A Highly Scientific Method

We oftentimes talk and write about making business decisions, and about how they are not always easy -- quite the contrary. Your succcess in this industry, and in any other, depends (to a large extent) on the decisions you make. Much of this has to do with the clients you choose to do business with, and we will focus on that important aspect in this brief blog post.

Sometimes, it's all Greek. Athens, 2013.

As we all know, when you do business with someone you don't know and agree to invoice them after the project has been completed, you are essentially extending credit to them, which is a scary thing. We only work with direct clients, but if you work with agencies, you are in luck: the fabulous (small fee-based) database Payment Practices, run by our lovely colleage Ted Wozniak, lets you consult a database to see if your potential client has had a good payment history. This is an invaluable tool, but no similar tool exists for direct clients (there are a few tools, such as the Better Business Bureau, but they are usually limited to a certain geographic area). So how do you decide if your client is trustworthy? How do you decide if you should extend credit to your client? We have a few rules, but our main approach is highly scientific. Yes, it's called gut feeling. And yes, we have been wrong, but not that often.

• Since we get a lot of referral business, we usually know a little something about companies that approach us looking for price quotes. We feel quite comfortable extending credit to established companies, especially if they are in our geographic areas (Vegas and Vienna, Austria).
• For translations requested by private parties, we ask for payment ahead of time in full, as we would have no way of tracking down ootential non-payers. No one has ever objected to this, as it's quite common to pre-pay for some services, even some as small as drycleaning.
• For interpreting assignments for private parties (for instance, those who retain Judy to interpret for civil matters in the courts), we usually ask for a deposit. Depending on our gut feeling, that deposit ranges from 50%-100%. If someone refuses to pay a deposit, we respect that decision, but take it as a bad sign and decline the project.
• Of course, there are many, many gray areas, and we don't have all the answers and don't always make the right decisions. Sometimes you just have no idea if a client will pay or won't. However, we've been in business many years and have generally been quite successful with this approach.

What about you, dear colleague? Do you have any specific tips to share or general comments on this topic? We would love to hear them.

Just Do It: Price Discrimination

Yes, we collect bills from around the world. Photo by Judy.

It was a tough winter here in the US, and some companies made a handsome profit because of it. The revolutionary car-on-demand service Uber is one of them. In the middle of the Washington  and New York winter, Uber decided to charge customers three and four times the regular rate. This earned the company a lot of bad press, but the company’s CEO defended his pricing policies saying that he needed to use this pricing model to entice more drivers to come out and work, which was a good point. While we don’t agree with Uber’s decision to essentially price-gouge their customers, we do think all of us, as small business owners, should take advantage of price discrimination strategies. Essentially, price discrimination is a strategy that charges customers different prices for a product or service – and even though we love talking about economics, we promise we won’t get into the hard-core economics of it.

When we tell friends and colleagues that all our rates are public on our website, many are surprised. We go on to explain that we think price transparency is a good thing and that we want to save ourselves and our potential customers some time by telling them what to expect. Many colleagues do agree that having rates publically available is a good idea, but they are worried about having different price points for say, translation agencies and direct clients, but it’s perfectly fine to have different rates. In fact, almost every business has them. Let’s look at some other businesses to see how they handle price discrimination. Remember that we are not lawyers (although Judy is married to one), and that this is not legal advice, but rather our experienced-based opinion. Now, let's finally have a look at some examples:

