- \n
- The majority of repliers (67.5%) found out about TWB through ProZ.com.<\/li>\n
- Word of mouth was the second choice (9.6%) followed by the TWB webpage (7.8%).<\/li>\n
- Then came social media (6.9%), industry event\/association\/magazine (3.2%) and web searches (2.5%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"twbsurvey1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/twbnewsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twbsurvey1-240x146.png?resize=240%2C146\")
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Question 2: How did you become a translator without borders?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- 43.8% of respondents were accepted when their sample translation was approved.<\/li>\n
- 38.5% were fast-tracked because they were ProZ.com certified PRO members.<\/li>\n
- The third source of volunteers (14.1%) corresponds to jobs and direct requests posted in ProZ.com.<\/li>\n
- The remaining translators were fast-tracked because they were ATA certified (2.0%) or were recommended by a trusted outsourcer (1.6%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"twbsurvey2\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/twbnewsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twbsurvey2-240x167.png?resize=269%2C211\")
<\/a><\/p>\nQuestion 3: How long did your application take to be processed?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- For 43.8% of respondents the applications were processed in less than a week.<\/li>\n
- This delay was one to two weeks for 24.4% of respondents.<\/li>\n
- It took 3 to 4 weeks for 16.6% of the replies.<\/li>\n
- 6.4% of replies reported a processing time of 5 to 8 weeks, while 8.8% indicated a delay longer than 8 weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"twbsurvey3\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/twbnewsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twbsurvey3-240x135.png?resize=240%2C135\")
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Question 4: How long have you been with TWB?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- About half of respondents (50.6%) reported more than 12 months with TWB.<\/li>\n
- About half of the remaining respondents (23.4%) reported 7 to 12 months.<\/li>\n
- 16.6% had been with TWB for\u00a03 to 6 months.<\/li>\n
- 5.1% answered 1 to 2 months, while 4.4% reported less than a month with TWB.<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Question 5: What is the main factor that motivates you to accept a TWB assignment?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- The top reason reported was availability (58.9%).<\/li>\n
- Next came the organization asking for help (13.0%) and the impact of the project\u00a0 (13.9%).<\/li>\n
- The subject of the translation\u00a0 came next with 10.9% of votes.<\/li>\n
- Finally came a generous deadline (0.5%), the format of the files (0.2%) and a combination of the above factors\u00a0 (2.6%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Question 6: How many assignments have you completed for Translators without Borders?\u00a0 <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
The picture below displays the answers received:<\/p>\n
- \n
- None so far (16.1%)<\/li>\n
- One or two (26.4%)<\/li>\n
- Three to five ( 21.8%)<\/li>\n
- Six to ten (16.1%)<\/li>\n
- More than 10 (19.7%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"twbsurvey4\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/twbnewsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twbsurvey4-240x133.png?resize=240%2C133\")
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Question 7: If you answered none so far to question 6, can you please tell us why?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Almost 80% of the translators who did not deliver words so far\u00a0said that there are few jobs in their language pairs. The replies were:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Limited or no opportunities in my language pair (46.9%).<\/li>\n
- Others pick up the jobs quicker than me (32.1%).<\/li>\n
- Limited time to help (21.0%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Question 8: Do you always feel the work you are asked to do is strictly humanitarian?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
- \n
- Yes (92.7%).<\/li>\n
- Subject was Business\/Admin\/Technical (4.6%).<\/li>\n
- I think some NGOs could pay for the translations (1.7%).<\/li>\n
- I don’t think Wikipedia is humanitarian (1.0%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Question 9: What changes in the TWB Workspace would motivate you to take more TWB assignments? <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
A total of 242 replies were received for this question. Since they were sent as free text, they were classified into categories as follows:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 40.5%\u00a0 No changes required.<\/li>\n
- 7.0%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Longer\/more flexible deadlines.<\/li>\n
- 7.0%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More opportunities in my language pair.<\/li>\n
- 6.6%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shorter, more frequent translations.<\/li>\n
- 6.2%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More time to decide\/time-zone.<\/li>\n
- 5.8%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know yet.<\/li>\n
- 5.8%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More assignments related to my fields of expertise.<\/li>\n
- 3.3%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Better format\/no tags.<\/li>\n
- 2.9%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Better coordination in multi-translator jobs\/TMs and glossaries.<\/li>\n
- 2.9%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Public exposure to help me get jobs\/references.<\/li>\n
- 2.5%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Better selected\/more visible humanitarian projects\/feedback on impact.<\/li>\n
- 2.1%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A better\/easier to use translation page\/better assistance.<\/li>\n
- 1.7%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Translating for organizations that are transparent, texts that clearly add value to the organizations’ work.<\/li>\n
- 1.2%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Online TMs and glossaries.<\/li>\n
- 1.2%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Receiving tokens of appreciation\/advantages\/motivational gifts.<\/li>\n
- 0.8%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Indication of language variant.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Better quality of the source texts.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disentanglement from ProZ.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is fine now, however, it may contain the translator’s credentials and memberships as well underneath the translator’s name.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Monolingual proofreading jobs available.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 More concrete information about the job poster: how they are organized and financed, do they have other volunteers and what do those volunteers do, why have they chosen to use TWB’s services and to what use will they concretely put the money they’re not spending on paying translators. Also, I would like the screening process of NGOs by TWB to be transparent and explicit, for example what are the criteria to let NGOs use TWB. I haven’t been able to find that on the TWB website.<\/li>\n
- 0.4%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Possibility of applying translations for each segment in a web-based translation memory specific to the translator.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Question 10: How would you rate the job posting page (the page from which you either accept or decline the job)?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘I am not familiar with it’ was the answer selected by 8.2% of respondents. Of the translators who are familiar with the platform, the answers were:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Adequate (92.6%).<\/li>\n
- Not very clear (4.8%).<\/li>\n
- Should include more information (specify)\u00a0 (2.6%).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The additional data requested in the last category include more information about the job poster, the subject matter, the language variant, glossaries and translation memories.<\/p>\n
Question 11: Do you find the TWB workspace http:\/\/twb.translationcenter.org\/workspace easy to use?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
‘I am not familiar with it’ was the answer selected by 11.9% of respondents. Of the translators who are familiar with the platform, the answers were:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Very easy (62.9%).<\/li>\n
- Somewhat easy (32.6%).<\/li>\n
- Somewhat difficult (4.5%).<\/li>\n
- Very difficult (0.0 %).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"twbsurvey1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/translatorswithoutborders.org\/twbnewsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/twbsurvey1.png\")
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