INFOKIT FOR TRANSLATORS

THE TRANSLAVIC TEAM GIVES YOU A WARM WELCOME!

Contents

Contents ....................................................................................................................... 2

1. Welcome Letter ..................................................................................................... 3

2. About Translavic ....................................................................................................... 4

3. Plunet Guide ............................................................................................................. 5

4. Guidelines for translators, revisers and proofreaders ................................................. 7

4.1 Preparation .................................................................................................................. 7

4.2 Job performance .......................................................................................................... 7

4.2.1 TRANSLATION ....................................................................................................... 7

4.2.2 SELF-CHECK ........................................................................................................... 9

4.2.3 REVISION ............................................................................................................. 11

4.2.4 POST-EDITING ..................................................................................................... 14

4.2.5 PROOFREADING .................................................................................................. 16

4.3 Delivery ...................................................................................................................... 17

4.4 Quality control ........................................................................................................... 17

4.5 Handy websites and recommended tools for translators ......................................... 19

5. Job feedback ............................................................................................................20

5.1 How to enter job feedback in Plunet ......................................................................... 20

5.2 How to view the revised file(s) .................................................................................. 23

6. Invoicing ..................................................................................................................24

6.1 Example invoice ......................................................................................................... 26

6.2 Submitting an invoice through Plunet BusinessManager .......................................... 27

1. Welcome Letter

Dear Translator,

Thank you very much for accepting our collaboration terms and conditions and joining our team. I am convinced that your education and professional experience will be a great asset to our company.

We have prepared this infokit for you to present our company, show the way we work and make you aware of our procedures, which need to be followed to make our collaboration successful. We kindly ask you to familiarise yourself with this document before you start working on your first assignment and to take the information included in it into consideration. Any input or suggestions from you are always welcome.

In order to help us to process your documents accurately and efficiently, which is required to fulfil the requirements of the international ISO 17100 standard for translation services, we request the following action from you:

1. Please register to our workflow management system by using the following link: https://translavic.plunet.com

2. Log in to Plunet BusinessManager with credentials sent to you via email and complete your profile in accordance with the instructions provided in the blue boxes. You will be informed after your data is screened and approved by the project manager you are in touch with.

3. Please familiarize yourself with our infokit before you start working on your first project. Should you have any questions, please contact the project manager you are in touch with.

As soon as you receive an email with the confirmation that your profile is approved, you are on board. Thank you for your timely cooperation as regards completing the registration form and sending other supportive documents or information we may ask for during the registration process.

Please change your availability directly in Plunet under Home – Settings if you are not available during certain days or for a longer period of time and inform us if there are any changes in your contact details or in your CV.

If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know. Welcome aboard!

Jeroen Hesp

Managing Director

2. About Translavic

We firmly believe that if a start-up is to succeed and move forward, it has to be based on collaboration. In order to build strong and fruitful relations, we must optimise our partnership. We are pleased to meet you and to introduce you to Translavic’s company profile and our internal policies.

Translavic has been active in the translation business since 2004. From a company with a strong focus on Eastern European languages, Translavic developed into a trusted translation partner for all European languages. The two sites, in Poland and the Netherlands, house a team of enthusiastic and responsible professionals with a true passion for languages. Translavic’s headquarters in Rijssen focuses on Sales, Marketing and Finance, while the team in Wrocław takes care of translation coordination. In order to get to know more about our team members, please visit our website.

Currently Translavic is working with EU official institutions, non-governmental organisations, multinationals and communication agencies across Europe and America on a wide-ranging portfolio of projects. We offer a complete package of services, including translation, revision, proofreading, journalistic rewriting, copywriting, interpreting, software localization, language training, terminology management and translation consultancy.

We take particular pride in being able to provide translation services at the highest quality level. In November 2007 Translavic was the first Dutch translation agency to receive the quality certificate in accordance with the European standard EN 15038 for translation services (which covers the core translation process, project management, contractual framework and services). The certification signifies official approval of our quality control system, and confirms that our procedures and resources are suitable to ensure excellent quality translation and editing services. In October 2015 Translavic got certified for working in accordance with the successor of EN 15038, the international ISO 17100 standard. And in the autumn of 2019, it obtained the ISO 18587 certification for the post-editing of machine translation output.

We are keen to recruit skilled personnel to our freelance team and value their professionalism by appropriate and prompt payment of their services. Our key to lasting partnerships and trust is direct and open communication. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome. Your success is our success and we value your opinions. We are glad to welcome you to our team and hope for fruitful collaboration.

