Client wants to change the CAT Tool algorithm and not pay new words.. Thread poster: doctorpuertas
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Hi,
I'm going to put an example.
The client has these segments in their TM, as two different segments:
1. There won't be any more papers, postage or delays.
2. Important trade papers must be physically moved between manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors and other parties. This is a difficult and expensive process that can cause delays and disruption.
Yesterday, he sent me this segment:
... See more Hi,
I'm going to put an example.
The client has these segments in their TM, as two different segments:
1. There won't be any more papers, postage or delays.
2. Important trade papers must be physically moved between manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors and other parties. This is a difficult and expensive process that can cause delays and disruption.
Yesterday, he sent me this segment:
There is no longer any need for manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors or other parties to physically move important trade papers around due to paperwork, postage costs, delays, or other issues.
He is now being really pushy, asking me why I charge him the following words as new: delays, manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors. Individual words!
I explained to him that he should consider everything as a segment, and that the new segment he sent me is not a fuzzy match because it's too different from what I have in their TM. He doesn't want to understand and is asking me to adjust the TM settings, whatever this means. He thinks it's not "fair" to pay for words that are already translated, despite explaining to him that this is not how a TM works...
Has anyone ever been in this situation? I'm still reading my client's email and I'm shocked. I guess I'm not going to be paid today. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 15:26
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Lesson learnt | Mar 22, 2023 |
doctorpuertas wrote:
Has anyone ever been in this situation? I'm still reading my client's email and I'm shocked.
This sounds like a direct client. I think we as translators sometimes can forget that clients who don't regularly deal with translations may not understand what we mean by "per word". We mean that the price is calculated with the aid of a word count, but discounts for repeating or partially repeating text are calculated "per sentence". Yet I don't think most of us actually sit down with clients to explain this -- we just assume that since it's obvious to us, it would be obvious to the client. I hope you manage to convince the client in the end.
[Edited at 2023-03-22 14:36 GMT]
| | | | Andriy Yasharov
Ukraine
Local time: 16:26
Member (2008)
English to Russian
+ ...
It's quite understandable that you're feeling frustrated with your client's pushy behavior, but it's important to approach the situation professionally and calmly.
First, you can explain to the client that a translation memory (TM) is not just a collection of individual words but rather a database of segmented phrases or sentences. These segments are used to match with new text to provide consistent translations and save time and effort.
In this case, the new segment th... See more It's quite understandable that you're feeling frustrated with your client's pushy behavior, but it's important to approach the situation professionally and calmly.
First, you can explain to the client that a translation memory (TM) is not just a collection of individual words but rather a database of segmented phrases or sentences. These segments are used to match with new text to provide consistent translations and save time and effort.
In this case, the new segment the client provided is significantly different from the two segments in the TM. It includes additional information and reorders the content, resulting in a new and unique segment that cannot be matched with the existing segments in the TM. As a result, it should be treated as a new translation, not a fuzzy match.
You can also emphasize that TM settings cannot be adjusted to make a new segment match with existing segments if the content is significantly different. TM settings are only effective for minor variations in the source text, such as different word order or minor phrasing.
It's important to remain professional and explain the situation clearly to the client. If he still refuses to pay, you can consider sending him a polite email explaining that you cannot continue working with him if he is unwilling to pay for the work you've done.
However, this should be a last resort and only considered if all other attempts at resolving the issue have failed. ▲ Collapse
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doctorpuertas wrote:
Hi,
I'm going to put an example.
The client has these segments in their TM, as two different segments:
1. There won't be any more papers, postage or delays.
2. Important trade papers must be physically moved between manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors and other parties. This is a difficult and expensive process that can cause delays and disruption.
Yesterday, he sent me this segment:
There is no longer any need for manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors or other parties to physically move important trade papers around due to paperwork, postage costs, delays, or other issues.
He is now being really pushy, asking me why I charge him the following words as new: delays, manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors. Individual words!
I explained to him that he should consider everything as a segment, and that the new segment he sent me is not a fuzzy match because it's too different from what I have in their TM. He doesn't want to understand and is asking me to adjust the TM settings, whatever this means. He thinks it's not "fair" to pay for words that are already translated, despite explaining to him that this is not how a TM works...
Has anyone ever been in this situation? I'm still reading my client's email and I'm shocked. I guess I'm not going to be paid today.
So, if you keep working for this client, eventually all your work will be for free? Articles, recurring verbs (must, be...) etc will have also been translated before...
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| We can laugh but... | Mar 23, 2023 |
... some of the "matches" from CAT tools are not far off that these days.
Some of the same words, albeit in a different order? Let's call it an 80% match.
| | | | | Documentation | Mar 23, 2023 |
doctorpuertas wrote:
Hi,
I'm going to put an example.
The client has these segments in their TM, as two different segments:
1. There won't be any more papers, postage or delays.
2. Important trade papers must be physically moved between manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors and other parties. This is a difficult and expensive process that can cause delays and disruption.
Yesterday, he sent me this segment:
There is no longer any need for manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors or other parties to physically move important trade papers around due to paperwork, postage costs, delays, or other issues.
He is now being really pushy, asking me why I charge him the following words as new: delays, manufacturers, freight agents, financial institutions distributors. Individual words!
I explained to him that he should consider everything as a segment, and that the new segment he sent me is not a fuzzy match because it's too different from what I have in their TM. He doesn't want to understand and is asking me to adjust the TM settings, whatever this means. He thinks it's not "fair" to pay for words that are already translated, despite explaining to him that this is not how a TM works...
Has anyone ever been in this situation? I'm still reading my client's email and I'm shocked. I guess I'm not going to be paid today.
I would probably send him some documents from my CAT provider about the calculation of fuzzies and point to the fact that we are talking about an industry standard.
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