MTPE madness
Thread poster: Elena Feriani
Elena Feriani
Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 13:03
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
Sep 20, 2020

A client of mine is introducing discounts on MTPE rates based on the number of edits a translator makes per 100 words of MT output. They already apply discounts for matches, and now they're adding this new discount type to "new words". Basically, in order to get paid in full, I need to edit more than 50% of the new words. 1 edit means adding/removing/moving a word or parts of words. But if you move 4 words in a row it counts as 1 edit!!

Now there's no way to know the final amount I
... See more
A client of mine is introducing discounts on MTPE rates based on the number of edits a translator makes per 100 words of MT output. They already apply discounts for matches, and now they're adding this new discount type to "new words". Basically, in order to get paid in full, I need to edit more than 50% of the new words. 1 edit means adding/removing/moving a word or parts of words. But if you move 4 words in a row it counts as 1 edit!!

Now there's no way to know the final amount I will get for a job unless I count my edits as I go...
Potentially, this could affect consistency and quality because some editors could decide to edit perfect sentences, just to get a better pay.
They announced this in the project's chat and I was the only one that complained about it. I hope someone else complained in private...
Have you ever come across anyone else that calculates the payout after the job is done? I have a big problem with surprise POs.
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philgoddard
Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL
 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:03
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Good for the client Sep 20, 2020

This MTPE craze has been going on for a while now. Apparently agencies (hardly ever end-clients) see this as an excuse to lower their oftentimes already low rates even more. They claim that the actual translation had been done by a machine. Therefore, the translator, rather the post-editor, only has to check it.

Aside from the (often discussed) fact that the price is determined by the service provider and not by the customer, there are only two ways to stop this craze. 1. don't acce
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This MTPE craze has been going on for a while now. Apparently agencies (hardly ever end-clients) see this as an excuse to lower their oftentimes already low rates even more. They claim that the actual translation had been done by a machine. Therefore, the translator, rather the post-editor, only has to check it.

Aside from the (often discussed) fact that the price is determined by the service provider and not by the customer, there are only two ways to stop this craze. 1. don't accept any MTPE jobs, and 2. ask the customer to do just one test MTPE and see how they will then feel about it (if they're honest and fair) and, even more so, about shameless rates and discounts. Again, only the service provider grants discounts.

P. S. Surprise POs, that is, surprise bags are for children, not for serious business people.
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Tina Vonhof (X)
 
Robert Bononno
Robert Bononno  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:03
French to English
+ ...
Or you could . . . Sep 20, 2020

Simply charge by the hour as I assume you do for all editing/revision projects.

Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
English to French
+ ...
   Sep 20, 2020

In MTPE, you are supposed to make only "necessary" edits (based on specific criteria). This helps gain time, which is reflected in lower total cost. Making precise and minimal edits takes skill too.

As such, it does not make any financial sense from a translator's viewpoint (or at least my viewpoint) to be paid based on the edits made, since the translator has all the incentives to make as many edits as possible, which in turn defeats the whole purpose of doing MTPE.

S
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In MTPE, you are supposed to make only "necessary" edits (based on specific criteria). This helps gain time, which is reflected in lower total cost. Making precise and minimal edits takes skill too.

As such, it does not make any financial sense from a translator's viewpoint (or at least my viewpoint) to be paid based on the edits made, since the translator has all the incentives to make as many edits as possible, which in turn defeats the whole purpose of doing MTPE.

Smells like a Memsource job to me…

I don't accept this line of work…
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Elena Feriani
Philip Lees
Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL
Oriana Bonan
ORSZAGH Technologies Ltd
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 13:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Elena Sep 20, 2020

Elena Feriani wrote:
A client of mine is introducing discounts on MTPE rates based on the number of edits a translator makes per 100 words of MT output.


I suspect they're just trying to be fair by not applying a global average discount for MTPE words.

The more usual method is to simply apply a single discounted per word rate to all MTPE segments, regardless of how long the translator spends on them, with the understanding that things will average out in the end.

That moving 4 words counts as one edit points to a deficiency in their text comparison software, and I would not be happy with it. Sometimes, I select words and move them, but sometimes it is easier to delete a word in one place and retype it in another.

I do not consider what they propose to be problematic per se, but it would depend on how much of a discount it would result in, and you'd only be able to know that after you've done a couple of jobs like this.


 
Elena Feriani
Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 13:03
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I should let them go Sep 20, 2020

@Robert, I don't charge by the hour and they don't seem to be willing to negotiate.

@Jean and @Thayenga, you are both right, I'd better stay away from MTPE jobs. I thought it was a good deal at almost my translation rate and with regular projects every other day. They are an end client with no agency and they're new to localisation. Probably they need to be educated.
I already told them in their group chat that I'm not interested in this new kind of job. They still have some r
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@Robert, I don't charge by the hour and they don't seem to be willing to negotiate.

@Jean and @Thayenga, you are both right, I'd better stay away from MTPE jobs. I thought it was a good deal at almost my translation rate and with regular projects every other day. They are an end client with no agency and they're new to localisation. Probably they need to be educated.
I already told them in their group chat that I'm not interested in this new kind of job. They still have some regular jobs as this is a trial period. If they implement this on all jobs, I will definitely let them go.
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Juchi Pratt
 
Elena Feriani
Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 13:03
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Hi Sam Sep 20, 2020

I get paid per source word and we didn't agree on any discounts for "new words" when I started (I only agreed on discounts for TM matches). So I think they should pay me the full rate per new word as agreed. I don't need to try their new system to know I would be losing money

[Edited at 2020-09-21 11:28 GMT]


 


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MTPE madness







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