharmaceutical education.
Due to certain reasons, I was not able to carry out and review my translation thoroughly (there's likely no point in explaining exactly how and why it happened, as it would take a lot of time and words to describe everything). Moreover, I know for a fact that there are errors, even if the ones I am aware of are not critical. So the quality of my work was really really poor. A lot of machine translation with really really bad post-editing. Furthermore, I no longer possess the files with my translation to review the work again (again, I won't waste time explaining how it happened). An absolutely awful situation…
The agency, from what I know, has only had the translation checked by QA programs, by people who don't know the languages from/into which the translation is being done.
Fearing that there might be critical errors in my translation, I emailed the agency director (she was my client on the freelance platform) that there might be errors in my translation. And it wasn't an easy action to dare for me. Oh no! I did it only after a really long time when I became where emotional about another thing. I was afraid that I could possibly be sued for negligence and go to prison, and I was afraid of the consequences for my family, even if it just would be a fine. And I just could dare to send that letter… All this time it was like hell for me, I couldn't think about anything else but my translations, the consequences of potential mistakes, and so on.
So I wanted the agency to take some action, or just provide me with the files again so that I could double-check the translation. I didn't write that I lied to them in my resume. We had a ~12 letters conversation, firstly I said that critical mistakes are unlikely because a lot of factors are needed to make a mistake critical, but in my further email, I insisted that revision is needed, because better safe than sorry and all that staff. But the agency's director refused to take any action and decided to just hope that there would be no gross errors.
Naturally, this response did not comfort me, so I decided to write directly to the client, violating the NDA. I had to write dozens of letters, dozens of calls, search on LinkedIn and social networks for people who work for this company until someone finally paid attention to this matter. But unfortunately, that was not a success either. As I can guess, the agency convinced the client that my emails were spam. At the same time, I don't think that the agency director herself indeed considered my emails as spam:
as I mentioned before, I emailed her, instead of writing her on the platform. So after my emails to the client, she wrote me on the platform, that my emails caused so much confusion, that she had considered them spam. She was asking whether it was me who was writing these emails, and that she is going to legally process this incident (as a breach of an NDA). But in my opinion, she wasn't answering my emails as if she thought them were spam. After a few more messages from me, all that she said about the quality of my translations were: “There is a QC process that goes on by resources and your document is not the final one by the way”. But as I said already, there are reasons to think that the agency does not review the translation with native speakers. They have even said before my work, that files would be going directly to the client.
The only option, which I think could work to bring their attention to the matter of quality of my translation, and which would be morally right to do in my opinion, is to write a letter to the agency revealing to them that I lied on my resume, didn't have enough translation experience, used MT in my work, etc. But I failed to do it again… so many times.
I consulted lawyers and sought the help of psychologists. Opinions of lawyers on whether imprisonment is possible are somewhat different. Psychologists were of no help. But what really surprised me: everyone I asked (lawyers, psychologists) recommended me to do nothing else… Probably lawyers just did that because their job is to protect me, but… it is still very weird for me.
I would be very grateful to hear your opinions about this situation. What should I do now? What is better to do? What do you think is the right thing to do?
I just cannot analyze it anymore myself, and I really cannot live like that anymore… Constant tearing anxiety! I commit to use all my willpower to take whatever actions are needed and are appropriate to finally solve this situation.
Thank you very much in advance for your responses and reading my post. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 09:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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You must learn to let go. If you are going to worry about these sorts of things with every translation that you do, you will never become a happy translator.
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...about that (apart from the fact you never should have taken the job), because the end client and/or publisher in the respective country of use would be the final instance of being responsible for the given content. They have to make themselves acquainted with the product by all their means possible and therefore with the associated documentary, too.
Oh, wait? Is that correct what I'm writing right now? I better should stop this post before I become sued. Where is the next court or jail ... See more ...about that (apart from the fact you never should have taken the job), because the end client and/or publisher in the respective country of use would be the final instance of being responsible for the given content. They have to make themselves acquainted with the product by all their means possible and therefore with the associated documentary, too.
