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The qualification/hybrid stage of the annual translation contest will be extended until September 26
Thread poster: Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 07:59
SITE STAFF
Sep 1, 2014

Dear members,

The qualification/hybrid stage of the annual translation contest will be extended, to allow a better chance for qualification rating across the record number of pairs in competition and entries that were received in this contest.

The new deadline for the hybrid stage is September 26th. The finals phase is set to begin on September 30th.

My apologies for the date change, and many thanks to everyone who has taken the time so far to
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Dear members,

The qualification/hybrid stage of the annual translation contest will be extended, to allow a better chance for qualification rating across the record number of pairs in competition and entries that were received in this contest.

The new deadline for the hybrid stage is September 26th. The finals phase is set to begin on September 30th.

My apologies for the date change, and many thanks to everyone who has taken the time so far to rate and provide feedback on entries.

Jared
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Michael Tang
Michael Tang
China
Local time: 18:59
English to Chinese
The reasons of extension Sep 1, 2014

Hi Jared ,


The timeline is extended again and again, which is confusing, would you please kindly advise the reasons of this extension?


 
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 07:59
SITE STAFF
TOPIC STARTER
To reach a ratio of entry rating that more clearly determines finalists Sep 1, 2014

Hi Michael,

Basically, in this instance, the level of entry rating is not what it should be in comparison to the number of entries. So the idea is to focus better on getting a level of entry rating that will more clearly determine finalists.

Jared


 
philgoddard
philgoddard
United States
German to English
+ ...
When I last looked Sep 1, 2014

in my language pairs, some entries had been rated by only one or two people, which is not going to give a very indicative result. Some had not been rated at all, which is a huge pity given that they'd taken the trouble to enter.

If you haven't tried rating a few entries, I do recommend it. It's very enjoyable.


 
Erik Freitag
Erik Freitag  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:59
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Annoying Sep 1, 2014

philgoddard wrote:

in my language pairs, some entries had been rated by only one or two people, which is not going to give a very indicative result.


I think you're confusing tagging/commenting and rating. AFAIK, you can't see how many people have rated an entry, or whether it has been rated at all. Only like/dislike tags are visible.

Anyway: While I understand that it doesn't make sense to enter the final phase if the entries haven't been rated by enough peers, I hope we're not going to experience the same situation as during the last contest, where the deadline was extended again and again. And again. And again.

May I suggest that the powers that be try to set one very generous deadline and adhere to it.

Or, as an alternative: Seeing that the repeated extension of deadlines is a recurring phenomenon, how's this:

1. Set a generous deadline AND a minimum number of votes for a given number of entries (this number need not be disclosed).
2. When the deadline is reached and the minimum number of votes has not been reached, extend the deadline (without giving a date) until enough votes have been cast.

That way, people won't be put off by deadlines extended three or four times. On the other hand, you can be sure that your vote will be counted as long as you submit it before the deadline date.


[Bearbeitet am 2014-09-01 17:09 GMT]


 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:59
French to English
Dilemma Sep 1, 2014

There are 84 entries in my language pair. I have neither the time nor the inclination to read and carefully rate every entry, and feel that it would be unfair just to rate a few of them randomly.

 
Jared Tabor
Jared Tabor
Local time: 07:59
SITE STAFF
TOPIC STARTER
You can rate as few or as many entries as you'd like Sep 1, 2014

Hi Elizabeth,

You can rate as many or as few entries as you would like, it won't spoil the results. The average rating level is used to select the top 3-7. The number of votes per entry evens out because the entries are shown in random order, and a big enough group is selected that the best entry is highly likely to be in there. This is why it is important to have a good ratio of raters.

When the pair is in finals voting, in contrast, is when those evaluating should rev
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Hi Elizabeth,

You can rate as many or as few entries as you would like, it won't spoil the results. The average rating level is used to select the top 3-7. The number of votes per entry evens out because the entries are shown in random order, and a big enough group is selected that the best entry is highly likely to be in there. This is why it is important to have a good ratio of raters.

When the pair is in finals voting, in contrast, is when those evaluating should review all of the entries (by then they have been reduced to 3-7 entries).

Jared
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Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:59
French to English
Thank you Jared Sep 1, 2014

I'll take another look.

