Alert
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008www.goihata.com
Days ago I received a notification from a reliable source informing that even though there are respectable translation agencies on the Net there are a few which are unfortunately only fronts intended to deceive Translators and steal their work, and then they resell it getting a 100% profit while the Translators do not get paid. I really don’t know how do they do it, but it is wiser not to get involved with these dark entities. The names of the so-called firms are: ANIRARKANA and IXARASAMA and they appear as if they were operating in France.
We have to be alert in order to avoid bad professional encounters and find out about the dubious “clients” who are on the prowl in our profession. We need to be cautious and establish a business relationship based in honor and trust. One could say that it would be better to cultivate the clients that we have rather than trying to get new ones on a regular basis but this is not feasible most of the time and actually opposes the very nature of our service which is helping out anyone who needs us; we are in the service sector and we have to deal with people. When we are available we are ready to accept new clients and not only those we already know. What to do then?
Before you accept a job please check the agency using, e.g., Hall of Fame and Shame at translatorscafe, BlueBoard at proz, Untrustworthy Translation Agencies at translationdirectory, among others. As a rule of thumb, it is quite risky to accept an assignment from an agency which does not have a website, uses a web based e-mail address or does not answer a phone provided as a contact number although there may be exceptions to this rule.
Paulina Torres de Witt
www.goihata.com