3. Plunet Guide

Plunet BusinessManager is a translation management system we use to streamline and facilitate our business processes. It allows us to work more efficiently and shift many time-consuming tasks to the system. Plunet is also dedicated to help external translators manage their projects faster and better. However, if you want to fully benefit from the system, you should remember a few important details.

You can access Plunet from here: https://translavic.plunet.com. The preferred browser is Mozilla Firefox. Plunet will work smoothly with other browsers as well (e.g. Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera), but if you experience any issues, your first step should be switching to Mozilla Firefox.

You will find detailed information on Browser Settings under the Info button in the top right-hand corner on Plunet. No matter which browser you use, you should remember to disable all other external pop-up blockers or add the Plunet address to the list of allowed sites. If something does not work properly, first investigate if any of your applications are causing the problem. For instance, many people have Google Toolbar installed, but not everyone realises there is a pop-up blocker included in it.

You can log in to the system with the details provided during your registration process. Please note that upon your first login you will be prompted to change your password under Home – Settings.

The most important section of Plunet is your dashboard – this is the very first screen you see after logging in. Here in the ‘Jobs’ section you can find all your current jobs. Basically, every job has a particular status. Most statuses change automatically, e.g. when you accept or deliver a job. The statuses you will see are:

• Requested (when a PM sends through a job and asks you to accept / reject it)

• Assigned – waiting (you are waiting for a translation to be finished, so you can start on revision)

• In progress (you have successfully accepted the job or it has been assigned to you in some other way)

• Delivered (you have delivered your job)

• Approved (your job has been approved by a PM)

• Overdue (you are late with your delivery)

You can also issue an invoice for the jobs that are ‘approved’ right here in the dashboard. The invoicing process is described in a separate chapter.

If you click on the job number within the job list (e.g. O-0894-TRA-002), you can access the job details section. Here you can find all essential information: delivery date, word count,

instructions. The ‘Source data’ section allows you to download the source file(s) (along with the project package, reference files, etc.). Just click the FileManager icon and pick the files you need one by one, or click the arrow next to the FileManager icon and choose the ZIP file option to get the whole package.

When the job is done, you should upload the files through the ‘Deliver data to server’ section under the Delivery tab: click the FileManager icon, select the file(s) and upload them. After uploading the files, you should go through the checklist (for revision jobs: you should also enter feedback, logging it in with the Close button) and then click on ‘Final / Partial delivery’ and the Save button. However, before pressing the ‘Final / Partial delivery’ button, it is advised to add any important project-related comments in the Note field. Do not forget to click ‘Final / Partial delivery’ at the end, otherwise your PM will not know the files are ready and the status will not change. This is especially important for the projects set up with the automatic workflow: only after the status is changed to ‘delivered’ will the reviser receive a message that the translation is ready to be processed.

One of the usual ways we send job requests is through the ‘first come, first served’ (FCFS) system. In such a case you will receive a job offer that you need to either accept or reject in Plunet. Please never just inform us about your availability via e-mail; if you want to claim a job, you have to click ‘accept’. Please also take a minute to click ‘reject’ if you are not available. While rejecting a job in Plunet, it is advisable to include a message proposing a more suitable deadline or explaining the reason of rejection.

Once you accept a job in Plunet, you will automatically be sent your Purchase Order via email message. In some exceptional cases, when a job is assigned to you by a PM manually (a reason might be that you cannot log in to Plunet yourself but you’ve informed your PM in another way about your willingness to take on a given job), the PM in charge of that project will send you your Purchase Order via email message manually.

Plunet is a powerful system that offers many possibilities – please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you want to know more or if something is not clear. Feedback on Plunet functionality would also be appreciated as we are continuously in touch with the software developers in order to keep its performance up to scratch so that all the parties involved are satisfied.

Useful tips:

• You should never use ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons when navigating through Plunet (you might be logged out).

• If you want to refresh the current view, just click the ‘save’ button (in the right bottom corner of the screen).

• To be able to upload multiple files, you can set the option ‘Multiple document upload’ in Home/Settings/Miscellaneous.

• Set HTML format in email settings.

4. Guidelines for translators, revisers and proofreaders

As we would like to support you with each and every task you will be working on, please familiarise yourself with the following guidelines and always make sure that you follow the instructions when working on an assignment. We reserve the right to reduce the value of a PO in the case of low-quality standards, ignored instructions or late deliveries.

You already know that Translavic works in accordance with the international ISO 17100 standard. Any translation service under this standard must include translation and revision as a minimum. We assign appropriate team members to work on each project, choosing translators and revisers on the basis of their professional experience and areas of expertise.

Please remember that you can count on the support of our PM team and do not hesitate to contact the PM in charge of a project if you have any questions concerning a job.

