Has anybody any idea how to calculate MTPE workload in Translation Error Rate (TER)?
Thread poster: Olena Kushnerenko
Olena Kushnerenko
Olena Kushnerenko  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 18:04
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
May 15, 2020

Hello, colleagues,
I have got a message via Proz.com from a potential client offering an MTPE project, where the final workload is calculated in Translation Error Rate (TER).
Tool: Online Memsource
The client asks me to quote my translation word rate, hourly rate and daily capacity.
So far I've quoted my translation word rates and hourly rates and workload on per thousand word basis.
Has anybody experience of working under similar offers?
I have no idea how to
... See more
Hello, colleagues,
I have got a message via Proz.com from a potential client offering an MTPE project, where the final workload is calculated in Translation Error Rate (TER).
Tool: Online Memsource
The client asks me to quote my translation word rate, hourly rate and daily capacity.
So far I've quoted my translation word rates and hourly rates and workload on per thousand word basis.
Has anybody experience of working under similar offers?
I have no idea how to calculate workload in TER.
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Emanuel von Imhoff
 
Tom Fennell
Tom Fennell
United States
Local time: 12:04
Russian to English
+ ...
Interesting - but proceed with care May 15, 2020

I would be interested to hear if Memsource calculates this.

I would be very wary of basing pricing only on errors corrected.

Even if an MT segment is perfect, you still need to be paid for the time it takes to validate it. I am interested to know what others think should be a "base rate" just for validating - somewhere between 10 and 30%.

And as for incorrect words it should be based on a percentage of a segment, not on pure words.

Changing 2-
... See more
I would be interested to hear if Memsource calculates this.

I would be very wary of basing pricing only on errors corrected.

Even if an MT segment is perfect, you still need to be paid for the time it takes to validate it. I am interested to know what others think should be a "base rate" just for validating - somewhere between 10 and 30%.

And as for incorrect words it should be based on a percentage of a segment, not on pure words.

Changing 2-3 words in a 200-word segment is much different from changing 2-3 words in a 10-word segment.

I am eager to hear if anyone is working on this basis.
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Hans Lenting
 
Thomas T. Frost
Thomas T. Frost  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:04
Danish to English
+ ...
Hmm May 15, 2020

One of my clients introduced that some years ago, but with the provision that if you clear an MT segment, Memsource resets the calculation so you're paid on the basis of the normal analysis. This effectively allows the translator to overrule the MTPE calculation.

I've never used their MTPE system, as I'm sceptical. Not only do you need to validate sometimes dubious MT, you may also be left doing the hard work (at the standard word rate) with research of the difficult parts while the
... See more
One of my clients introduced that some years ago, but with the provision that if you clear an MT segment, Memsource resets the calculation so you're paid on the basis of the normal analysis. This effectively allows the translator to overrule the MTPE calculation.

I've never used their MTPE system, as I'm sceptical. Not only do you need to validate sometimes dubious MT, you may also be left doing the hard work (at the standard word rate) with research of the difficult parts while the MT gets the easy parts right. And if you decide the MT isn't good enough and decide to start from scratch, you lose the time you spend on checking the MT. And you have no way of verifying that their calculation is accurate.

Another client has agreed 70% of the normal translation rate, and without deductions for matches. Until now they've only used it in one case where the end client just wanted to understand consumer survey replies and where the linguistic quality was unimportant. I'm okay with that.

Of course, you can give it a try and check if your effective hourly rate is satisfactory, as that’s what counts in the end.
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Hans Lenting
Neco3104
 


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Has anybody any idea how to calculate MTPE workload in Translation Error Rate (TER)?






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