• ·   Lawyers oftentimes offer lower rates for non-profits, local resident discounts, firefighters (or whichever group they support), etc. We recently hired a lawyer who told us he had a regular rate, a rate for people he considers “total jerks” (he used another term that’s not fit for this blog) and a rate for people he likes. He charged us the latter – at least as far as we know.
• ·   Restaurants charge you half the price for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc if you drink it at the bar during happy hour. However, if you order the same glass of wine a few feet away at an actual table, it will cost twice as much. Is it fair? Probably not. Is it legal? Absolutely. One of our favorite high-end Vegas steakhouses now offers a Sunday special, which gets you $60 steak for $30 on Sundays. We are happy to report that the steak is exactly the same and just as tasty!
•     Travel-related expenses can vary depending on age and even nationality. When we take a train from Salzburg to Vienna with our dad, his fare is half of ours. When Dagy enter Argentina on her Austrian passport, she doen't have to pay for a “visa.” However, if Judy uses her American passport, it’s $150. Flights to Europe are cheaper in March (low season) than July (high season). 
•     The price of recreational activities can vary widely. Judy recently wanted to play the same round of golf that she played with our dad in February for $65, but the rate had increased to $110 because the weather was nicer. Skiing is always cheaper on Wednesday than on Saturday. These businesses engage in price discrimination to stimulate demand during slower periods.
•      Many businesses offer a certain discount to customers who saw their ad on say, a billboard, a magazine or a flyer. They will tell you to bring in the flyer to get 10% off the final bill.  Others, such as gyms, have lower prices for women, although they have gotten into some legal trouble because of this practice, as it can be construed as gender discrimination. Our take: men should be happy to have more women at the gym (they usually do put the weights away), but we digress.

So, dear friends and colleagues: while we know this can be a controversial topic, we think you shouldn't be afraid of price discrimination. You get to set your own prices and you can offer different price points for different clients. You wouldn’t be the first business to do so. We would love to hear your thoughts on this!

35 Million Free Images

Thank you to Rose Newell, who tweeted about Getty Images' decision to make 35 million images available for free use for bloggers! This is good news for those of us who have blogs, but, as the BBC correctly points out, it essentially means that Getty Images, the world's largest photo agency, has given up, as it's just too challenging to patrol the internet for stolen images. 

We think it's essential to respect others' copyright, and on this blog, we have long used only purchased images, royalty-free images, or images we have taken ourselves with our very unsophisticated phones. We are delighted that we now have millions of professional images to choose from to make this blog even better.. We just created an account on Getty Images and downloaded the image you see on this page. The process was free and quick, and once you find the image you like, you click on "</>" (embed code) right underneath the image to copy and paste the image code into your blog or website. You will have to agree to the site's terms (=no commercial use), and you are on your way! Unfortunately, we could not align the image left without having to work in the code, so there are some drawbacks to sizing/positioning, but free images are great! Here's the BBC article about Getty Images' decision, and here is the link to get started.

Business Etiquette: Not Shaking Hands

A few months ago, we had the pleasure of attending a fancy networking event in Europe. It was lovely, and they had free food, too -- you can't beat a great networking event with free food, but we digress. Many politicians and representatives of the European Union were in attendance as well, and we were delighted to enjoy a nice evening with them. During the course of the evening, we ran into a somewhat uncomfortable situation and wanted to share it with all of you to get your input and ideas.

Networking in fancy places. The Wolseley in London.

We were walking up to the hotel's (very fancy) bathrooms, and a well-respected legislator came out of the bathroom. We had met him before and wanted to say hello. He clearly recognized and was happy to see us. In accordance with Central European tradition, we moved closer to shake his hand. However, he quickly pulled back his hand, apologizing profusely that they were still wet after washing them. Now, for those of you who have lived or done business in Central Europe, you know that the handshake is a key element of social and professional interaction, and refusing to shake hands (even it it's for a good reason)  makes all parties uncomfortable and starts the conversation off on the wrong foot, which is what happened in this case. We didn't quite know how to act, as hugging the legislator was not an option, nor was patting him on the shoulder. He clearly felt awkward, too, and kept on apologizing about his wet hands. We kept on thinking that he could have prevented this entire situation by simply drying his hands well before leaving the bathroom. This not-shaking-hands scenario has also happened to one of our lovely colleagues, who wanted to shake a professor's hand at an industry event, but the professor did not shake hands, alleging that she was sick and did not want to spread the germs. That's a good point, but it's probably best to stay home if you are truly sick.