Oh, wait? Is that correct what I'm writing right now? I better should stop this post before I become sued. Where is the next court or jail where I can go to now to make an announcement? Help! ▲ Collapse
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You lied on your CV about your qualifications. That's not good. But it is good that you regret(ted) it and later took steps to rectify the matter. But nobody was interested. From what you've told us, it seems like there's not much more that you can do (except learn your lesson).
Here on Proz, many users also lie about their qualifications (native language, expertise, languages that they 'master', etc.), without scrutiny or consequences.
The way it is.
C
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 10:11
Member
English to Turkish
| We are here for you! | Jun 5 |
At Keki & Associates, we pride ourselves on our holistic approach to our clients' wellbeing. So not only do we provide expert legal advice, covering every possible pitfalls and eventualities in a given situation, but also deliver the much needed emotional support to the distressed translator who due to machine translation, AI, low rates, lack of work, poor quality etc. get the blues every now and then and give in to the dark thoughts as you evidently do at the moment.
For instance, ... See more At Keki & Associates, we pride ourselves on our holistic approach to our clients' wellbeing. So not only do we provide expert legal advice, covering every possible pitfalls and eventualities in a given situation, but also deliver the much needed emotional support to the distressed translator who due to machine translation, AI, low rates, lack of work, poor quality etc. get the blues every now and then and give in to the dark thoughts as you evidently do at the moment.
For instance, on one occasion, our consultants have successfully talked a British-Brazilian translator out of publicly setting himself on fire in downtown Sau Paulo in protestation of the never ending economic crisis in his country and not being able to get enough jobs through the job board of a certain translators website. As you can imagine it was hot work (if you pardon the pun) with the Brazilian sharpshooters itching to go for a headshot at the slightest of provocations. But we managed to prevent him from harming himself and the folk around him, and now he is a happy translator, an inspiring keynote speaker at the International Translation Day events thanks to the efforts of Keki & Associates.
Contact us today to let us help you with your problem. We have a proven track record in dealing with the best rate agencies in India (it's not for nothing they're called 'best rate' agencies, and quality doesn't come into it). Keep your chin up and put your faith in us. While you're at it, please also disable your two factor authentication and include your PIN number and sort code in your email to us to help thing run more smoothly going forward.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Baran Keki (he, him, hisself, bloke, dude, chap, oldboy)
CEO, Keki & Associates ▲ Collapse
| | | | Paul Adie
Germany
Local time: 09:11
German to English
+ ...
I would say go outside for a long walk and try to forget about it. You've tried to rectify it several times, going so far as to overdo it I would say, and those above you don't care - why should you?
| | | | | not a dilemma, an obsession | Jun 5 |
WE only have your account to go on, so it is difficult to be objective.
However, my take on this long account is that you have allowed your mistake and its possible consequences to become an obsession. Your fears are completely out of proportion to what might possibly happen.
As others have said, there is no more you can do about the issue and anyway, it is highly unlikely that your lies and false decisions will really cause anything terrible to happen.
At the moment your ... See more WE only have your account to go on, so it is difficult to be objective.
However, my take on this long account is that you have allowed your mistake and its possible consequences to become an obsession. Your fears are completely out of proportion to what might possibly happen.
As others have said, there is no more you can do about the issue and anyway, it is highly unlikely that your lies and false decisions will really cause anything terrible to happen.
At the moment your fears and constant worries are spoiling your life. Please get help from a professional trained to deal with this kind of obsession so that you can be freed from all this self-introspection.
Possibly it would be better in addition to find a different occupation where you have clear structures and rules inposed from outside. ▲ Collapse
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OK, so you seem to have reached the point where neither the agency or the end client will pay you any more attention. Possibly because you have flooded them with emails (the nature of your post would suggest this is not unlikely).
