| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Annual ProZ.com translation contest 2014, "Celebrations" open now Thread poster: Jared Tabor
|
|---|
Dear ProZ.com members,
The annual ProZ.com translation contest opens today. The theme for this contest is "Celebrations." Source texts are currently available in 10 languages: Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (BR), Romanian, Russian and Spanish.
http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/43
Source texts added after the start of this contest: Czech, Dutch, Portuguese (BR), Romanian, Russian.
Submission phase
The submission phase for this contest will last until July 31st, 2014.
Remember that you can start your translation entry online in the entry submission form, and come back to tweak or finish it at any time up until the submission phase closes. Clicking the "Submit" button in the entry form will just save your progress. The submission phase for this contest is a long one, but be sure to not wait until the last moment to make your entry, to avoid missing the deadline!
Qualification phase
The qualification phase, for language pairs with more than seven entries, will start on August 1st, 2014. Most language pairs with three to seven entries will move directly to finals voting at this time. This "hybrid" phase will last until September 1st, 2014.
Finals voting
Language pairs which have not already moved into the finals will start finals voting on September 2nd, 2014. The finals voting phase will end on September 26th, 2014.
Winners
Winners for this contest will be announced on International Translation Day, September 30th, 2014.
Prizes
All winners receive a winner's ribbon and a certificate in their ProZ.com profile to mark their win. A drawing will also be held from among this contest's winners who are ProZ.com members for additional prizes. The prizes for this contest are:
- An expenses-paid trip to the ProZ.com conference of your choice (1 winner)
- A Dell laptop (1 winner)
- An iPad (3 winners)
- A 1TB external hard drive, to back up all of your data (5 winners)
- A ProZ.com coffee mug, to put on your desk or other flat surface (10 winners)
In addition, a prize drawing will be held from among all voters in this contest, and the ProZ.com member selected will win an iPad mini. In total, there will be 21 prize drawing winners.
Why isn't there a source text in X ?
Especially for languages which are not spoken by site staff, translation contests depend on members of the community to propose suitable source texts in their native language. If you do not see a source text in a given language, this means that no suitable text has been proposed or decided on for the contest. Any member of the community may propose a source text for use in translation contests at http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/propose_source_text . Having proposed a source text for a contest does not exclude you from participation in that contest. If you propose a new source text for this contest which is then used in the contest, you will receive one year of full ProZ.com membership.
New source texts may be added in the submission phase as they become available
If new source texts are proposed or found in time to allow for a round of submission in the annual contest, they may be added. The more the merrier!
Other translation contests will be ongoing throughout the year, too
Other contests with single source texts will still be held throughout the year, as source texts become available. Availability of source texts will depend on source text submissions made by the community. You can see the criteria used to select texts and propose one by clicking on the link under Propose a source text on the right side of contest pages, or directly at this link: http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/propose_source_text
I am not a ProZ.com paying member, but I want to submit an entry!
In a few cases, where the ProZ.com member population does not appear to support competition in a given language pair, entry submission may be opened up to non-members as well, but in general entry submission is limited to ProZ.com members. Only ProZ.com members are eligible for the prizes awarded in the drawing to be held at the end of this contest. If you are not already a member and are interested in participating in this contest, you may be eligible for a discount on new ProZ.com membership. See http://www.proz.com/pages/special-membership-offer
Happy translating,
Jared
To stay up to date on ProZ.com translation contests, be sure to subscribe to contest notifications. You can do this from your email settings in your profile or by clicking on the link to subscribe found on contest pages: http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/
| | | | Tom Weber
United States
Local time: 12:44
French to English
| British and American not distinguished, again | Apr 7, 2014 |
I entered the last transaltion contest but, sorry, I will not again enter a translation contest into English where British and American entries are compared--and worse, judged by a combination of British and American readers. This to me makes no sense. Am I alone in seeing it this way?
| | | | Susie Rawson 
Argentina
Member (2014)
Spanish to English
+ ...
You're quite right. But then again, same thing applies for Spanish from Spain and Latin American Spanish. Huge differences.
| | | | | Will try to address variants | Apr 9, 2014 |
Hello Thomas, hello Susie,
It should be possible to address language variants, at least in the submission and qualification phases. I'll see what can be done and get back to you. Thanks!
Jared
| | |
|
|
|
| Potential source texts have been proposed in Chinese, Dutch, Polish | Apr 9, 2014 |
Hello all,
Potential source texts to be added to this contest have already been proposed in Chinese, Dutch, and Polish. If you speak one of these languages and can evaluate the proposed text against the criteria for contest source text selection, it would be much appreciated.