How would you have handled this situation, dear colleagues? It might seem pretty minor, and it is, but it's one of those awkward moments that can be tough to handle professionally. We did not end up having the lengthy conversation with the legislator that we had planned on having, as it just felt all wrong -- amazing what a non-handshake can do. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Lack of Translation = Death

It's a sad day when our profession makes the homepage of CNN.com and the national news in every corner in America because of three deaths that could have been prevented if language access had been provided. The case of Deisy Garcia and her two young daughters is truly tragic, and it's incomprehensible that the New York Police Department cannot answer the question as to why previous complaints that she had filed in her native Spanish were never translated into English. No action was taken against her ex-husband, who is the suspect in the killings and was arrested as he was trying to flee to Mexico. Read the whole story here. 

Screenshot from CNN.com, February 20

To say that the system failed Deisy is an understatement, and this lack of action in a violent domestic abuse case is almost unfathomable in 2014, especially for a language as common as Spanish. There are plenty of court-certified Spanish interpreters and myriad top-notch translators in New York City (of all places). Courts and police departments across the country go to great lengths (or at least try) to assist non-English speakers, especially if they are the victims of crimes. Although Nevada is no poster child for language access, Judy has spent quite some time at family court (as a certified court interpreter), where she routinely translated abused women's statements into English. These statements would then be used as an official court record on which a temporary restraining order (TPO) against the perpetrator would be based. In essence, these translated documents are a critical link in the legal system that tries to protect both men and women from violent crimes within the family. This is standard procedure, and it is truly incomprehensible that Deisy's cries for help were unanswered because they were not in English. Let us take a moment to think of Deisy and her two young little daughters. After that, we might have to start looking for answers, as will the rest of the nation. Perhaps it's time for interpreters and translators to unite and demand change so cases like Deisy's never happen again.

So there we have it: translation can save lives, and highly qualified translators are readily available, but Deisy still died, allegedly at the hands of the very perpetrator she had already reported. Perhaps this is a wake-up call for all the public agencies around the country to whom language access is merely an inconvenience and not a necessity. Sometimes translation can mean the difference between life and death. It might be labeled as hyperbole, but it's not.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this serious and important topic, dear colleagues. What can we, as translators and interpreters, do to help prevent these tragic deaths? Can we put more pressure on public agencies? Lobby our state legislatures more than we are already doing?

Upcoming Conference: Stridonium in Cambridge

We recently heard about the upcoming Stridonium conference from our friend and colleague Riccardo Schiaffino, who featured this relatively new (well, it's been five years) private online community for professional translators and its upcoming conference on his blog, About Translation. Even though we will not be able to attend, we are happy to spread the word about this one-day conference, which sounds quite fantastic.

Ah, wrong Cambridge. Photo by Judy.

The conference will take place in gorgeous Cambridge (England, not US) on March 24. Have a look a the conference website here. For more information about this community for professional translators, please have a look at their main website.

Free: Practical Guide for Conference Interpreters

We are quite passionate about interpreting, and that includes teaching others. Dagy will start teaching consecutive interpreting (Spanish/German) at the University of Vienna in a few weeks, and Judy has been teaching an introductory course on interpreting at the University of California-San Diego Extension online for a few semesters. When we design our online and in-person classes, we constantly search for great resources for students that go beyond the standard (and truly excellent) textbooks for beginning interpreters. For beginning conference interpreters, AIIC, the International Association of Conference Interpreters, is a fantastic source of information. Membership is only open to the most experienced conference interpreters, but AIIC's website has a wealth of information that's free and available for everyone.