4.1 Preparation

Before accepting a job in Plunet, please carefully study the project details, instructions and provided materials – in the case of any inaccuracy or doubt, consult the PM.

It is possible to view the project files before accepting the job. However, the project package will be created automatically after the job acceptance.

4.2 Job performance

4.2.1 TRANSLATION

CAT tools

In most cases you will be asked to use the automatically prepared Trados Studio project package and deliver the return package back.

It is important that you do not include the clean target file(s) into the return package as it disrupts the automatic workflow in our system. Feel free though to discuss alternative options with the PM (before accepting a job) – we are open to finding solutions that are convenient for all parties when and if possible.

In case no CAT tool is requested, simply replace the source text with the target text in the same document. However, please bear in mind that using a CAT tool is always preferable when possible.

Instructions

Before starting a job, please make sure that all the instructions provided are clear and do not hesitate to contact the PM in case you need any clarification. Always check that you have followed all the instructions before delivery.

Translation memory

Please make sure you use the translation memory (TM) if provided. In general, it is required that the translation you work on is consistent with the provided TM. However, in case of jobs within the EU field, the EU TMs are not leading, and should be used as reference only.

If you feel there is a reason not to follow the TM, please contact the PM to consult.

Machine translation (MT) suggestions

Translavic embraces and follows the developments in translation technology and specifically in machine translation (MT) and post-editing (‘human-in-the-loop model’). We are aware that different CAT tools integrate MT solutions and that using the suggestions of MT plugins in your CAT tool can prove to be helpful during the translation process. However, we would like to stress that if we order a translation service from you, we expect to receive a translation on human quality level. If during our internal quality control we establish that you delivered an unpolished MT output without making sufficient efforts to bring it up to human quality standards, we reserve the right to send the work back to you for further editing or reduce your PO amount.

Please note that due to reasons of data privacy and confidentiality, you are not allowed to submit source texts to open free MT platforms such as Google Translate or DeepL Translator. These platforms save, process and reproduce source content data. Submitting (confidential) texts there that clients have entrusted us with and that may contain personal data is in breach of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Translavic’s General Terms and Conditions for Translation Services.

We have a few EU institutions among our (end) clients who explicitly forbid the use of machine translation. In case you are not allowed to use MT suggestions at all, it will be specified in the job instructions.

Please see below for further info on what’s expected from you if we request a post-editing job.

Research

It is highly important to do a good research prior to commencing translation. Get acquainted with the reference materials provided by the PM or any other reliable sources which could be found online in order to get a good grip of the topic and purpose of the text subject to translation. It is absolutely necessary to check the reference websites, if provided.

Should you lack information to produce a true and accurate translation even after a good research, please consult the PM.

Terminology

Throughout the text the terminology and vocabulary used should be consistent and in line with the reference material provided (in case of inconsistencies within the reference material, e.g. terminology differences between glossary and TM, please consult the PM about the priority of the reference material); also be consistent in the use of punctuation, decimal separators and enumerated lists.

Note for EU translators – please make sure that you:

• use the EU terminology and reference tools, i.e. the IATE (InterActive Terminology for Europe) terminology database for all EU institutions and bodies, EUR-Lex – an online repository of published EU legislation, Europa.eu – an EU portal containing a great deal of very useful information, Eurovoc – a multilingual thesaurus covering the fields in which the European Community is active;

• use terminology provided via the links contained within the source text;

• follow the rules for the target language presented in the Interinstitutional style guide.

Style

Sufficient attention should be paid to the clarity and register of the target text, to the target audience and to the purpose of the translation (refer to the How to write clearly guide available in multiple languages).

Please avoid literal translation. The translator has a challenging task to produce a well-written text suitable for the target audience without going too far from the source text. Especially in cases where the source text leaves much to be desired regarding its style, this challenge might require additional creativity. However, within this ‘limited freedom’ and with obstacles hidden in the source text, it must be aimed as a crucial component of good quality translation, to arrive at a target text which is fully independent and not reminiscent of the source text. The style of a translation, its coherence and syntax should fully reflect the style of the target language. Regardless of personal preference, a professional linguist should recognise the difference between a too literal translation and a translation which is fluid and pleasant to read. Please make sure you apply all your skills to reach the best style result.

4.2.2 SELF-CHECK

Formatting If you deliver target files, please make sure that formatting (font, paragraph, etc.) is exactly the same as in the source file. Always check a clean target file against a source file!

Linguistic accuracy

Before delivery, you should reread the translation in the clean file to make sure that it contains no syntactical, spelling, punctuation, typographical, grammatical, numerical or any other errors. Make sure though that any corrections you implement in the clean file are transferred to the bilingual file as well.

