How serious are some job offers here?

[lostinisaan]

Hello and Sawasdee Khrap,

I'm just wondering why certain translation offers are always renewed and certain people are always seeking. Unbelievable.

Let's use our imagination and imagine there's an XXX company located in Ghana. They're looking for somebody who can translate some stuff from German into English or vice versa.

But to get this position, the job seeker has to do a " test translation" of exactly the same amount of pages what the future employee would have to do on daily basis.

So, just using your imagination, you could get hundreds of free translations, without paying them one baht, dollar Yen, or whatever currency you want.

It would be nice to read of some people who finally landed such a translator position, with a work permit, the right type of visa and a real salary.

Thanks a lot in advance for any useful answers.

[seedy]

Moved to Jobs, economy ...

Better chance of an answer

[ezzra]

Simple, if they give you say 4 pages to translate, translate on 2 and send it back, that should be enough

for them to know how skilled you're, if not, than you know it's a scam...

[onlycw]

Thanks for the warning. Doubt they ever paid anyone for translation work...

[bangmai]

Same goes for the "trial lessons" for online English teaching. You know how the Chinese hate to pay for intellectual property (they don't have any), so why not just keep a revolving door of "trials," then use those as curriculum. Ghana? more of a pay first candidate than the Chinese.

[lostinisaan]

Moved to Jobs, economy ...

Better chance of an answer

Thanks a lot for the move. I've done some translations for a nice company, one page was enough for them to understand the quality of it.

Easy to find out if somebody's using a program or the outstanding Google translator.

It can't be a serious offer if they want w a whole "test translation" of let's say a hotel review, or similar.

It would be nice to read/ hear/see if there are guys out there who did such translations and got paid. No comments regarding a work permit and visa....

There're too many scams out there and why should anybody make a rat rich and waste her/his time?

Edited November 15, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Brit_Doggie]

I have found any type of employment albeit not legal suffices but step on a few toes you done for, just keep em sweet as in the occasional gift of food/drinks etc.

Say no more I seen it done it got the tee-shirt but at the end of the day up to you.

[SOTIRIOS]

........this is a free-for-all........

....and we are here to be used and abused.....

....you know the answer instinctively......

[smotherb]

That's one of the oldest tricks in the book. I used to use it on the ladies of negotiable virtue in the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam some 50 years ago--"Surely, if you are good, I will give you anything you want, but first, you must show me how good you are." They were referred to as, "samples."

[Time Traveller]

If it worries you then this is what you do. Go to their office, do the translation there, let them see it, then take it with you. If they request a copy, then it's clear they just wanted a free translation.

[kuhske]

I like the suggestion of Time Traveler. I usually only take translation work from people I know or from people referred by people I know.

[ozyjon]

a revolving door of "trials"

Well said

Ghana = scam, same same

[lostinisaan]

a revolving door of "trials"

Well said

Ghana = scam, same same

Oh, aeeh, I have a special offer, only for TVF members over 18 years old. A place in a time machine that brings you 100 % back to a time before your most difficult decision, for example before you got married in your country of origin, or before you fell in love with a bar beer, etc..

The fee I take for one "passenger" is only $ 99 payable via PayPal.

Finally, I decided to sell my $ 33 million that my e-mail address has won last week for only $ 199.99 cent. All you need to do is to fly to Nigeria and claim your cash up in person from Mr. James Henry.

Ghana's air is one of the cleanest in the world. A great place to make a holiday on ice. .

[NeverSure]

Lost, I must say that your English is as good or better than many who are NES, and even better than some English teachers in Thailand. Surely there is a market for translation somewhere and probably on the net.

Consider that BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen all have manufacturing facilities in the US. They also have thousands of retail dealerships. I wonder who translates their correspondence and even things like policy manuals and owner manuals?

Surely there is a market for your skills on the German side considering that English is the international language of trade and that the US is the world's largest marketplace. That's not to mention the other NES countries in Europe and elsewhere. Canada comes quickly to mind also.

I would be surprised if you couldn't land some regular translating work that would pay a lot more than teaching in Isaan and perhaps also be a lot more relaxing.

Cheers.