MSc degrees in translation
Thread poster: Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
German to English
+ ...
Apr 8, 2010

During my wait (that has now lasted four years) for a ProZ response to my suggestion to recognise MSc degrees in translation,
http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_suggestions/41195-allow_msc_as_a_possible_degree.html
which was supported by a number of other ProZ members, the name of the profile section has become "Translation education" but
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During my wait (that has now lasted four years) for a ProZ response to my suggestion to recognise MSc degrees in translation,
http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_suggestions/41195-allow_msc_as_a_possible_degree.html
which was supported by a number of other ProZ members, the name of the profile section has become "Translation education" but the restriction is still there: the only degrees in the list ("Highest translation-related degree you have earned:") are BA, MA, Ph.D.

According to this list:
http://www.lexicool.com/courses_uk.asp
there are four institutions in the UK that offer MSc degrees in translation.

To ProZ staff: this must be a very easy change to make. Is there a good reason for not doing it?

Oliver
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___jck___
___jck___  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
I agree, this should be changed Apr 8, 2010

Here in Scotland, the MA degree is awarded at undergraduate level with an MSc or MLitt being awarded at postgraduate level.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Scotland)

It does seem somewhat unfair for those of us who have studied at these universities and I would also be interested to know the reasons behind not making this simple modificati
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Here in Scotland, the MA degree is awarded at undergraduate level with an MSc or MLitt being awarded at postgraduate level.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Scotland)

It does seem somewhat unfair for those of us who have studied at these universities and I would also be interested to know the reasons behind not making this simple modification.

James
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Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
A similar request in UserVoice Apr 8, 2010

I have, for the first time, become aware of UserVoice and there is an analogous request there:
http://proz.uservoice.com/forums/37172-general/suggestions/482514-diploma-choice-to-translation-education?ref=comments
Oliver


 
Igor Popov
Igor Popov
Russian Federation
Local time: 07:48
English to Russian
+ ...
Not really... Apr 8, 2010

Dear Oliver,

With all my respect to you and your MSc degrees in translation, please believe me that there are plenty more fish in the sea. Translators from all over the world have been registered here at Proz. I believe most of them are esteemed and honoured translators having their national degrees of no less value. Following you proposal, Proz should recognize all official degrees in the world to be fair on other Proz members.
My grand father once said if you are able to pla
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Dear Oliver,

With all my respect to you and your MSc degrees in translation, please believe me that there are plenty more fish in the sea. Translators from all over the world have been registered here at Proz. I believe most of them are esteemed and honoured translators having their national degrees of no less value. Following you proposal, Proz should recognize all official degrees in the world to be fair on other Proz members.
My grand father once said if you are able to play violin just show how you can do it…

Best regards,
Igor Popov
Translator since 1984


[Edited at 2010-04-08 16:15 GMT]
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Steffen Walter
Steffen Walter  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:48
Member (2002)
English to German
+ ...
Just slightly beside the point Apr 8, 2010

Igor Popov wrote:
With all my respect to you and your MSc degrees in translation, please believe me that there are plenty more fish in the sea. Translators from all over the world have been registered here at Proz. I believe most of them are esteemed and honoured translators having their national degrees of no less value. Following you proposal, Proz should recognize all official degrees in the world to be fair on other Proz members.


Dear Igor,

I do believe that your comment is slightly beside Oliver's point. If I read him correctly, all he (IMHO reasonably) requested was to include the MSc in Translation as one additional degree option in the profile settings because it is relatively common. This being said, there are of course a large number of more or less equivalent degrees in many countries (such as my German "Diplom-Dolmetscher" degree, which is roughly equivalent to an MA, or MSc, depending on the system, in Interpretation). On a related note, ProZ.com had to start somewhere when specifying these degrees, i.e. to base the details on the Anglo-Saxon system of higher education first. You may always add an explanatory note stating that your national degree is roughly equivalent to one of those indicated in the profile by default.

Regards,
Steffen


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 06:48
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Possibility for adding free text Apr 9, 2010

The really simple answer would be to make it possible to override the drop-down menu and add free text if you click on Other.