Spell check

ALWAYS use the spell check tool in Word and/or your CAT tool.

Quality check

Use the quality check tools in the CAT tool you work with (forgotten and empty translations, inconsistencies, punctuation, numbers, tags, etc. – in Trados Studio: tab Review -> Verify).

Xbench

Please use the freeware tool Apsic XBench, which allows you to check consistency within one file or between different translated files. You can download it here. If instructed, include the XBench report in your delivery.

Hyperlinks

If the source text includes hyperlinks, please follow the instructions provided by the PM concerning their localisation. In most cases hyperlinks should be localised. By localisation of hyperlinks it is meant that the core link should be replaced with the one that leads to your language version (if such is available), and also the link title should be translated into your language. For example, the following link is localised into Polish; you can see that not only is the title translated, but also the link refers to a different website: EN: Interinstitutional style guide PL: Międzyinstytucjonalny przewodnik redakcyjny If you are unsure how to localize hyperlinks in the target language versions, please see the short instructional video we have created.

Spaces

Please make sure there are no double spaces or spaces before full stops, commas and other punctuation marks, unless required by the rules of the target language. You can use the Find/Replace function in Word/Excel or the relevant option in Verification in CAT tools to do so.

Use of hard spaces

It is advisable to use a non-breaking space (also known as a hard space by pressing SHIFT+CTRL+Space) to prevent the end-of-line displacement of elements that would be awkward at the end of the line or at beginning of a new one:

- in expressions in which figures and abbreviations (or symbols) are separated by a space (e.g. 17 kg, AD 565, 2:50 pm);

- between the date number, month name and the year (e.g. 3 June 2016 or June 3);

- after the currency and the amount (e.g. EUR 11 billion); - after the number in a numbered address

(e.g. 123 Fake Street); - before Roman numerals at the end of phrases

(e.g. World War II and Pope Benedict XVI); - after prepositions that should be linked to the word they

precede in order not to leave the widows at the end of the line (e.g. the company, a car etc.);

- in other places where breaking across lines might be disruptive to the reader (5° 24′ 21.12″ N, Boeing 747).

File names

Please keep the name of the translated file the same as the source file and only add your language code following the samples below:

• Word/Excel/PowerPoint files: e.g. name_NL.docx

• bilingual SDLXLIFF file: name.doc.sdlxliff – please do not add language codes.

Do not change the name of the return package.

For other formats, please consult the PM.

Delivery comment

When you deliver your translation, it is advised to add any important project-related comments in the Note field (mistakes in the source files, useful reference materials you came across, etc.). These comments will be visible not only to the PM but also to the reviser (in the Comment field). Please keep in mind that they should be written in a professional and matter-of-fact manner.

4.2.3 REVISION

What is revision?

As a reviser, you should ensure that the translation is of high quality taking into account all the steps described above in the Translation chapter. All the reference materials must be checked and followed, proper research must be done, the provided TM must be used and terminology must be re-checked also during the revision stage.

The reviser should compare the translation with the source text and make sure that:

- the meaning of the source text is properly conveyed and the translation is suitable for the target audience;

- the translation does not contain any linguistic errors;

- all job instructions, reference materials and TM are followed;

- correct terminology is used consistently;

- you cannot see the source text through the translation, the target text is well-written and cannot be assessed as too literal;

- no translation is missing;

- formatting of the final file is identical to the formatting of the original document.

If you work with the project package, please use Track changes for revision and deliver the return package with visible changes together with the final clean file(s).

If you work with bilingual sdlxliff files, you would need to revise the bilingual files and deliver revised bilingual files with track changes together with the final clean files.

Please remember that all corrections should be necessary and justifiable and no preferential changes should be implemented. However, if you find the translation lacks fluency and is poorly written, you should do your best to improve the style.

Please be aware that as a reviser you are responsible for the final version of the translation and your corrections are not verified by the translator as a rule (only as exception).

In some cases, the workflow includes an additional step called Finalisation (FBK) which follows the translation and revision stages (Translation + Revision + Finalization). Its aim is to check the revised version with the translator. If the FBK stage is included in the project, the translator is requested in advance to be ready to finalise the file after revision (it is specified in the TRA job comments).

Access to translation

Revision job requests usually include the Start date which indicates when the translation will be ready and available in Plunet. As a rule (though not always, as it depends on when you accepted the revision job – before or after the translation was delivered), you will receive an automatically generated notification message once the translation is uploaded to Plunet. Please notify the PM immediately in case you cannot reach the translated files at the specified time. Please also immediately check to see if the package with the project

files is complete and in the expected format, and inform your PM without delay if this is not the case.