Given this is medical work, if you genuinely believe some person might suffer as a result of your lies and incompetence, and this concerns you either ethically (as it should) or potentially renders you legally liable (not inconceivable but not certain), th... See more OK, so you seem to have reached the point where neither the agency or the end client will pay you any more attention. Possibly because you have flooded them with emails (the nature of your post would suggest this is not unlikely).
Given this is medical work, if you genuinely believe some person might suffer as a result of your lies and incompetence, and this concerns you either ethically (as it should) or potentially renders you legally liable (not inconceivable but not certain), then you should continue to attempt to report it.
You won't be taken seriously any more, so you'll need to get a third party, a lawyer perhaps, to communicate on your behalf.
If you don't think anyone will suffer, let it go. Update your CV to remove the lies, and don't dabble in areas you don't understand. Especially medical material. Or translation in general. ▲ Collapse
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myko312 (X)
Moldova
New user
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you for your reply, | Jun 5 |
Charlie Bavington wrote:
OK, so you seem to have reached the point where neither the agency or the end client will pay you any more attention. Possibly because you have flooded them with emails (the nature of your post would suggest this is not unlikely).
Given this is medical work, if you genuinely believe some person might suffer as a result of your lies and incompetence, and this concerns you either ethically (as it should) or potentially renders you legally liable (not inconceivable but not certain), then you should continue to attempt to report it.
You won't be taken seriously any more, so you'll need to get a third party, a lawyer perhaps, to communicate on your behalf.
If you don't think anyone will suffer, let it go. Update your CV to remove the lies, and don't dabble in areas you don't understand. Especially medical material. Or translation in general.
It may seem from my post that I spammed the client and the agency, but actually, what I meant was that I needed to contact several people on LinkedIn until someone finally provided me with the contact details of the appropriate department. I did this because I received zero response from the company's official channels. As for the agency, we just had a conversation during which the director of the agency was continiously replying that they are not going to do anything about it.
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British Diana wrote:
Possibly it would be better in addition to find a different occupation where you have clear structures and rules inposed from outside.
Our protagonist may find that becoming a politician could be an excellent match for their skills.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 09:11
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
who finds that this story is not credible?
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Zea_Mays wrote:
who finds that this story is not credible?
Why on earth would anyone make it up?
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 09:11
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Rachel Waddington wrote:
Why on earth would anyone make it up?
Nothing can still surprise me on the internet.
[Bijgewerkt op 2024-06-06 06:26 GMT]
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:11
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Rachel Waddington wrote:
Why on earth would anyone make it up?
People are strange. They often do strange things. I don't find the thought that this person might be a troll any less strange than the thought that a person would - with completely unwarranted confidence - take on a task that they were unable to tackle, and in a fit of belated conscience subsequently contact not just one but multiple people from the end client via LinkedIn.
It beggars belief. I would actually prefer to find out that they were a troll rather than somebody lacking in self-awareness and commonsense to this extent.
But as I said, people are strange.
Regards,
Dan
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I don't believe it's fake news by the OP. The OP has wisely chosen a new profile because he/she already may bear a more known profile ("member profile") here on proz. And the chosen country of the OP lets my alarm bells ring and I assume that Keki & Associates will soon find out that the OP is to be located in London. It seems to be a male person because of the flawless English spiced with a slight Northern Irish accent.
Moreover, trustful sources ("the Internet") have told me recently tha... See more I don't believe it's fake news by the OP. The OP has wisely chosen a new profile because he/she already may bear a more known profile ("member profile") here on proz. And the chosen country of the OP lets my alarm bells ring and I assume that Keki & Associates will soon find out that the OP is to be located in London. It seems to be a male person because of the flawless English spiced with a slight Northern Irish accent.
Moreover, trustful sources ("the Internet") have told me recently that in certain parts of the world, doctors and their patients are faced with massive medical issues caused by a huge charge of coronary catheters and stents with faulty instructions... ▲ Collapse
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