Need a cheap programmer/translator?

[Pete]

I was looking for offshore freelancers and found this site:
They have a lot of categories, including asian translation and copywriting.
They go for as low as 1$/h, in a bidding system that seem nice enough.

[Asiaplay]

Pete,

For European languages I think it is a little safer than Asian.

Sadly even translation agencies in China, are often using the computers for quick translation and being too lazy to correct the errors (namely fast through-put means more dollars - and there is always another customer if you are not happy attitude).

So when you use cheap quotes (make sure you can afford to either throw the work away or if you are lucky, have them rework the translation once they realise you can read what they have done).

I shouldn't really say it - but for English to Chinese translation for example I have still not found a translator in China who I think is really professional - including those who have graduated with masters in say Business from English speaking Universities in the West (as it is hard / seems impossible to find someone with really good native level English and Chinese... at the moment, but this will change) - I therefore get the high level company type translations done firstly in Hong Kong (and get Taiwanese to check them for Taiwan and Mainland Chinese for China - they are thereby changing just a couple of characters and in a sense translating from Chinese to Chinese).

Namely - you still need someone you can trust to check the translation, if you can not yourself.

But this also depends to a degree on what you are using the website for - namely if it is translation for a company on the web, level of translation is important (but if you just to increase content to get a website to some level of SE rankings for on-sale, then accruacy is less important).

It doesn't mean good translation has to be expensive (just that you need to know the real level of ability of the translator) - some of the best translations I have had done, were actually free from friends even.

Just general comments (which hope are helpful) - cheers, Asiaplay

[rhys]

Ditto ditto. In translation you usually get what you pay for. If you do go cheap, make sure you have a native language friend play quality control for you to evaluate what you are getting.

[bwhhisc]

I have bid jobs on getafreelancer.com and contracted for 1 job thru them. They have a rating system in place,
so look for companies that have a track record and have done the SAME type of work for others. Most important,
don't pay until anything they are done and you are satisfied.

[xxbossmanxx]

Rentacoder.com is where I am getting it done. RAC is a decent site, they do the best they can to protect everybody. They do more than coding, You can get translations, content writers, graphic artists etc.

You get what you pay for of course. I typically pay the mid range to higher bid prices avoiding the rock bottom people. I try my hardest to review the bidders and get a good one.

So far I have had complete success there with only 1 project not getting done and my money refunded.

[jacksonm]

Rentacoder.com is where I am getting it done. RAC is a decent site, they do the best they can to protect everybody. They do more than coding, You can get translations, content writers, graphic artists etc.

You get what you pay for of course. I typically pay the mid range to higher bid prices avoiding the rock bottom people. I try my hardest to review the bidders and get a good one.

So far I have had complete success there with only 1 project not getting done and my money refunded.

What sort of price ranges are you paying?

.

[xxbossmanxx]

200 dollars for one translation deal. This is for about 20 pages of text and 50 images with text in them. I get the guys who will spend messenger time with me so I can get it all done right there with them.

This site is hilarious, maybe the biggest IDN build in the world to date lol. I just keep getting deeper into it, so many loose ends. I'm addicted to it.

[jose]

I have been using RAC (RentaCoder) for almost 5 years now.

[mdw]

Pete,

I shouldn't really say it - but for English to Chinese translation for example I have still not found a translator in China who I think is really professional - including those who have graduated with masters in say Business from English speaking Universities in the West (as it is hard / seems impossible to find someone with really good native level English and Chinese... at the moment, but this will change) - I therefore get the high level company type translations done firstly in Hong Kong (and get Taiwanese to check them for Taiwan and Mainland Chinese for China - they are thereby changing just a couple of characters and in a sense translating from Chinese to Chinese).

Asia,

I think you're overstating the complexity a bit. I'm using a friend now who lives in Hong Kong. The secret is that she speaks English her whole life now, but at work uses only Chinese. She works in HK government office, so speak in Cantonese and write all documents in Mandarin. She did not go to western business school, and does not have "linguistics" degree but is smart and talented! Writing style may be too formal for hiphop sites, but that's OK for me.

Look for people like this; college degree + well traveled + extra time + motivated = successful translations. That's my theory.

[Asiaplay]

Mdw,

I think we actually agree Mdw :)

That was my point - in Hong Kong you can find some people who truly understand English enough to translate to Chinese.

However, one thing you need to be careful of is that a lot of these same people who have good English, unfortunately also have grammatically poor Chinese (i.e. their Chinese from a professional business sense is sub-standard - this is in part as written Chinese is not based on Cantonese).
This is a luck thing and luckily there are more than a few who have both skills.

My point on the degree isssue... was the possible problem with using Mainland China based translators (and that even if they have degrees which they used English to obtain) they do not have a native level of English generally (yet to find one who does, but sure some do exist... probably they are not working as translators though).
I was definitely not saying that someone needs a degree to translate - sorry if I didn't write that point clearly.

We are actually in agreement it seems, namely that having someone in HK help is a good idea (for English to Chinese translation).

Sounds like she is a really useful resource for you - well done :)

Cheers - Asiaplay

PS: main point is still, have a friend who can give you an honest opinion on the translation if you can not read it yourself... and seems you probably have this - which is great ! (hehe - yeah... writing trendy / hip hop is probably best done with a mix of English and Chinese... but damn is hard to get a professional balance doing this lol - I am considering doing it for the product descriptions for my HK & TW Chinese versions of my website... just deciding best balance so I do not upset SEs with mixed text)... interestingly enough, my Korean translator, who is a close friend also asked me... why I wanted 100% Korean text, as having some English would be better... so told her - do what you think is best and mix where it is more cool to do so (will be interesting to see what she does).