Xbench or LTB report for a Post-editing: a translator's or revisor's responsibility?
Thread poster: Dalila Anneo
Dalila Anneo
Dalila Anneo  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:46
English to Italian
+ ...
Jul 25, 2018

Hi guys,

I am working for a new translation agency doing some Post-editing. It is a localization job.
For the first time, I am asked to make a LTB or Xbench report of the file and to send them both when I finish.
This takes quite a lot of extra time, so I am wondering: shouldn't the job, in this case, be payed per hour and not per word?
And second question: shouldn't this be the revisor's task?
Maybe it is completely licit and I am just inexperienced in th
... See more
Hi guys,

I am working for a new translation agency doing some Post-editing. It is a localization job.
For the first time, I am asked to make a LTB or Xbench report of the file and to send them both when I finish.
This takes quite a lot of extra time, so I am wondering: shouldn't the job, in this case, be payed per hour and not per word?
And second question: shouldn't this be the revisor's task?
Maybe it is completely licit and I am just inexperienced in the field, but I wanted to be sure.
Thank you in advance for your answers!
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Anthony Teixeira
Anthony Teixeira
Japan
Local time: 22:46
Member (2011)
English to French
+ ...
Will this really go through a revisor? Jul 26, 2018

Different agencies have different policies. The good ones will just trust that you did your job. The stingy ones tend to also be the most demanding and ask you to deliver bilingual + target files, TMs, reports and whatnot.

In this case you're working on post-editing, that's a bad sign in itself. I wouldn't be surprised if your delivery didn't even go through a revisor.

[Edited at 2018-07-26 02:17 GMT]


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Dalila Jul 26, 2018

Dalila Anneo wrote:
I am working for a new translation agency doing some Post-editing.


When you say "post-editing", do you mean that you are asked to fix a machine translation, or do you mean that you are the person who checks the work that a human translator did?


 
Dalila Anneo
Dalila Anneo  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:46
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Answer to Samuel Jul 26, 2018

Hi Samuel,
I mean to fix a machine translation.


 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 14:46
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Dalila Jul 26, 2018

Dalila Anneo wrote:
I am asked to make a LTB or Xbench report of the file and to send them both when I finish.
1. Shouldn't the job, in this case, be payed per hour and not per word?
2. Shouldn't this be the revisor's task?


Unfortunately many clients that work with LTBs or Xbench reports simply assume that the translator knows that this report forms part of the job (and that tells you how much they think you should be earning!). Whether the client wants the translator (or post-editor, in this case) to do the Xbench report, depends on the client. One problem with such a report is that some clients typically want you to comment on each flag, and that is just silly (and should be paid with a high hourly rate).

If the translator himself creates the Xbench report, then you should fix the translation until the Xbench report contains only false positives. When you've reached that stage, you can generally just paste the phrase "false positive" in all cells of the last column (or even: simply tell the client in the e-mail that the flags are all false positives).

If the client generates the Xbench report and sends it to the translator, you should obviously fix any real errors. If you've fixed an error, add the word "fixed" next to it and highlight it (e.g. yellow). It should not be necessary to add "false positive" next to all false positive flags, though, but it can be an idea to mention this to the client in the e-mail.

If you know that a client is an Xbench type of guy, you can avoid many flags by simply adjusting the way you translate.

LTBs are more of a problem, but they typically only apply when there has been a proofreading. It would be extremely silly to do an LTB on a machine translation before the machine translation has been edited.

If a client asks me to generate an LTB, I politely refuse the job ("Unfortunately, I don't offer proofreading/editing that requires me to classify errors by severity and type"). If the LTB was done by another person, and the agency asks me to respond to it, then unfortunately there isn't much I can do -- the client considers responding to an error report as part of the translator's job. I will only rarely refuse to respond to an LTB (only if the list of errors are very long and are mostly preferential edits or even errors).

When responding to an LTB, you can either defend as many of your decisions as possible, or you can accept as many of the proofreader's preferences as possible. It all depends on whether you will lose face in the eyes of client if you accept the edits. The more edits you accept, the less risk you have that the LTB will be sent back and forth several times between you, your agency, the client, the other agency, and the other agency's translator. LTBs are a nice idea, but in practice they are a waste of time and value.


[Edited at 2018-07-26 10:00 GMT]


 


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Xbench or LTB report for a Post-editing: a translator's or revisor's responsibility?






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