I just got the worst ever review score and shocked that every single review comment does not make any sense and is wrong. The suggested translations were just the similar words with the exactly same meaning and some of them were way off considering the context. The thing is that I know and understand the contents and I've been translating for the same client for a while so I'm using the consistent terms and tone.
Of course, this is not my first time that I do not agree with the review comments, but after couple of experiences, I've realized that it is not worth my time and effort to fight back as you can't really talk to the actual reviewer or discuss the matter. However, this time, I felt insulted as a translator. This review was purely intented to disqualify and kick me out of Gengo, not to help me as a collegue or to improve the quality.
So, no matter how long I've been working for Gengo and how hard I try to be a good partner to Gengo, I can't build any true relationship with Gengo? I'm not building anything here? This is the limit of the platform?
I wonder how other translators deal with this issue. It is very frustrating.
7 comments
Hello Dani
I suggest you read this thread:
"Subjective matters and other ongoing issues with GoCheck reviewers"
You will feel less isolated and see that many of us feel frustrated by the LS's ivory tower... It is only by voicing our frustration and relentlessly suggesting improvements that we can expect some change.
Take the time to submit a "Re-review request". It is the only way for Gengo to track any recurring issues with a given reviewer..
All the best
Alex
Thank you for the comments, Alex. Now I regret I didn't request the Re-review for the previous nonsense review. I have even found some objective errors from the previous reviews but didn't bother as the form is not that simple and you don't get to talk the reviewer in person to point out the issues.
Isn't it weird that you get the help from the support right away but never get to communicate with the reviewers? It seems like the main purpose of the review is to disqualify you, not to make the quality better. More jobs you finish, more chances you receive nonsense reviews.
I've read many similar complaints from other feeds but nothing gets improved. :-(
Has anybody experienced the unreasonable review for the recent [client name removed due to privacy reasons -- Lara] translations? As this is the fashion text, the expressions and the terms are little different. I guess that's why so many translators have declined the jobs. On the other hand, I have a long history in the fashion industry so I have picked up so many terms and the preferred expressions. The rate for these jobs is low but I picked it up because of my expertise. And the funny thing is that these are the jobs I get the most nonsense reviews. The suggested translation is very subjective and sometimes way off the original text. For some terms, I don't think the reviewer understood them enough.
So, do I have to request the Re-review whenever this happens? Or simply do not pick up these jobs as no one wants to pick up? Many other translators are saying the reviewers are the competitors. Is it right? Then, isn't it the fight we can't win?
Welcome to the gig economy, dear. As a freelancer with a skill that's not particularly rare, you're completely expendable and replaceable. So why should the company care whether you feel treated fairly or want to keep working for them? Plenty of other people are able, willing and desperate enough to do this job, even for the fraction of a living wage that they're willing to pay for an hour's work. Especially now with mass unemployment. All that matters is customer satisfaction, and the customers expect perfection even if they're not willing to pay more than the ridiculously low Standard rate for it.
(Most of the jobs in the Standard section that I've come across shouldn't even get accepted as a Standard level job according to Gengo's own Quality Policy. And yet, no-one cares, since somebody is always willing to do it for just a few cents. Besides, Gengo assures them that both Standard and Pro level jobs have the exact same level of quality control - the translator must have a score over 7.0 for both - so what incentive do customers have to pick the more expensive option?)
So the large translator pool gets whittled down to those who are near-perfect in terms of skill, willing to spend all their time in front of the computer to wait for jobs to come in without getting paid for that time, but who at the same time are not in a position to get access to decently paid work (e.g. because they don't have formal qualifications as a translator) so they will accept any arbitrary judgment without making a fuss. If jobs start to get picked up too slowly (i.e. not within a few seconds) because too many old translators have given up in frustration, then Gengo can always do a social media campaign to find new translators too young to expect any better.
Take it or leave it. It's your choice to perform this work under the conditions offered, not Gengo's duty to treat you fairly. That's the point of using freelancers instead of hiring employees.
If you don't need the money, I suggest you skip the jobs that are causing difficulties for you. Maybe leave a comment as to why you refuse to pick them up anymore. Complaints from the customer regarding the longer pick-up times or lower quality translations from other translators who don't have your specialized knowledge are the only thing that will ever motivate Gengo to change anything. Though the customer probably won't notice the low quality in any case (judging by the awful English source texts I usually have to work with from Asian commercial customers, which presumably have first been translated from the original language by other Gengo translators) - in which case, well, you get what you're willing to pay for. If they wanted a truly professional translation, they wouldn't be using a service as cheap as Gengo.
Right on the point. Thank you for your sharp insight.
A similar incident happened to me. I had a very good score of 9.8 since March 2022 in my DE>EN language pair. However, in August, some LS gave me one 2.0 and soon my qualification was revoked. After that, I reappeared for the test, my test got rejected three times without any valid explanation. The only explanation I got when I raised a request to the support was: All tests are reviewed by professional translators who are native in the language, and our decision is final. Unfortunately, it contains a number of errors such as incorrect translations, incorrect use of capitals, general errors in syntax.
All the review are very vague and Gengo really needs to hire better language specialists who take their jobs seriously.
Hi @Niharika!
Thank you for responding to this thread. :)
About the testing process of Gengo, it is specified in the FAQs in test instructions that we do not release full test results to avoid the potential sharing of answers with other takers. It may be vague from your perspective, but we couldn't share all of the errors you had for your written test due to this. Also, disputes about the results are impossible as it is final. We understand that it is really frustrating, but this is our policy. You can read more in this article.
Regarding your revoked qualification, one low GoCheck score would not negatively impact your overall translator score, which might result in a revocation of qualification. You can read more here about how your translator score is calculated.
Language Specialists are chosen with careful evaluation (rigid process) by the Quality team, but it does not end there. They were closely monitored with their tasks and how they handled them.