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Poll: Do you think that a video greeting on a profile page is useful?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jun 27, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you think that a video greeting on a profile page is useful?".

This poll was originally submitted by Andriy Yasharov. View the poll results »



 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 15:04
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No Jun 27, 2019

A video? What an idea! To say what and in what language? I translate from English, French, Spanish and Italian into Portuguese. Would I need 4 language versions? I wonder what a video would say about me that my long career hasn’t said already. The last thing I want to do is to upset my customers and I’m sure they would be really annoyed.

ahartje
Ekrem Dundar
Zibow Retailleau
Giovana Zaltron
Priscila Wilke
Philip Lees
Lisa Schuchardt
 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 16:04
French to English
+ ...
No Jun 27, 2019

A profile page is something to be quickly scanned by prospective clients among dozens of other profiles, and it should offer the key information for instant perception. It takes much longer to watch a video than to read the same information in textual form. Accordingly, I consider video introductions a waste of my time, and would not want to work with the one who introduces himself this way. However, this is my personal opinion, your mileage may vary.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Giovana Zaltron
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
ahartje
Priscila Wilke
Philip Lees
Goumiri Abdennour
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 16:04
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Could be Jun 27, 2019

ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"Do you think that a video greeting on a profile page is useful?".


If the translator is quite photogenic and has a clear, pleasant voice, then I think it could help swing a hire decision in his/her favour. At this time, a video greeting is still a bit of a novelty, so if clients do click it, it is out of curiosity or boredom and not because they hope that the video will teach them something they can't read.

Is there an easy way to determine whether ProZ.com users have video greetings on their profile pages? This might help us see what these things really look like when actually used.


Ekrem Dundar
Bernhard Sulzer
 
Maria Silvestri
Maria Silvestri  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2010)
Italian to English
+ ...
Ain't nobody got time for that Jun 27, 2019

I don't have time to watch videos, and doing something with high production value for marketing purposes takes more time and effort than most people realize.

Ekrem Dundar
Giovana Zaltron
Mr.Q
Liena Vijupe
Cheryl Olson
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philip Lees
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:04
Member
English to French
I don't know Jun 27, 2019

But if this feature is seldom used, it can be a differentiator. Differenciation makes a difference.

I've seen myself on video captured on a job interview a long time ago, and although I'm breathtakingly handsome in non-video life, I've reached the climax of non-telegenic skills a long time ago.

But I suppose you can make a clip without your being the main character in the video, provided that you hide brands of fags and booze. Oh, and artsy stuff like l'Origine du monde
... See more
But if this feature is seldom used, it can be a differentiator. Differenciation makes a difference.

I've seen myself on video captured on a job interview a long time ago, and although I'm breathtakingly handsome in non-video life, I've reached the climax of non-telegenic skills a long time ago.

But I suppose you can make a clip without your being the main character in the video, provided that you hide brands of fags and booze. Oh, and artsy stuff like l'Origine du monde and other obscenities.
Here's an idea:
Panning from a CAT tool screen to the alarm clock showing 3:30am, close-up on pijjies' pattern. Cut. Shot on a smoking coffe cup with Hello Kittie logo. Fade-out/fade-in, dolly along intertwined cables to the motherboard, stardust effect with Edith Piaf's Parlez-moi d'amour background music. Cut. Voice introducing your services while zooming in on some mining machine (AC/DC's Let there be rock), pharmaceutical drugs (Thiéfaine's La fille du coupeur de joints), biology experimental setup (Brassens' Le gorille) or whetever your field is. Written outro displayed on screen: John Doe translations, the fingers that never fail to drive your business global.

Philippe
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Mr.Q
Elizabeth Tamblin
Julio Madrid
Kay Denney
Christine Andersen
Eoghan McMonagle
 
Zibow Retailleau
Zibow Retailleau  Identity Verified
Mauritius
Local time: 19:04
English to Chinese
+ ...
no Jun 27, 2019

It makes me think of an idiom, 画蛇添足, which means 'draw a snake and add feet to it'.

Goumiri Abdennour
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:04
German to English
Potentially useful for interpreters Jun 27, 2019

A pleasant voice and telegenic appearance might be a selling point for some buyers of interpretation skills. Voice quality is also important for voice-over work as well.
Otherwise a video greeting would be a waste of time in the translation market.