You will see the criteria for selection and all... See more Hello all,
Potential source texts to be added to this contest have already been proposed in Chinese, Dutch, and Polish. If you speak one of these languages and can evaluate the proposed text against the criteria for contest source text selection, it would be much appreciated.
You will see the criteria for selection and all texts proposed so far at http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/propose_source_text
Clicking on a given text title will take you to a page where the text is displayed and you can highlight portions of the text for positive, negative or neutral ratings and comments.
Jared ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Good stuff, the tomato thing. It's going to be difficult in some languages, though, on account of the repetitions (e.g. 'tradition' and 'escalation').
Regarding Polish, please always make really, really sure the source is copyleft or at least falls under fair use. Polish copyrights are particularly strict and fair use very narrow. Ain't as easy as American rules, for instance.
As for splitting some languages into multiple variants, I'm afraid the following will occur:... See more Good stuff, the tomato thing. It's going to be difficult in some languages, though, on account of the repetitions (e.g. 'tradition' and 'escalation').
Regarding Polish, please always make really, really sure the source is copyleft or at least falls under fair use. Polish copyrights are particularly strict and fair use very narrow. Ain't as easy as American rules, for instance.
As for splitting some languages into multiple variants, I'm afraid the following will occur:
– contestants will submit their entries in multiple versions with some editing, leading to redundancy and multiple awards for one text;
– artificially flagging texts for only one variant will artificially make competition too easy in other variants;
– leaving generic languages in parallel with variants will make no sense,
– translators native in rarer variants will need to compete in more popular variants instead of their own if they want to make their victory more meaningful;
– ... or just to have a chance to compete at all — good luck getting 3 entries in something like Tamil to NZ English;
– entries will potentially be penalised for lacking a distinct regional flavour and sounding more international. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It is now possible to indicate a language variant for your entry | Apr 22, 2014 |
Hello all,
If applicable, and if you wish, you may now indicate the target language variant used in your translation contest entry. This information will be made available to those rating and voting on entries.
If you have already submitted an entry and wish to indicate a language variant for your entry, you may do so by clicking on the "Edit" link for your entry. You will find the language variant option (if applicable) at the very bottom of the edit/submission form.... See more Hello all,
If applicable, and if you wish, you may now indicate the target language variant used in your translation contest entry. This information will be made available to those rating and voting on entries.
If you have already submitted an entry and wish to indicate a language variant for your entry, you may do so by clicking on the "Edit" link for your entry. You will find the language variant option (if applicable) at the very bottom of the edit/submission form.
Jared ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 12:44
Member (2012)
Russian to English
+ ...
| When will the Russian source text be available? | May 6, 2014 |
I was interested in participating but I see that the source text in my language pair has been removed from the competition. Is there any plan to produce a new version of the Russian text?
| | |
|
|
|
| Working on more source texts | May 6, 2014 |
Hi Sarah,
Yes, the idea is to find a new Russian text, and as many other source texts in other languages as possible. As with most languages, help is needed from members of the community when it comes to proposing and evaluating these texts, though.
At the moment, three Rus... See more Hi Sarah,
Yes, the idea is to find a new Russian text, and as many other source texts in other languages as possible. As with most languages, help is needed from members of the community when it comes to proposing and evaluating these texts, though.
At the moment, three Russian source texts have been proposed at http://www.proz.com/translation-contests/propose_source_text . At least two of them appear to be possible fits for this contest. Anyone who is willing to have a look at them can help evaluate their suitability by highlighting and commenting on portions of the texts, or by commenting on each text as a whole.
Jared ▲ Collapse
| | | | texjax DDS PhD
Local time: 13:44
Member (2006)
English to Italian
+ ...
| rating and fairness | May 7, 2014 |
That I know of, participants are able to rate entries other than theirs.
I think that allowing the contestants to express an opinion (which, not surprisingly, is often negative) on other’s translations introduces a bias into the contest. It’s intuitive that this is likely to skew the results and introduces a problem with fairness.
While there are few who offer constructive criticism, many participants disagree with everything and anything. I recall a past contest w... See more That I know of, participants are able to rate entries other than theirs.
I think that allowing the contestants to express an opinion (which, not surprisingly, is often negative) on other’s translations introduces a bias into the contest. It’s intuitive that this is likely to skew the results and introduces a problem with fairness.