 
James Peel
James Peel  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:59
Member (2013)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Future competition suggestion Sep 2, 2014

At the risk of offending a lot of people, I wonder if it might be a good idea in future to limit submissions to translations produced by people in their mother tongue? I rather fancy that many of us have been put off "grading" the submissions by the sheer volume of them - I certainly had before I read this thread and realised the need for us to crack on and do some grading if we want the deadline not to be extended further. When I did get down to it, I was amazed by the enormous number in my lan... See more
At the risk of offending a lot of people, I wonder if it might be a good idea in future to limit submissions to translations produced by people in their mother tongue? I rather fancy that many of us have been put off "grading" the submissions by the sheer volume of them - I certainly had before I read this thread and realised the need for us to crack on and do some grading if we want the deadline not to be extended further. When I did get down to it, I was amazed by the enormous number in my language pair clearly produced by non-native speakers which, with the best will in the world, should not be considered as potential finalists because they stand out as non-native speaker translations. This is not meant in any way as a criticism of those people's work - I am sure most of them are of a better standard than I would manage if I were to submit in my second or third language. It is merely a suggestion of how we might proceed to save time in the future - we would after all not generally take on translation jobs which were not into our native language, and as far as I can see, there are opportunities to submit into pretty much every language so nobody would be excluded.Collapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:59
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I really hope Sep 3, 2014

I really hope the people in charge of evaluating the results will consider the undue "disagrees", posted by other competitors above all. I have several disagrees on absolutely correct translations, suggesting synonyms instead, and others stating something in perfect English doesn't flow well or doesn't sound natural, without a suggested substitute translation.

Thankfully, many other people disagreed with the "disagrees".

How is that handled in the final decision?


 
Cecilia Civetta
Cecilia Civetta  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 11:59
Member (2003)
Italian to Spanish
+ ...
Agree! Sep 3, 2014

Mario Freitas wrote:

I really hope the people in charge of evaluating the results will consider the undue "disagrees", posted by other competitors above all.


This happens every time! Participants tend to fill their competitors' entries with plenty of "disagrees".
So if you get any "disagrees" that don't make any sense, you can be sure they come from a competitor!
On the other hand, some seem to have had their translations done by Google Translate, at least in my language pairs (seriously!). Can't understand what their purpose could be!


 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:59
French to English
Unfortunately Sep 3, 2014

After looking at the comments for the first time in ages, I am appalled by the nonsensical remarks by people who obviously have no understanding of the text.

I now regret participating in this contest. Unless there is a properly-appointed panel of judges, it is not a contest at all, in my opinion.

And I will not be rating other contestants' entries either.


 
Jennifer Byers
Jennifer Byers  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:59
Portuguese to English
Quality of agree/disagrees Sep 3, 2014

I agree with Mario, Cecilia, Elizabeth about the apparently random way in which people comment on the entries - especially in the "Dislike" option.

Often, a term that is used repeatedly by the majority of contestants will receive a "Dislike" on one entry, but not on other entries. In some language pairs there are so many entries that it's perhaps a lot to expect people to read every one, but this is where Mario's point about the judges checking the disagrees and agrees is important
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I agree with Mario, Cecilia, Elizabeth about the apparently random way in which people comment on the entries - especially in the "Dislike" option.

Often, a term that is used repeatedly by the majority of contestants will receive a "Dislike" on one entry, but not on other entries. In some language pairs there are so many entries that it's perhaps a lot to expect people to read every one, but this is where Mario's point about the judges checking the disagrees and agrees is important. Or, as Elizabeth says, a designated panel of judges needs to be put in place, rather than relying on peer opinions, many of which seem to be expressed by non-native speakers and make no sense at all.

I've seen a Forum comment from someone in the German/English group, saying how appalled he is at what appears to be plain and simple backstabbing in order to demote other people's translations. I would agree with that in the French/English section (not a pair I actually work in but I had a go at the competition anyway!). So it seems that good competitive spirit may be somewhat lacking and that if these contests are going to have any appeal going forwards, some changes need to be made on how they're judged.
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Alessandra Maugeri
Alessandra Maugeri  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:59
English to Italian
+ ...
The purpose? Sep 4, 2014

Cecilia Civetta wrote:
On the other hand, some seem to have had their translations done by Google Translate, at least in my language pairs (seriously!). Can't understand what their purpose could be!


Well, I guess it's the prize drawing among all contestants. The more entries you submit, the more chances you have of being drawn.


 
Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 11:59
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
@ Jennifer Sep 4, 2014

I made the same point about inconsistencies in another forum post: http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_translation_contests/273866-some_issues_with_how_grading_is_handled.html. I agree it is impossible to look and rate/like/dislike all 84 entries.

 
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The qualification/hybrid stage of the annual translation contest will be extended until September 26






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