If the translator leaves a comment for the reviser, that comment is displayed in the Comment field (where instructions usually are) in that REV job. As a reviser, please always check the Comment field once the translation has been made available to you in Plunet to see if the translator left any remarks for you.

Estimated time

Unless otherwise agreed, we apply hourly rates for revision tasks, taking into account that on average 1 500 words can be revised in one hour. Depending on the complexity of the text and task, the PM will calculate the estimated time needed for revision. You can see the allocated time in the revision job request. Please try to stick to the estimated time. If you see that you will need considerably more time for the job due to the complexity of the text or substandard quality of the translation, please inform your PM immediately. While uploading the job in Plunet, please indicate the actual time spent on the job (in the Note field) if it differs from the estimated time. If the request and motivation are considered reasonable, your PM will adjust the time in your PO.

Track changes

If the file format allows, please always use the track changes function.

In most cases, you would need to deliver (1) the return package which includes bilingual files with visible changes and (2) the final clean files. Please make sure that the final files include no visible changes or comments and that the track changes function has been turned off.

If the track changes function was used, please always check your own work by browsing through the implemented changes (make sure you have not introduced errors, double spaces or spaces before full stops, commas or other punctuation marks, unless required by the target language). If while checking the final file, you introduce additional changes, please make sure to implement them in the file with visible changes as well.

File names

• Please keep the name of the target file the same as the source file and only add your language code following the samples below:

• Word/Excel/PowerPoint files with Track changes: e.g. name_NL_TRK.docx

• bilingual SDLXLIFF files: name.doc.sdlxliff - please do not add

language codes

• final clean files with accepted changes: name_NL.docx

Please do not change the name of the return package.

For other formats, please consult the PM.

Feedback

While uploading a job in Plunet, please do not forget to provide feedback on the translation in the Feedback field by rating and assessing the general quality of the translation as well as describing the nature of implemented changes (please see information on Job feedback in chapter 5 below).

Please do not forget to click on the Close button. Otherwise, the feedback won’t be logged in and you won’t be able to click on the Final delivery button.

Please also indicate the actual time spent on the job in the Note field in case it differs from the estimated time.

4.2.4 POST-EDITING

What is post-editing?

If you receive a request to do a post-editing job, it’s because you expressed your interest in this type of work and you probably have previous experience with it. Post-editing means the post-processing of machine-translated text to bring it to the quality level agreed between Translavic and the client. It’s key to closely follow the instructions prepared by the Translavic PM.

Tools

There are different types of machine translation (MT) systems on the market. Translavic will – in consultation with the client – select the best suitable MT engine for a specific project, depending on the language pair and domain.

You will be asked to work on the machine-translated content in a prescribed CAT tool (e.g. SDL Trados Studio, Memsource).

Process

You may be involved in tests to determine the MT output quality and the average post-editing speed in the preparation phase of the project.

Once the project details are agreed on, you will generally be expected to:

• read the MT output and evaluate whether a reformulation of the target language content is necessary;

• use the source language content as a reference in order to understand and, if necessary, correct the target language content;

• produce target language content either from existing elements in the MT output (as much as possible) or provide a new translation.

Unless otherwise agreed, Translavic performs full post-editing of the machine translation output. On this level of post-editing, post-editors focus on:

• ensuring that no information has been added or omitted;

• editing any inappropriate content;

• restructuring sentences in the case of incorrect or unclear meaning;

• producing grammatically, syntactically and semantically correct target language content;

• adhering to client and/or domain terminology;

• applying spelling, punctuation and hyphenation rules;

• ensuring that the style appropriate for the text type is used and that stylistic guidelines provided by the client are observed;

• applying formatting rules.

Automatic spell-check and verification in the prescribed CAT tool are obligatory.

ISO 18587 The above-outlined process is in line with the ISO 18587 standard for the post-editing of machine translation output. Translavic is certified in accordance with this standard.

Estimated time

Generally speaking, post-editing work will be calculated on an hourly basis. The PM will estimate the required post-editing time in advance. If you see that you will need considerably more time for the job due to the complexity of the text or substandard quality of the MT output, please inform your PM immediately.

4.2.5 PROOFREADING

What is proofreading?

You may also be requested to do proofreading work, which may either mean that you would need to perform a monolingual check of the translation or also compare the translation with the original source text in Word or PDF file for content and layout.

Please remember: unless otherwise specified, no stylistic changes can be introduced to the text at this stage, and your task is to eliminate any mistakes and to check if the layout of the translated document corresponds to the original.

