| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: What do you do when you receive a message in a language you don't know? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What do you do when you receive a message in a language you don't know?".
This poll was originally submitted by Natalia Pedrosa. View the poll results »
| | | | Gitte Hoveds (X)
Denmark
Local time: 07:45
Danish to English
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It is obviously not intended for me.
| | | | | I reply in one of my other languages | Mar 9, 2018 |
That’s one of the very few cases I use Google Translate to figure out what the email is about and if it deserves an answer. If so, I’ll reply in one of my other languages (English or French) explaining that I don’t master that language.
| | | | Marjolein Snippe 
Netherlands
Local time: 07:45
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Depends on the sender | Mar 9, 2018 |
If I know the sender, I will usually reply in English. Unless I can guess no answer is required, such as the emails I receive from a Finnish client's Finnish accountant. I pull them through an automatic translation programme and if it looks like something resembling "your invoice has been paid", I may reply with "thank you" or I may not reply at all.
If I don't know the sender, I don't reply.
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Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:45
Russian to English
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In memoriam | has only happened with KudoZ questions | Mar 9, 2018 |
In which case I go to the question and edit the language pair.
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 07:45
Czech to French
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provided I understand what it is about and it's worth answering. I don't bother with Google Translate - and never needed it by now, nobody tried to write to me in Chinese for example. It has been either German or Spanish where I can get the gist.
| | | | | Other - take care! | Mar 9, 2018 |
I am very cautious about mails in languages I don't know. If the mail uses the English alphabet, I can sometimes work out what it is about from the languages I do know a little. I look at the sender's address and details like that. Then I take it from there.
I once received an unexpected mail from Japan which was in fact a very nice thank you, in English when I found the message ... I had done a translation for a Danish client, about an art exhibition to be held in Japan, and now my... See more I am very cautious about mails in languages I don't know. If the mail uses the English alphabet, I can sometimes work out what it is about from the languages I do know a little. I look at the sender's address and details like that. Then I take it from there.
I once received an unexpected mail from Japan which was in fact a very nice thank you, in English when I found the message ... I had done a translation for a Danish client, about an art exhibition to be held in Japan, and now my translation had reached the museum. It made my day, and I replied in English.
Just today I have received an unpleasant spam mail in a variety of bad English, which I can understand all too easily as a threat to blackmail me! The spam filter did not pick it up, so I checked to see if it was a possible client. I hope all the threats of tracking me are just b***s**t, but they probably are.
I reported it to the mail provider and deleted it as fast as possible.
Mails like that should be ignored. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I reply in English | Mar 9, 2018 |
It's happened to me a couple of times. I received emails in French which I don't speak. I replied in English saying I don't speak French and the correspondence went on in English. Not a big deal.
[Edited at 2018-03-09 09:15 GMT]
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Ventnai
Spain
Local time: 07:45
German to English
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I received an email from a Dutch agency in Dutch once. I can understand a little from German and English but it serves me right for signing off emails with a closing phrase in Dutch. Needless to say, I wrote back in English.
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it depends who is the sender. If it is a client I know I'll take it from there.
If I don't know the sender I most likely delete it.
| | | | | I use machine translation and English, or my passive languages | Mar 9, 2018 |
Of course, I can spot tłumaczenia in PL and übersetzung in DE, though I speak neither, so I won't waste time doing it on Nigerian scams or other spam.
Some people see my surname - which is actually from Southern Poland since the 1700s, as I ascertained - and feel immediately compelled to write me in German. I use Google Translate to check what's it all about.
Others may h... See more Of course, I can spot tłumaczenia in PL and übersetzung in DE, though I speak neither, so I won't waste time doing it on Nigerian scams or other spam.
Some people see my surname - which is actually from Southern Poland since the 1700s, as I ascertained - and feel immediately compelled to write me in German. I use Google Translate to check what's it all about.
Others may have read about a supposedly famous ancestor of mine (is there any???), and write me in Polish. Then I use Poltran.com... which once told me about a prospect who had 1,800 towels (sic!) for me to translate.
While I only translate between EN-PT, I speak IT/FR/ES, so I try to check if they can communicate with me in any of these five languages.
If the message is in any other language, I won't know whether it's business or spam, so I'll delete it. Now and them I receive e-mails using Oriental ideograms, which I can't identify, so I delete these immediately.
I had one case where a PM from Warsaw needed my EN-PT skills, a large job. However she could only communicate in PL and FR. We began in PL, and I was using Poltran. Then we switched to FR - which some friends say that I speak fairly well, but I think they are just trying to be nice - until she found an EN-PT translator in Poland, and I stepped out.
In any case, when I use machine translation for PL/DE, I tell them I'm doing so, always try to get confirmation of what I understood, and also make it a point to include the text in EN, so they may check with someone else, if in doubt. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Carla Catolino
Italy
Local time: 07:45
Member (2008)
Italian to English
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| I have a French client who.... | Mar 9, 2018 |
Daniela Slankamenac wrote:
It's happened to me a couple of times. I received emails in French which I don't speak. I replied in English saying I don't speak French and the correspondence went on in English. Not a big deal.
[Edited at 2018-03-09 09:15 GMT]
writes me in French (her native language and one of my source languages) but I respond in English (my native and target language), and we are very happy!
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 07:45
Member (2006)
German to English
Daniela Slankamenac wrote:
It's happened to me a couple of times. I received emails in French which I don't speak. I replied in English saying I don't speak French and the correspondence went on in English. Not a big deal.
[Edited at 2018-03-09 09:15 GMT]
But funny this only happens in French☺
| | | | Diarmuid Kennan
Ireland
Local time: 06:45
Member (2006)
Danish to English
+ ...
I recently had a PM at a client write to me in French, which I don't speak.
I machine translated the e-mail (a request for a quote), and then machine translated my reply, providing a price/deadline.
The PM responded (in French), wishing to make sure that there was no misunderstanding: the translation should be to English, not French.
I responded, again in machine translation, that naturally I only translate to my native language, English.
The PM responded (in French) that... See more I recently had a PM at a client write to me in French, which I don't speak.
I machine translated the e-mail (a request for a quote), and then machine translated my reply, providing a price/deadline.
The PM responded (in French), wishing to make sure that there was no misunderstanding: the translation should be to English, not French.
I responded, again in machine translation, that naturally I only translate to my native language, English.
The PM responded (in French) that that was fine, but they felt it necessary to confirm the language combination because my French was so good.
When I told them (once again in machine translation) that I have no French and was relying on Google Translate, I received a one word reply (in French), which this time I did actually understand: merde! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 07:45
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
I don't reply simply because I wouldn't know what I might be replying to if I don't know the language at all. And then it goes straight to "File 13".
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