I want to know how fast are your managers to view and approve/reject your translations.

My manager used to have a rate of one correction a day. Now, it raised to two corrections a day. That´s the average, because there were several days in which he didn´t see a single word.

Is that normal? I read someone having 40 approved translations in a week. With my manager, that would take at least 20 days.

I would like you to share your thoughts.

sometimes only 1 in a week......

but well i think they are busy

I want to be a manager

my manager approves me 15 translations a day

hey! who is your manager????

i want a manager like yours! lol

Yeah, tell us who is your manager!

My manager is X, The X Manager.

omg!
we need more managers! or something!

mine is taking more than 10 days for only 1 translation!!!


i am gonna die

I think that most translators have the same problem: their managers are too busy, or too lazy. Whatever, the result is the same: they take several days to approve (or reject) our translations.

Maybe that´s not a problem for them. Providing they´re too busy, and obtaining their income from every translation approved, they´re taking all the money they can. If they´re too lazy, probably they don´t need the money. Again, they haven´t got a problem, then.

But is definitely a problem for us, the translators. We´re limited to 15 programs unapproved, we can´t reserve more to translate till the manager approves or rejects them. Our income is, then, severely affected. If a translator can produce 15 translations a day, he can do at least 300 translation in a month. At an average of 3 dollars each, s/he would get U$S 900 in a month. A nice figure, indeed. But impossible at this pace. I will get 40 translations approved in a month. That´s U$S 120, with luck. I am losing U$S 780 in a month because of the delay in the approvals. It´s a lot of money to me.

It is a problem for FDM, too. With 200 translators, at a rate of 40 translations a day, they will only get 8000 translations in a month. In two months we will end the actual base, providing we will keep working at U$S 120 a month. But they´re going to update the database. What will happen then? Besides, the translators tend not to reserve the cheapest translations. That´s logical. If you´re limited to 15 program descriptions, you would choose the highest paid. So, the small translations remain undone.

I suggest to increase the number of managers, and to ask them for an average of 15 translations approved a day per translator. If s/he can´t do it, reassign the translators to another manager. That will benefit us all.

I think that most translators have the same problem: their managers are too busy, or too lazy. Whatever, the result is the same: they take several days to approve (or reject) our translations.

Maybe that´s not a problem for them. Providing they´re too busy, and obtaining their income from every translation approved, they´re taking all the money they can. If they´re too lazy, probably they don´t need the money. Again, they haven´t got a problem, then.

There seems to be a misunderstanding of what a manager's job is like. It's not just skimming through some text and pressing the approval button. You see, we all make mistakes; even with on-the-fly spell-checkers, a translation is likely to have even a small error. It is a manager's duty to read through a translation trying to catch such small errors, but it doesn't end there. Being native speaker of a language does not imply that a person can use that language adecuately (not to mention the fact that a person might not necessarily understand the subtleties a language not spoken natively). It is the manager's duty to check for everything from simple typos to the correct translation of complex culture-related expressions and terms related to technology. That equals time.

Besides, the translators tend not to reserve the cheapest translations. That´s logical. If you´re limited to 15 program descriptions, you would choose the highest paid. So, the small translations remain undone.

Well, it sounds logical, but if what a translator wants is to have her translations approved quickly, the best choice would be to choose the smaller program descriptions.

Why:

1)A small translation is easier for a manager to read, so it is approved quicker.

2) A small translation tends to be one that is non-technical. That means it is easier to translate simply because it is unlikely you will run into those ever so difficult technical terms, thus, into technical anglicisms (which everybody uses because we are all (not just managers) ever so flipping lazy). So a manager won't have to make as many corrections, thus it is approved quicker.

I suggest to increase the number of managers, and to ask them for an average of 15 translations approved a day per translator. If s/he can´t do it, reassign the translators to another manager.

It is my belief that FDM is trying to increase the number of managers, but they are doing it carefully. If manager numbers are to be suddenly increased to achieve some monthly quota, someone must beforehand compile a document with the basic rules of grammar for the Spanish language for us, along with a list of commonly-used anglicisms with their Spanish-language counterparts, lest we end up with managers with inadecuate Spanish. Heck, I have a two-volume English/Spanish-Spanish/English translator's dictionary to help me out and it is not enough.

That will benefit us all.

Benefit us how? By giving us all nice CRT-induced tans?

Asking a manager to approve 15 translations per day per translator is overkill. Imagine the average manager with, say, 10 translators attached. Let's say 5 of those people consistently send 15 translations for approval, with other sending less than that. Let's consider an average translation examination/correction time of around 5 minutes (there's a person in my group whose translations take me but 30 seconds to approve, but that's highly unusual).

After a little arithmetic we have that a manager would have to easily spend around 7 hours per day to comply with the excessive hypothetical requirement that approving 75 translations daily represents. Besides, all of us have a life. We have a family, we might have school or a 9 to 5 job, we need to work out, etc. Can you imagine if all 10 translators consistently sent 15 translations? It would mean staying glued to the flipping computer screen most of the day!

I mean, it would certainly be a great deal for all of us (moneywise), but I guarantee the quality of the translations would diminish greatly, especially if, in addition, managers who aren't technically fit for the job are added.

So what do we want, quality or quantity? If quantity is the answer, FDM might as well keep using babelfish or whatever they originally used. Somehow, I don't think they want that or we wouldn't be here discussing these matters.

There seems to be a misunderstanding of what a manager's job is like. It's not just skimming through some text and pressing the approval button. You see, we all make mistakes; even with on-the-fly spell-checkers, a translation is likely to have even a small error. It is a manager's duty to read through a translation trying to catch such small errors, but it doesn't end there. Being native speaker of a language does not imply that a person can use that language adecuately (not to mention the fact that a person might not necessarily understand the subtleties a language not spoken natively). It is the manager's duty to check for everything from simple typos to the correct translation of complex culture-related expressions and terms related to technology. That equals time.

A manager reviews a job previously done by us, the translators. That shouldn´t take so long, specially when managers are supposed to be more qualified than translators.

Asking a manager to approve 15 translations per day per translator is overkill. Imagine the average manager with, say, 10 translators attached. Let's say 5 of those people consistently send 15 translations for approval.
Let's consider an average translation examination/correction time of 5 minutes (there's a person in my group whose translations take me but 30 seconds to approve, but that's highly unusual).

That way the manager will only take the attached translators s/he can handle. How many time will you spend correcting? Two hours a day? Then accept only two translator attached. You will earn the same, the translator will earn much more, the job will be done quickly, there would be more managers... Everybody´s happy!

By the way, there is another user pledging you for his translations to be approved. And you´re reading this! ;-D