Proofreading of Word documents

In the case of Word documents, please use Track changes and send the proofread file in two versions both with visible changes and as a final file with accepted changes. Please make sure that all introduced changes are tracked.

Proofreading of PDF files

In the case of PDF files all corrections should be inserted directly in the PDF file with the use of commenting tools in a clear manner and in English. It can be easily done in Adobe Acrobat Reader or by means of other freeware such as PDF-XChange Editor, where you can add comments in a quick and easy way using the Highlight Text Tool (mark the text which needs correction, double click on the marking and write a comment proposing correction).

General proofreading rules

Make sure that:

• all the content (text, photos, captions, photo credits, etc.) has been included (check against original file, if available) and if the text is all in the required language;

• the layout corresponds to the original layout if provided (table of contents, page numbers, colours, images, titles, font sizes);

• spaces between words are OK (no words are spaced out, no double spaces);

• there are no widows (the last line of a paragraph at the top of a page) and orphans (the first line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page);

• there are no spelling and grammar mistakes or syntactic errors;

• numbers, dates are the same;

• punctuation is correct (be especially careful with full stops at the end of each paragraph);

• the words have been cut correctly (e.g. no vulgar

connotations), if not, in comments suggest the correct possibilities (e.g. di-vi-ded);

• numbers are not separated from their measurement (e.g. in ‘100 km’ – ‘km’ cannot appear alone in the next line);

• links are correct (they lead to the target language page, if it exists).

File names

Before delivery, please make sure the files are named properly, which means that the names remain unchanged and that ‘TRK’ is added at the end of the file name (e.g. name_NL_TRK) in the case of files with Track changes.

4.3 Delivery

Please always respect the agreed deadline and if for some reason you cannot deliver the job on time, it is very important that you inform your PM as soon as possible.

The jobs should be delivered in Plunet where you also confirm in the check list that all requested instructions have been followed.

You may share any important information concerning the job with the reviser and PM by entering it in the Note field upon delivery.

4.4 Quality control

After revision, the Translavic project manager will perform a quality control check and may discuss the reviser’s comments with the initial translator or check any other issues related to the job with any of the project participants. In case we provide feedback on your translation or revision, please take it as constructive feedback and handle it professionally.

IMPORTANT: The best translations are the result of the very best teamwork between translators, revisers and project managers.

NOTE: Some Language Service Providers proudly claim on their websites that they collaborate with thousands of freelancers. Such LSP often deploy a bid-system, automatically assigning a translation job to the translator with the lowest rate. At Translavic, quality is more important than quantity. We see translators as the essential link in our translation projects. We prefer working with a limited group of skilled and experienced translators and aim at partnerships with the best linguists in Europe. With some of our freelancers we have been working on a daily basis already since Translavic’s inception. We value their loyalty, availability and expertise and we are aware of the importance of being a good and loyal client to them in turn. We pay attention to timely and fair payment of our translators’ services. We often work on regular jobs, divided in smaller batches. As we are a partner for most of our clients too, we are not charging them minimum fees for every single small volume job. Likewise, we often cannot afford paying minimum fees to our translators. Instead we try to ensure an equal and fair division of translation and revision jobs among our translators and we strive at alternating smaller with bigger volume jobs.

4.5 Handy websites and recommended tools for translators Here are some of the online information sources and tools that our translators find useful:

• Translation support site – language resources for translating and drafting (for all EU languages);

• IATE database – terminology used in various European institutions. It contains 8.1 million terms, about 600 000 abbreviations and 200 000 phrases in all 23 official EU languages, Latin and some other languages;

• Multilingual translation memory of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation – available in 24 languages and containing millions of translation units;

• EUR-Lex – a compendium of all EU legislation currently in force, in all official EU languages;

• Interinstitutional Style Guide by the Publications Office of the European Union – uniform stylistic rules and conventions which must be used by all the institutions, bodies and agencies of the European Union;

• Europa.eu – an EU portal containing a great deal of very useful information;

• Eurovoc – a multilingual thesaurus covering the fields in which the European Community is active;

• How to write clearly – a very practical guide drafted by the European Commission available in multiple language versions;

• Microsoft language portal – a one-stop site for international Microsoft terminology, glossaries and localization style guides in over 90 languages;

• PDF-XChange Viewer – a free PDF editor/reader that allows you to view and edit PDFs;

• XBench – a freeware tool that allows you to check (terminology) consistency within and between bilingual files and translation memories;

• ApSIC Comparator – a freeware tool that allows you to create side-by-side reports with all the changes made to a translation by a reviser, also for some bilingual formats;

• Linguee – online dictionary and search engine giving access to a large amount of bilingual, translated sentence pairs available on the web, among which EU Parliament protocols and EU laws (EUR-Lex). View different translations in context and decide which one suits best in your case. Available in different language pairs.