It has annoyed me - and probably others - for years that there was no way of indicating a Postgraduate Diploma, because that is what I have. It is not the Dip. Trans., which a lot of others have, but A Danish diploma that exempted me from it.

Other sounds so vague...

The Postgrad. Diploma option is in the pipelin
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The really simple answer would be to make it possible to override the drop-down menu and add free text if you click on Other.

It has annoyed me - and probably others - for years that there was no way of indicating a Postgraduate Diploma, because that is what I have. It is not the Dip. Trans., which a lot of others have, but A Danish diploma that exempted me from it.

Other sounds so vague...

The Postgrad. Diploma option is in the pipeline:
http://proz.uservoice.com/forums/37172-general/suggestions/482514-diploma-choice-to-translation-education?ref=title

It is probably not possible to make an exhaustive list that covers all qualifications that are possible in theory, so a free text option should satisfy everyone.

There is also a suggestion that credentials should be validated, and coupled with this one it should be possible to ensure that people's claims to glory are credible.

I will draw staff attention to this suggestion too.
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Alejandro Cavalitto
Alejandro Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 01:48
Member (2008)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Implementing this suggestion is in our plans Apr 9, 2010

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion. I just wanted to note that this suggestion has also been made using the new "Ideas" feature and has it is in our plans to implement it. You can see it here.

Please see this forum thread for more information about this feature. Th
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Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion. I just wanted to note that this suggestion has also been made using the new "Ideas" feature and has it is in our plans to implement it. You can see it here.

Please see this forum thread for more information about this feature. The button's tag has been changed to "Ideas" since then.

Best regards,
Alejandro
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Igor Popov
Igor Popov
Russian Federation
Local time: 07:48
English to Russian
+ ...
To Steffen Walter Apr 9, 2010

Dear Steve,

I have been working as a freelance translator since 1984 and have all recognizable degrees in this country. However, I’ve always thought that my customers’ favorable feedback is the most valuable recognition.
That’s been the only implication of my comment.

As for Oliver's point I am all for it that the list might have included MSc and hundreds of other recognizable degrees in translation

Alles Gute und viel Glück!

Igor


 
NMR (X)
NMR (X)
France
Local time: 06:48
French to Dutch
+ ...
Am concerned too Apr 9, 2010

"Other" is too vague, as if it is not a real diploma, whereas mine (DESS) is in fact a MA, but it was called so before MA's were implemented. Therefore if people look for a person on an MA-level, I am excluded from the search list.

 
Steffen Walter
Steffen Walter  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 06:48
Member (2002)
English to German
+ ...
Well-said, Igor... Apr 9, 2010

Igor Popov wrote:
However, I’ve always thought that my customers’ favorable feedback is the most valuable recognition.
That’s been the only implication of my comment.


... and thank you for your clarification. I agree entirely - positive customer feedback is indeed what keeps us in business on an ongoing basis, more than anything else.

Viele Grüße

Steffen


 
Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
My conclusions (so far) Apr 9, 2010

Christine's idea of free text to specify the content of other seems the best idea so far, provided that this free text, not the word other will appear with Translation education in the member's profile. This would enable the other fish mentioned by Igor.

The point made by NMR about a search then not finding such a member seemed to me to be a show-sto
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Christine's idea of free text to specify the content of other seems the best idea so far, provided that this free text, not the word other will appear with Translation education in the member's profile. This would enable the other fish mentioned by Igor.

The point made by NMR about a search then not finding such a member seemed to me to be a show-stopper, but when I look at
http://www.proz.com/translator-directory/
I see that this cannot be specified in the search, so the show can continue after all. The verification of credentials is displayed elsewhere in the profile, so the difficulty of verification of such free-text degrees at is not an argument for retaining only BA, MA and Ph.D.
If free text is made possible, that would mean that it may not be possible to include this profile field in searches - the visitor wanting to search will not know what to enter unless the available choice is between none and anything else.
And finally (probably) another alternative: instead of free text for other, change the list from BA MA Ph.D to bachelor, master, doctorate. The member can specify exactly what degree it is in the About me section which is already free-text.

Oliver
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MSc degrees in translation






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