This fantastic free online guide includes the following:

1. Before the conference: From contact to contract
   1.1 Inquiries, options, and firm offers
   1.2 Asking the right questions
   1.3 Conflicting offers and availability management
   1.4 Recruiters and working conditions
   1.5 Signing a written contract
2. Preparing for the conference
   2.1 Information sources
   2.2 Glossary preparation
   2.3 Coordination with the organiser
   2.4 The pre-conference briefing
3. The conference
   3.1 Getting there and setting up
   3.2 Volume and microphone protocol
   3.3 Quality interpreting
   3.4 When you are not interpreting
   3.5 Relay interpreting
   3.6 Crisis management
   3.7 Contact with delegates
   3.8 Media interpreting
   3.9 Consecutive interpreting
   3.10 Recordings
   3.11 After the assignment
4. Other topics
   4.1 Professional ethics
   4.2 Stress and health issues
   4.3 Keep improving
   4.4 Training
   4.5 Research
   4.6 AIIC membership
5. Conclusion

On Doing Free Work

We frequently write about the importance of asking to get paid what you are worth and how essential it is to running a small business. After all, all small business owners in the languages industry have a very limited resource to sell (our time) and it is crucial to our (business) survival that we make enough to have a fulfilling career and life. Now, we are the first ones to give back to our profession and to donate our time to worthy charities and non-profits, especially to translation and interpreting associations. We have done so for many years and are very proud of the positive impact that work has. We recently even donated our time to a government agency, and even though we were quite torn about it, it's a great service to the community. However, we do not donate our time to for-profit businesses, nor do we quite understand why we should. Note: this is an article about services beyond translation.

Photo by Judy Jenner.

So today we'd like to address this concerning trend: the increasing amount of companies who approach us and other colleagues and who expect us to donate our time and insight to their bottom line. Essentially, we would do work for the customer who then financially benefits from it. We've gotten many requests like these throughout the years (which we usually delete immediately), but we've seen an increase in recent months. Here are some comments and thoughts on this very sensitive subject:

• We have worked very hard to get were we are, and our insight and expertise have value. Clearly the companies who ask us for advice recognize this. It's really quite simple: Just pay us for our work and we will share our insight. It's called consulting.
• 15 minutes. We recently received a request from a company that wanted to "pick our brain for 15 minutes" (it's never 15 minutes). In that time, the company's representative wanted us to basically explain the entire industry to her and hoped we could design her business plan since we were at it. We suggested that we send her a quote for consulting services, but not surprisingly, we never heard back. We don't get it. If we tried to start, say, a restaurant, we wouldn't go to some of the better-known restaurateurs and expect to be able to pick their brain for free. Have we, as linguists, conditioned others to think that our time and hard-earned insight have no value? That would be quite troubling, and it's food for thought indeed.
• You will get exposure! We usually have a good laugh when companies who are trying to get free work from us promise us exposure in return. As we mentioned, we have worked very hard to get where we are and we don't need exposure, as that doesn't pay our bills. We have plenty of paying clients, but in general, we want clients and not exposure. 
• Yes, we charge for our services, and that's how it should be. In our industry, it's (oddly) been quite common to not want to talk about money. Of course we charge for our services, as does every businessperson. But companies have now caught up to the fact that the m-word in our industry makes some feel uncomfortable, and have perhaps gotten some linguists to donate their services to they can then reap the financial benefits. Not cool. Yes, we charge for our services. Doesn't everyone?
• It's about all of us. It's really begun to bother us that so many linguists receive these "work for us for free!" offers, but the reason they keep on coming is because linguists keep on accepting those offers. Just don't do it and perhaps this trend will stop. The "delete" button is your friend!
• For the record, we wanted to point out that of course we also get approached by plenty of lovely companies who ask us to send them quotes for consulting services. The folks who want to take advantage are still relatively few and far between, but they leave a lasting negative impression.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this, dear colleagues!

Jobs: English->German Translator, European Central Bank

We recently heard about this English->German translation position at the prestigious European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. Many thanks to our colleague who shared it. We are posting the information here in case you are interested. The application deadline is February 11, 2014, so don't delay!