5. Job feedback

The Job feedback module allows revisers to evaluate translations directly in Plunet. Please find the overview of the module with the example of the filled in feedback below:

5.1 How to enter job feedback in Plunet

• Please go to the Feedback tab and evaluate the work of your predecessor using

four default criteria, namely Linguistic correctness, Appropriate terminology,

Style and Following instructions by adding stars to each of them separately.

After putting the cursor on a given criterion, a pop-up window will appear in which you can find questions that can help you to evaluate the given translation job. Please use it as a reference while evaluating the translation and writing a comment.

Linguistic correctness/accuracy Were there any spelling/grammar/punctuation mistakes or typos? Was the translation complete? Were there any mistranslations? Were numbers, proper names, trademarks and other non-translatables in order in the target text? Did the translation reflect the meaning of the source text? Was it accurate? Did the translator run the spell-checker and QA checker in Trados for consistency? Appropriate terminology Were the provided glossaries, terminology lists, reference material and checklists followed? Were the online references for EU translations followed (EUR-LEX, IATE, ISG)? Were terms and phrases consistent throughout the translation? Style Were the style and tone appropriate for this translation? Was the text written clearly for the target audience? Wasn’t the translation too literal? Did the translated text flow naturally? Following instructions Were the layout and formatting (bullet lists, bold font, hyperlinks) of the target clean file in line with the layout and formatting of the source file? Were all general and language-specific instructions for this project duly followed?

• Next please add stars to each criterion and press the Calculate button to sum

up the weighted rating.

If there are any specific comments you wish to share with the translator, please add them in the Comment field (in English). Please provide clear and linguistic-related remarks that will help to improve this translator’s work in the future. Press the Close button after you finish to save the feedback in Plunet. If you would like to edit the comment you entered, feel free to click on OK next to Open feedback to enable editing. Rating and Commenting The overall rating in percentage (weighted) will be distributed equally among the criteria. Each criterion comprises a maximum of 100% of the rating while each star equals 20%. The overall rating is the average of all rates. You can also leave a criterion unrated if you have no relevant information on that, and then that criterion will not be taken into account in the final calculation. Please use the following guidelines for the total rating:

100%-80% very good/good quality translation no mistakes were present or small improvements were implemented

80-60% average quality translation translation contained a few serious mistakes

60-40% low/very low quality translation numerous corrections of all kinds were necessary

below 40% unacceptable subject to retranslation

It is extremely important to enter a feedback comment in a professional and respectful manner for your fellow-translators. All remarks will be provided directly to the translator who has worked on a given job via Plunet. Please avoid personal remarks, just give clear examples or points to improve in the Comment field. If you want to share words of appreciation for the translator’s good work, never hesitate to do so as well ☺. Please note that project managers will also see all feedback information, but in the feedback Comment field you should enter only the information on the translation quality. Information you wish to pass to project managers only, such as time spent on revision etc., should be written in the field Note to be included with delivery and not in the feedback Comment field.

We would appreciate it if you could submit information that gives us a better overview of the translators’ skills and talents shown in a given job.

5.2 How to view the revised file(s)

Our project management team sends feedback on each translation after revision is complete. The feedback email will include the ratings and possible reviser’s comments. You can also view the revised files accessing them in the same way as you accessed the files for the job – in the Source data section. You can click on the File manager and download the files from the REV folder. In most cases the REV folder will include the return package and final file(s). You can obtain the revised sdlxliff file with track changes from the package by changing the package file extension to zip and unzipping it. Please view the reviser’s changes and take them into account for next jobs if relevant. In case you spot a mistake in the revised version, we would appreciate it if you could inform us immediately.

6. Invoicing

A collective invoice in Euros should be submitted at the end of each calendar month. It should include all the purchase orders (POs) related to the jobs completed and approved in the course of a given month. Below you can find a number of requirements that allow us to process invoices smoothly and effectively. The invoices that meet these requirements will be paid on the 15th day of the following month.

• Please submit only one collective invoice per month for approved jobs. The reason for this request is that we are obligated to print out each received invoice for accounting and tax purposes. Receiving only one invoice per month from our translators will allow us to optimize and streamline the invoicing process.

• Generally, we do not accept invoices for assignments older than 90 days (finished more than 90 days before the date of the invoice). This does not apply to the situation when the sum of the POs for such assignments does not exceed 100 euros. In that case you will have to use your own invoice template. Old jobs are automatically removed from Plunet due to security and privacy reasons.

