Agency builds TMs with MTs

traductorchile wrote:
Editors (proofreaders) of the output of machine translation (MT) of an on-going large volume project for feeding their translation memory (TM).

traductorchile wrote:

I was once warned about mentioning an outsourcer in a forum, but I suppose I can mention the case of an eastern agency that very recently offered the following job for the pair English to Spanish (LA): ….Editors (proofreaders) of the output of machine translation (MT) of an on-going large volume project for feeding their translation memory (TM). Not only do they offer a ridiculous fee for the job, one requirement was to be a beginner or early-career linguist, so probably the quality of the product will follow suit with these factors.
In my view these kinds of practices reflect a high degree of negligence with their customers, something that violates Proz.com’s (Professional Guidelines) that many of us have endorsed.
On the other hand, if this is the kind of TM’s that these agencies use, the translator that works for them, in this case, and in the future, should consider that he can be “persuaded” to use a TM that instead of simplifying his work, most probably will make his work much more difficult (if he wants to deliver a good quality job) or he might come into disrepute delivering a mediocre product or not being able to meet the deadlines “imposed”.
Furthermore, I believe this kind of practice can build distrust towards the use of translation memories by translators, however cautious one might be in their usage.