Elizabeth Tamblin
Liena Vijupe
Kay Denney
Agneta Pallinder
Katalin Horváth McClure
 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:04
French to English
@Philippe Jun 27, 2019

Brilliant - you have to make that video!

Liena Vijupe
Rachel Shaw
Josephine Cassar
Kay Denney
Christine Andersen
 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 16:04
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Not really Jun 27, 2019

For interpreters and voice-over artists it might serve to give them a project or two more than usual.

Translation is about skillfully converting one language into another. Therefore, a video has little to do with these skills.

A video greeting might be nice to have, a means to give the customer a first hand impression of the translator. But regardless of what the video might portray, a spoken word says little about the quality of a written (translated) word. And it take
... See more
For interpreters and voice-over artists it might serve to give them a project or two more than usual.

Translation is about skillfully converting one language into another. Therefore, a video has little to do with these skills.

A video greeting might be nice to have, a means to give the customer a first hand impression of the translator. But regardless of what the video might portray, a spoken word says little about the quality of a written (translated) word. And it takes time to produce one, having to do it on the day when one feels and looks his or her best.
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Elizabeth Tamblin
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Goumiri Abdennour
 
Erzsébet Czopyk
Erzsébet Czopyk  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 16:04
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Creativity Jun 27, 2019

No, i do not wish to write about Creativity but about a Hungarian-English translator under this name. Katalin Szilard made a fantastic audio greeting which inspired me to think about to create my own audio/video greeting. Maybe it would be helpful to see the human being behind the work. But before this, I need to go to the hairdresser and get a human look...

[Edited at 2019-06-27 16:50 GMT]


Kay Denney
 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:04
German to English
+ ...
No Jun 27, 2019

I cannot possibly see how that is useful for clients of a translator. you would also have to do the greeting in the source and target languages because some clients may not speak the target language at all. Others are rather good at reading it, but understanding the spoken word would be another matter.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
nweatherdon
nweatherdon
Canada
French to English
+ ...
Vulnerability Jun 27, 2019

It is a vulnerability from an information security perspective, due to increasingly proliferated and advanced psychological profiling threats making use of video data.

Maybe your voting intentions (or political/ideological sympathies and/or affiliations) or vulnerabilities can be guessed by use of such a greeting.


 
Katalin Szilárd
Katalin Szilárd  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 16:04
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Thank you Erzsi for naming me as an inspiration. :) Jun 27, 2019

Erzsébet Czopyk wrote:

No, i do not wish to write about Creativity but about a Hungarian-English translator under this name. Katalin Szilard made a fantastic audio greeting which inspired me to think about to create my own audio/video greeting. Maybe it would be helpful to see the human being behind the work. But before this, I need to go to the hairdresser and get a human look...

[Edited at 2019-06-27 16:50 GMT]


It was a loooooing time ago (about 10 years ago) when last time I used my nickname on proz.com.
If you see my nickname instead of my real name on proz, please contact me.
Also about that time I created that audio greeting you were referring to. A few years later I realized that the audio file was missing without me deleting it. Actually all my files were missing (they were not downloadable) that I uploaded to proz.com.
Finally last year I received my audio greeting file back from the staff, but the audio greeting service on my profile cannot be fixed by the site staff. The issue was sent to the development team to fix it. It is a pending support ticket since Aug 8, 2018.


 
Priscila Wilke
Priscila Wilke  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:04
English to Spanish
+ ...
No, really. Except.... Jun 27, 2019

If the linguist will need to participate or quote on a casting job, or a client that requires a visual reference of the talent.
But certainly, why? I worked before as a recruiter and per my experience, expecting the linguist to provide a video was not necessary. We don't have time to sit back and watch - the résumé is the written ptofessional profile.
Adding a headshot in a CV is no longer required either.
I would add a reel if I am in the video production but targeting t
... See more
If the linguist will need to participate or quote on a casting job, or a client that requires a visual reference of the talent.
But certainly, why? I worked before as a recruiter and per my experience, expecting the linguist to provide a video was not necessary. We don't have time to sit back and watch - the résumé is the written ptofessional profile.
Adding a headshot in a CV is no longer required either.
I would add a reel if I am in the video production but targeting to customers that are in real need of it. That would be another exception.
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Thayenga
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
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Poll: Do you think that a video greeting on a profile page is useful?






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