We oftentimes spread the word about job postings here on this blog, but please note that we do not have any additional information on this position nor do we have any connection to the European Central Bank. It's a pleasure to share this information with our colleagues, especially since in-house translation positions are relatively rare.

Here is a direct link to the posting. You can also go to the European Central Bank's main website, choose "job opportunities" and search for the translator posting, but that would take significantly longer. 

A True Gem: Translator Scammers Website

Scammers have been around for a long, long time, and it's nothing new that they have been targeting translators by using a variety of methods, including posing as clients and requesting your bank information only to wire you too much money and asking you to wire part of it back. Then, of course, you find out that the original money that had been sent to you was drawn on a closed account. This is a very well-documented scam and a disturbing one indeed. 

The second main scam revolves around stealing actual translators' information and trying to "sell" fictitious translation services to unsuspecting clients using the real translator's information and credentials, etc. We even heard from a translator colleague who received an e-mail from a scammer who was offering his translation services, and turns out he had attached our colleague's CV to the e-mail! The way that particular scam works is that "translators" request work from unsuspecting clients, ask for payment in advance, and either take off with the money and don't perform any work or deliver a Google translation, etc. And of course the real translator's information is being used and abused, which is quite terrible. One way to prevent scammers from stealing your CV is to always make it available in PDF format rather than Word or any other editable format.

You get the idea, right? Photo by Chris Floros.

Now, hundreds of blog posts and articles in every corner of the world have been written about the variety of ways that translators get ripped off by scammers. The American Translators Association has published detailed information about this important topic, which you can read here and here. However, we recently heard about a colleague who fell for one of the oldests scams (the overpayment scam). With every business transaction, you need to use your common sense and your business skills to get a feel for the potential customer. Issue a formal price quote and have the customer sign it. Don't let anyone rush you. Ask for pre-payment via PayPal (or other secure method) if you have any doubt that the person is a legitimate customer. Of course it's difficult to know if anything is a scam until after you get scammed, but translators are smart people, so at the danger of repeating what's already been said many times, here are some red flags:

• The potential client writes from a Gmail address, yet claims to be a professor or other distinguished person. We personally don't do business with folks who have free e-mail addresses, unless they want a birth certificate or similar document translated, in which case we ask for payment in advance.
• The "client" seems very eager to get started with the project and is quite pushy and even insists on providing payment ahead of time, as long as you give him/her your bank information. Now, for anyone who's been in the industry for more than a week, it should be surprising that a client is so eager to pay. And handing out your bank information to strangers is just a no-no: that's what PayPal (or similar services) are for. Of course, in Europe, bank transfers are very common, and you could protect yourself by waiting a week or two to see if they payment has indeed cleared. Of course, no real client would overpay you and ask you to wire money back, so you should be on high alert if that ever happens.
• Many times, the writer will claim that he or she is going to a conference in ________ and is giving a workshop, so that's why they need a translation of their original article (attached) into ______. Of course, the obvious question is: If the sender doesn't speak the language he/she wants the translation in, how will he/she present at the conference in a foreign language? In addition, if you take the first four lines of the attached article (be careful with opening attachments from unknown sources!), you quickly realize that the article is from Wikipedia or some other source. It's usually verbatim.
• These scammer messages are riddled with grammatical and spelling errors and the sender oftentimes resides in Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, etc. 

We don't want to sound unsympathetic, but any translator who gets scammed at this point perhaps did not do enough due diligence. Information about translator scams is widely available, and information is power. Add common sense and some business skills, and no translator should get scammed. 

Finally, one translator colleague, J. Roque Dias, a Portuguese translator, has gone to the trouble of putting together an entire website dedicated to this. Thank you so much, J. Roque! What a great service to the community. Please have a look at the very complete Translator Scammers website. J. Roque focuses only on the very disturbing scam trend of stealing real translators' information, and he's providing a tremendous public service here.