While there are few who offer constructive criticism, many participants disagree with everything and anything. I recall a past contest where I noticed over 80 negative comments from the same person, which was a contestant herself.
I don’t know of any competition of any sort where contestants are allowed to judge their direct competitors, and clearly the principle behind it is fairness.
I had already brought this issue to the staff’s attention but I am not sure it has been taken into consideration.
Will this time be different [i.e. contestants will not be allowed to rate any entry in the same language pair(s) of their submitted translation(s)] or are you going to run this contest “as usual”?
Kind regards,
[Edited at 2014-05-07 13:50 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I don't see participants' ability to rate skewing results | May 7, 2014 |
Hi texjax,
I've watched this, and I do not see evidence that participants' ability to rate or vote on entries skews the results.
In general the interaction I have seen has been constructive, and entry-makers may bring an interesting perspective to the process-- they've all struggled with the same turns of phrase, chosen or discarded certain term choices, etc. I've seen participants congratulate each other on choices they hadn't thought of, as well as pointing out when ... See more Hi texjax,
I've watched this, and I do not see evidence that participants' ability to rate or vote on entries skews the results.
In general the interaction I have seen has been constructive, and entry-makers may bring an interesting perspective to the process-- they've all struggled with the same turns of phrase, chosen or discarded certain term choices, etc. I've seen participants congratulate each other on choices they hadn't thought of, as well as pointing out when mistakes are made, or when they don't agree with a choice (in the way others who rate the entries do). I think dislike tags may tend to be more common than like tags in general, but this is not an attribute particular to entry-makers' ratings. And I don't see any consistent relationship between the number of like or dislike ratings on an entry that wins versus an entry that doesn't win-- raters and voters are using their own judgment when it comes to rating and voting.
I would be interested in reviewing any specific instances where you feel the above is not the case, though (please contact me by email or through my profile rather than using the forum for that, of course).
Jared ▲ Collapse
| | | | Russell Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:44
Italian to English
Jared Tabor wrote:
Hello all,
If applicable, and if you wish, you may now indicate the target language variant used in your translation contest entry. This information will be made available to those rating and voting on entries.
Jared
I've prepared my translation and intend to review it several times before the submission deadline. The nature of the text demands idiomatic language and my translation includes many British English expressions that I know will be unintelligible to Americans.
Indicating the language variant doesn't really overcome the problem unless the variants are treated as separate languages. If voters can't understand an entry, they won't vote for it, full stop (period).
| | |
|
|
|
| Let's see what happens | May 7, 2014 |
Hi Russell,
Russell Jones wrote:
I've prepared my translation and intend to review it several times before the submission deadline. The nature of the text demands idiomatic language and my translation includes many British English expressions that I know will be unintelligible to Americans.
Indicating the language variant doesn't really overcome the problem unless the variants are treated as separate languages. If voters can't understand an entry, they won't vote for it, full stop (period).
Unintelligible? I haven't seen anything that radical in the English entries so far, and I've got much greater faith in the abilities of translators who are native in English than in my own when it comes to evaluating an entry. The idea of the variant feature is to allow entry-makers to better indicate an intended audience or reader, and to allow those evaluating entries to review entries in variants they prefer to review, if it is applicable and if they have a preference. Let's try the experiment and see.
Jared
| | | | | This shouldn't be possible | May 8, 2014 |
texjax DDS PhD wrote:
That I know of, participants are able to rate entries other than theirs.
I think that allowing the contestants to express an opinion (which, not surprisingly, is often negative) on other’s translations introduces a bias into the contest. It’s intuitive that this is likely to skew the results and introduces a problem with fairness.
While there are few who offer constructive criticism, many participants disagree with everything and anything. I recall a past contest where I noticed over 80 negative comments from the same person, which was a contestant herself.
I don’t know of any competition of any sort where contestants are allowed to judge their direct competitors, and clearly the principle behind it is fairness.
in my opinion, absolutely. Period.
As fair as one may be, it's only human that he/she thinks the own translation is better than other ones, I think, and we shouldn't be made believe that such a competition can be fair, after all.
Besides the never ending final rounds in some previous contests, this is another reason for me not to participate as long as this rule will not be changed.
| | | | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Annual ProZ.com translation contest 2014, "Celebrations" open now | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
| | Anycount & Translation Office 3000 | Translation Office 3000
Translation Office 3000 is an advanced accounting tool for freelance translators and small agencies. TO3000 easily and seamlessly integrates with the business life of professional freelance translators.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
