| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | An optional, alternative, ungraded list of translators Thread poster: Subhamay Ray (X)
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Subhamay Ray (X) 
Local time: 10:27
English to Bengali
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TOPIC STARTER
Kirill Semenov wrote: The idea to disregard KudoZ points at all is usually supported by people who owes few points if any. It has a psychological explanation: we all tend to think too much of ourselves and our skills, so when we feel we're losers we start to find some `reasonable' justifications of the fact. At proZ, the best justification is "If I had more time I would beat you all guys. I w ... See moreKirill Semenov wrote: The idea to disregard KudoZ points at all is usually supported by people who owes few points if any. It has a psychological explanation: we all tend to think too much of ourselves and our skills, so when we feel we're losers we start to find some `reasonable' justifications of the fact. At proZ, the best justification is "If I had more time I would beat you all guys. I wish I had the time!" For me, personally, the only answer is: "If your workload is so huge that you just has no time for kudoZ, why do you bother about KudoZ at all? You have your clients, enjoy & work!"
Thanks for the results of your survey. I agree with you too. My meagre 400 odd is nothing compared with someone else's 40000. So I have begun this thread.
A non-translator friend of mine who visited the Kudoz forum called it 'translators' Olympics'. That made me smile and now I know that only athlete-translators will survive here. Thank you.
[Edited at 2005-02-13 17:08] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alaa Zeineldine
Egypt
Local time: 06:57
Member (2002)
English to Arabic
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| Breaking a taboo | Feb 13, 2005 |
I was deliberate when I mentioned competition in my posting. I understood that it was almost taboo, but I was hoping that the posting would have been read and understood in its entirety. Not so:
Subhamay Ray wrote:
Alaa Zeineldine wrote: "Last but not least, competition motivates people, especially busy people. ...
I disagree with this completely. Translation is not exactly like running a race. If it is a race, it is not so easy here to decide a winner. Competition for a translator doesn't mean translating "I love you" and "one million" into Bengali a thousand times! Even for more competitive forums I've seen that often it is a matter of who can find a particular term searching all the available aids on or off-line and how quickly. That is not translation for me, I am sorry. Kudoz indicates nothing.
For one thing, I mentioned competition as only one element in KudoZ's success (yes it is successful, but it demands improvement). The focus of my posting was collaboration and help. Yet, to ignore the competitive factor is to ignore reality, while to understand competition as a race to answer the trivial questions first is to miss the point completely. The positive competitive aspect is the desire by some people to be counted among the best (not necessarily be at the top). Any serious person who browses through the answers will easily distinguish between the genuine from the not so genuine. While we all agree that the system should be improved so that the numbers correlate better with quality, it still is the case that most of those who have high KudoZ points are among the best translators around. There are anomalies in some language groups I agree, and there are things that need to be improved.
Just to make sure that I have addressed the issue, I spoke of competition not a race. I think without that element, some of the good translators whose educated answers we need will skip too many questions because they are too busy to answer. Someone please tell me that this is not reality.
Alaa
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3) The idea to disregard kudoZ points at all is usually supported by people who owes few points if any.
Sorry to say this, but the observation is little off the mark. As far as I know, Subhamay is at the top of the heap in his pair English> Bengali.
However, I would like to thank you for your support for the "Non-Kudoz points area."
[Edited at 2005-02-14 08:53]
[Edited at 2005-02-14 10:34]
| | | | Subhamay Ray (X)
Local time: 10:27
English to Bengali
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Looking into the future | Feb 15, 2005 |
Let us assume for a moment that Kudoz is a great way to indicate a translator's worth and I'll repeat again that it is not. If you look into the future and think about X, a new translator joining say in the French to English language group. He/she would find that the top man in the directory is sitting there with 100,000 points, the next is close behind with 99,900 points and so on. If you take it that both the person at the top and this promising translator have equally excellent skills in both... See more Let us assume for a moment that Kudoz is a great way to indicate a translator's worth and I'll repeat again that it is not. If you look into the future and think about X, a new translator joining say in the French to English language group. He/she would find that the top man in the directory is sitting there with 100,000 points, the next is close behind with 99,900 points and so on. If you take it that both the person at the top and this promising translator have equally excellent skills in both languages and are equally good translators with specialization in their respective fields and that they would both answer questions with equal skill, this new translator would remain forever much lower in the list for the only reason that he came to this site later. The newcomer won't have any means to reach even close to the top in the next ten years! In English to Bengali if someone notches up 1000 points and with one or two questions per week I can't see anyone overtaking him/her in the next twenty years!
Now if the site administration wants to negate this gap. they will have to try and find all sorts of additional features in this credit system ( we are already seeing many such proposals) to introduce a semblance of balance in the process making the system too complex and not necessarily improving it and the "fun" that is there now would be entirely lost in a war.
I know a question would be raised if Kudoz doesn't indicate the true worth of a translator, why am I simply not ignoring it. I would have if this site had adequate facilities to educate the clients. Would anybody oppose me if I say that there is a need to educate the clients about the process of translation, perhaps more than the translators? In fact, as far as Kudoz is concerned everything in this site including the directory, the projection of Kudoz leaders on the Home page and more detailed list of Kudoz leaders would make any uninformed client feel that Kudoz points indicate a lot about a translator.
Everyone here talks of cooperation and helping others and what they have found from Kudoz. My question is why should we have to think of gaining something for us while helping others? Isn't the process of helping and all that it entails -- to solve a problem, to find a word, to reach for an illusive idea not reward enough?
I had only proposed an optional and alternative list without disturbing the Kudoz frenzy in any way. I can't see why members would be opposed to this and in what way this disturbs the pro-Kudoz translators. If it does, wouldn't that be reason for some soul-searching?
I have already paid to remain here till 2010. Let me stay and watch in silence. Thanks to Tanbira for what she has said above. ▲ Collapse
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