• We close our books for each year on 28th February of the next year. After this date we cannot accept invoices for the jobs delivered in the previous year.

• Please note that we will not pay any costs charged by your bank.

Invoices should be submitted in one of the following ways:

• Through Plunet BusinessManager (preferred): https://translavic.plunet.com/.

• By e-mail sent to invoices@translavic.eu (you need to use your own invoice template). We do not confirm receipt.

IMPORTANT: All invoices must include the following information:

• The word ‘invoice’;

• The unique invoice sequence number;

• The date of the invoice;

• Your full name or the name of your company;

• Your contact details;

• Your VAT number, company registration number or financial identifier;

• Your bank account details (IBAN) and the name of the account holder.

• Translavic’s contact details: Translavic B.V., Kasteellaan 1, 7461 PV Rijssen, the Netherlands;

• Translavic’s VAT number: NL 813935398B01;

• Our PO number(s), e.g. O-1114-TRA-002;

• The subtotal and total invoice amount in euros;

• The VAT rate followed by a relevant statement. For instance, if you provide intra-community services and are exempted from VAT, you have to make the statement and use the official wording: ‘EXEMPT FROM VAT ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 196 OF DIRECTIVE 2006/112/EC OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU.’

6.1 Example invoice

INVOICE

Supplier: Bill to:

Ewa Posecka Witzandstrand 11 Palmbeach 1234 AB Verweghistan VAT no.: VH82763622

Translavic BV Kasteellaan 1

7461 PV Rijssen The Netherlands

VAT no.: NL813935398 B01

Payment method: bank transfer IBAN: NL47 RABO 0369 2303 88 SWIFT: RABONL2U Rabobank Nijverdal ACCOUNTHOLDER: Ewa Posecka For amounts smaller than EUR 100 pay with Moneybookers: ewap@translavic.eu

Invoice date: 31 May 2010 Payment due: 15 June 2010

INVOICE no.: 2010-0032

Subject: translation services

PO Date Quantity Unit Rate Subtotal

O-0571-TRA-001 1 May 2010 3850 words 0.04 154.00 €

O-0640-EDT-001 16 May 2010 4 hours 12.50 50.00 €

O-0751-TRA-001 17 May 2010 12383 words 0.04 495.32 €

O-0778-REV-001 29 May 2010 0,5 hours 12.50 6.25 €

Subtotal 705.57 €

VAT 0%* 0.0 €

Total to be paid 705.57 €

* EXEMPT FROM VAT ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 196 OF DIRECTIVE 2006/112/EC OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EU

6.2 Submitting an invoice through Plunet BusinessManager The best place to start is your dashboard, as you can find all your jobs there. You can issue an invoice only for the jobs with ‘Approved’ status. If you click the ‘Approved – Please create invoice’ link, you will get a complete list of approved jobs.

Now you can easily create an invoice by selecting jobs and clicking the ‘Create invoice for approved jobs’ button (you can find it at the very bottom of the job list). You may also want to use ‘Options > Select all’ to include all the jobs – this is very handy if there are many of them. Please bear in mind that in case your jobs are listed on many pages they won’t be included in the just-generated invoice unless your selection screen is set to more than 15 results per page.

You will now be transferred to the invoice interface, where you will find the invoice you have just created. The status of the invoice is initially set to 'Not submitted'. The ‘General’ section includes some basic information. Here you need to enter the unique invoice number in the relevant field. If you want to remove the jobs that are not supposed to be included in the invoice, you can do it in the ‘Edit invoice’ section below.

Please remember to print or save a copy of the invoice for your own records. As soon as you click ‘Submit for approval’, the invoice is sent to our accounting department and it disappears from your portal, so make sure to download a copy for your own administration first. You can do this by clicking the 'Print invoice' button.

Please check the data carefully. If you are ready, click the ‘Submit for approval’ button. Our accounting department will be automatically notified that there’s a new invoice to process. Please make sure that your invoice has been ‘Submitted for approval’. As long as it has the status ‘Not submitted’ it means our accounting department hasn’t received it yet and you will still need to submit it.

If you have any questions about payment or the invoicing process, please contact Ewa Posecka at invoices@translavic.eu.

IMPORTANT: You are registered in your country as a self-employed translator or translation agency and there is no employment contract with Translavic.

You have sole responsibility for managing your own administration. Please keep a detailed record and download or print the PO information from Plunet as soon as you have been assigned to a job.

You have sole responsibility for paying national insurance premiums and local taxes. It is your obligation to approach the competent tax authorities for information as to invoicing procedures, particularly as regards the precise details needed on invoices and compliance with other obligations under national law in the country in which you are resident or have your registered office.