Translator Lounge

For those who joined us at a later point, I decided to make previous emails and updates available on this page.

Find the following material here:

Introduction Email
Note: This email was sent mainly during March and beginning of April 2009 to members of ATA, Translation Directory and further Translators Communities:

Dear Translator,

For more than a decade Babylon Ltd. has been a leader in the online translation and dictionary industry. With more than 65 million unique visitors a year and a user base exceeding 50 million desktop installations, Babylon is a most dynamic and successful enterprise. Babylon/LingoZ is expanding its service suite to include an online human translation service.

We are currently building our database of freelance translators who are interested in translation jobs from the Babylon/LingoZ network. This is a good opportunity for experienced translators to establish a new and steady venue of income.

If you are interested in joining our team of translators, please fill in the application form at:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cGVsSGtZeDNWdUlsTmpxdHlkbnU2Q2c6MA..

As soon as we review your application, we will get back to you with further details such as service and payment terms.

Feel free to share this information with your colleagues.

With best regards,
Ursula Ron

Note: Be assured that the data collected in the application form will not be used for any purpose other than building our team of freelancers and will in no way be shared with third parties. We are contacting you because we found your resume in the American Translators Association´s Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services. We
____________________________________________________
Dr. Ursula Ron │ Translator Team Manager │ Babylon Ltd.
Phone: +972-3-5382-122 │ Fax: +972-3-5334080
www.babylon.com

Update 1 - March 17, 2009
Dear Translators,

I want to thank each and every one of you for your interest, for finding the time to complete the application form and for your trust in sharing your data with me. I am very pleased by the huge response and by the quality of the applications. I started contacting translators exactly a week ago and during this time I enjoyed both, those who sent emails with additional information, questions and suggestions and those you refrained from contacting me personally so I had enough time to keep the project on track.

Let’s start with the most basic issues:
What is this all about?
When starting a new project and giving it a name you sometimes take it for granted that everyone knows what you are talking. From your emails see that some might have wrong expectations. Sorry I had no intention to mislead anybody. The Online Human Translation Service we envision is website that allows customers to place their texts and project to be translated and translators that pick those jobs that suit into their daily workflow.
The third element is Babylon/LingoZ giving the infrastructure. (An existing service is e.g. http://www.click2translate.com/ by SDL)

What is LingoZ?
While Babylon sounds familiar, LingoZ might be complete new to you. LingoZ.com is one of the translation related website powered by Babylon. Letting it grow like a wild plant, we had a first try there to enable visitors to the site to find translators at the same. Working with a third party made it obvious to us that this need direct involvement from our site. We still call the project LingoZ as might use this domain to host the new system.

When will it happen?
We are working hard to have a first, limited test version online within three to four weeks and are aiming to have the official version ready no later than end of May.

So why are of sending out the application already now!?!
Without having a strong database of translators there will be no Human Translation Service by Babylon. We cannot do without; it is that simple. Both, contacting and screening, takes a lot of time. The potential I already see in your applications is an enormous motivation us and for me personally a mandate that I am ready to receive with the highest responsibility.

Is it only waiting time?
No, I think we can and have to use this time to exchange experience and suggestions. I am happy to receive your point of views on our plans, to hear about experiences you made with similar services. Give me your feedback, good or bad, doesn’t matter. I am here to learn, so ultimately I will be able to serve you best.

The PayPal issue
Many colleagues expressed their concerns as they are not able to open up a PayPal account in their countries of residence. Actually we are talking about 1/3 of the applications. We are currently working to solve this issue. Still I am happy to get more input as to alternatives that would work for you. Please send me short emails about that issue.

Rates, what’s about the rates!
Sorry to let you down on that question. We are still trying to figure out the most suitable rates, that will allow qualified translators to get a fair payment, that will allow us to offer competitive prices and that will make this enterprise profitable to Babylon. It might even be that we will use the time between trail version and official start of the service to fine tune the rates.

I am sure I forgot something, but that will wait for Update No.2.

Best regards,

Ursula
____________________________________________________
Dr. Ursula Ron │ Translator Team Manager │ Babylon Ltd.
Phone: +972-3-5382-122 │ Fax: +972-3-5334080
www.babylon.com

Update 2 - April 08, 2009
Dear Translators,

I allow myself to start with two preliminary notes.
1. Translators that filled in their application after Update 1 will find the previous mail copied at the end of this update.
2. I am terribly sorry for the delay. Please be assured that this only me and not the project that is late. Fact is that I am ill and torn between a heavy work load and the request of my physician to take things easy.

As said the project is developing fine. By next week we will get the system handed over by the developers. And after a few days of QA we will launch a Beta version on the Internet. This Beta version will serve us a “sandbox” to see shortcomings, to track the response of our clients and to define the right pricing for both translators and buyers. The final version is expected by the end of May – if everything turns out to our and YOUR satisfaction.

To keep the risks as low and effectiveness as high as possible, we decided to limit the Beta version to following language pairs: English <> Spanish, English <> French, English <>German, English <> Portuguese and English<> Italian. (Invitations to the translators chosen for the Beta version are due to be sent by next week.)
I am aware that this limitation comes as a big disappointment to many applicants. Please see this only as an interim. I will definitely keep all applications in my records, unless I am personally asked by an applicant to erase his/her data. Our aim was and still is to give an online service covering as many languages as possibly.

Your feedback to Update 1 was significant and extremely helpful. You are simply a fantastic group! I guess I had the pleasure to answer 95% of the mails I got; sorry for each single email that slipped through my attention or wasn’t detected in my spam folder. We received many good ideas on what can help you to deliver the best translations possible. (E.g. communication needs, timeframes, etc.)

The PayPal issue
This was by far the most mentioned issue in your emails. After carefully evaluating the alternatives mentioned by you, we added Moneybookers (www.moneybookers.com ) as a payment possibility. With those who have problems with both, PayPal and Moneybrookers, I will discuss on a personal level.

Rates
We decided to use the time of the Beta version to fine tune the rates. Open job together with the rate will be offered to the translators being part of the Beta version. Who sees the rate not sufficient simply will not accept the job. By this we will learn how to establish a good rate system reflecting the expectations of our team of freelance translators.

And BTW – and as this only went out to a small group of applicant so far and IS NOT CONNECTED to the human translation program: About a year ago I initiated the Babylon Outreach Program for Translators as a trust building initiative between Babylon and professional translators, which I felt needed ever since Babylon added a full text translation feature to its software. If you have a personal website or blog (that is mandatory) you may join this Outreach Program for free and you will be granted an annual license to get hand-on experience of our software. So whoever feels like making use of this opportunity is cordially welcome. Find further information at: http://www.babylon-blog.com/translator-outreach/ .

Please do not hesitate to write to me in case I can be of any assistance, but know that it might take me a while to answer.

Best regards,

Ursula
____________________________________________________
Dr. Ursula Ron │ Translator Team Manager │ Babylon Ltd.
Phone: +972-3-5382-122 │ Fax: +972-3-5334080
www.babylon.com