"Why are you charging me for that?" - Part 1
Have you ever asked your localization vendor this question? Or, if you're a vendor, has any client ever asked it of you?
For a few clients, we manage large documentation projects, notably HTML Help and Robohelp localization. When the vendor translated 800 HTML pages for version 1.0 of the product, a particular client swallowed hard and paid for all non-matches, because it was the first time localizing the product.
By version 2.0, the Help had grown to 1400 pages. Many of the original 800 pages had no translatable changes, but Trados dutifully scooped up all of those words, dropped them into the "100%" or "95-99%" buckets, and the vendor charged us for them, even if at a greatly discounted rate.
"Why are you charging me for that?" I asked. I'll have more on this topic in an upcoming post, but for now:
If you're on the vendor-side, do you have a good answer for that question? If you're on the client-side, have you ever received an answer to that question that satisfied you?
For a few clients, we manage large documentation projects, notably HTML Help and Robohelp localization. When the vendor translated 800 HTML pages for version 1.0 of the product, a particular client swallowed hard and paid for all non-matches, because it was the first time localizing the product.
By version 2.0, the Help had grown to 1400 pages. Many of the original 800 pages had no translatable changes, but Trados dutifully scooped up all of those words, dropped them into the "100%" or "95-99%" buckets, and the vendor charged us for them, even if at a greatly discounted rate.
"Why are you charging me for that?" I asked. I'll have more on this topic in an upcoming post, but for now:
If you're on the vendor-side, do you have a good answer for that question? If you're on the client-side, have you ever received an answer to that question that satisfied you?
Labels: CHM localization, help localization, localization vendor, RoboHelp localization
posted by John White, Localization Guy at
08:46
4 Comments:
Working on the client-side, I've never received a credible answer, John. Pace Machiavelli and lotteries, we need to consider project management fees a tax on idiocy.
By
Dana I18N, at 09:44
Dana:
I had in mind the charge for words on pages that aren't changing. But as to the project management fee, a vendor has to pay for the project manager's salary somehow. If it's not a fee based on the value of the project, it has to be a few more pennies per word (which amounts to the same thing).
If your vendor-side project manager is doing right by you, it shouldn't feel like a tax on idiocy.
John
By
John White, Localization Guy, at 17:12
John, the issue with "project management" fees charged by vendors is that it's frequently nothing to do with project management. All to often it's for uploading or downloading files or co-ordinating their distribution. Why should this be paid for? Maybe the project management charge should include the time-effort cost of turning on the PC...
It's a tax on idiocy as there are technology solutions for most of the activities that fall under the "project management" charge. Consider the project management fees a form of vendor welfarism if you like...
For too long this "project management" charge has gone unchallenged by clients.
By
Dana Ii8n, at 02:38
Dana: It is true that Project Management includes several tasks often transparent to the client. Project Management means finding the right ressource to do the job, making sure that the translators have all the material they need to do a good job, it means managing all these holidays and time zone to make sure the translation is delivered on time. It also means to answer questions from translators (and trust me, sometimes there are a LOT of questions).
But yes, unless your vendor uses a TMS, Project Management also includes coordinating the distribution of files. Nothing is done for free in this world, isn't?
John: If the formating, the coding and the content of the files are exactly the same, the words should show up as 100% matches... unless the vendor applies a penalty (the client should be aware if they do so). If the client clearly indicates that he does not wish to review 100% matches, then I believe those should not be charged. But the client should be aware that there are risks for the quality of the translation (i.e. a translation could be ok in a context and incorrect in another).
By
La Gringa, at 11:33
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