{"id":10009,"date":"2013-02-08T12:58:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T12:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musik.a-z-translation.com\/agencies\/"},"modified":"2020-01-03T11:34:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T11:34:07","slug":"agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nAgencies \u2013
\nfor many translators and interpreters, it almost seems to be a dirty word,
\nprobably because of the bad experiences they had with them.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nI know
\nthere are many different types of agencies out there, and so far I\u2019ve had the
\ngreat fortune to work with mostly those that are worth the name, not what I
\ncall \u201cre-bagers\u201d (\u201cUmt\u00fcter\u201d in German), meaning someone who simply passes a
\njob on to the translator or interpreter without adding any value, yet pocketing
\nmoney for it anyway.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nTrue, I\u2019ve
\nencountered some I only worked for once, mostly because of their payment
\npractices, but I put that down as a learning experience and moved on. All of
\nthe agencies I work with now are \u201ctrue\u201d agencies, doing what you would expect
\nfrom an agency: supplying glossaries, translation memories and reference
\nmaterial, answering questions, and acting as mediators between the end customer
\nand the translator, in addition to acquiring the customers, and of course,
\npaying acceptable prices.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nNaturally,
\nI have to do my part, too: I\u2019d rather ask too many questions than do something
\nwrong, inform the project managers of any and all problems, especially when
\nthey might affect the deadline, and of course answer e-mails in a timely and
\ncourteous manner.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nBecause the
\nmost important component in a successful business relationship (and not only in
\nthose) is without a doubt communication. Which has to go both ways, obviously!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI am always
\nhappy to find new agencies to work with \u2013 if the relationship is a mutually
\nagreeable one! Last week, I was approached by two different ones that both
\nasked me to do some interpreting work for them. <\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe first
\none called me, followed by an e-mail exchange containing the pertinent
\ninformation on them and the proposed job and the request to prepare a quote, the
\nreceipt of which was acknowledged. A few days later, I received the
\nconfirmation that the agency\u2019s quote to the customer (it involved a total of eight interpreters) was accepted and the job would take place, as well as an e-mail
\nwith the first batch of reference material. That is what it should be like,
\nespecially when dealing with a new agency: Both ends did their part, supplied
\nthe necessary information in writing, so that really not much could go wrong
\nanymore. (Except the usual, but that is just a chance you have to take with any
\nnew partner, business or otherwise.)<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe other
\nagency contacted me via e-mail on Thursday. The requirement was for an
\ninterpreter the following Monday at a place about 130km away. They asked for a quote, which I sent them within the hour, after having asked a few more
\nquestions and received answers from them, all via e-mail. I received the
\nconfirmation of receipt, which my e-mail program requests automatically, and
\nwaited. And waited. And waited.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nAfter I had
\nnot heard anything by noon on Friday, I wrote another e-mail asking whether my quote had met their approval or not, and whether they required my services
\non Monday \u2013 after all, I have to be able to plan my week, too.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nI received
\nthe confirmation that my e-mail had been received (and presumably read) \u2013AND
\nNOTHING MORE! Not a word from the agency at all! If I was too expensive for
\nthem (which is altogether possible, especially considering the distance I would
\nhave had to drive and charge for), the least they could have done was to tell
\nme so, especially after I wrote them again, asking for that information?! Is
\nthat too much to ask? I did them the courtesy to answer their request quickly,
\nparticularly since it was such short notice, why could they not do the same for
\nme? Besides being very discourteous, it is also extremely unprofessional. <\/span><\/div>\n
\nEven if
\nthey had not gotten back to me until several days later \u2013 who knows what may
\nhave happened: a power outage at the office, a computer failure, sudden illness
\n-, at least they could have let me know. True, there really is no excuse
\nnowadays to be so completely incommunicado, but I\u2019m willing to give people the
\nbenefit of the doubt. But they have not written or called, yet.<\/span><\/div>\n
\nNeedless to
\nsay, should they ever approach me again, I will require quite a bit of
\nassurance before I consider working for them!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat about
\nyour experiences with agencies? How do you handle the communication issue? I\u2019d
\nbe curious to read about it in the comments below.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agencies \u2013 for many translators and interpreters, it almost seems to be a dirty word, probably because of the bad experiences they had with them. I know there are many different types of agencies out there, and so far I\u2019ve had the great fortune to work with mostly those that are worth the name, not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[884,901,524,580,903,90,525,112,574,205,791,116,793,166,683,873],"class_list":["post-10009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unkategorisiert","tag-agencies","tag-bad-example","tag-business","tag-communication","tag-contact","tag-english","tag-freelancing","tag-interpretation","tag-interpreter","tag-interpreting","tag-practice","tag-professionalism","tag-translating","tag-translation","tag-translator","tag-work","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t