I am living in Southern China and have a Chinese friend who wants to
make some money on the side by translating Chinese into English over
the internet. She works as a translator for a manufacturing company.
Her skills are such that she can translate clearly and accurately but
her English writing skills are not overly professional. It will be
better than anything available via software translation, and checked
by myself to assure that everything is clear and understandable. She
wants to offer her services at an appropriate price (i.e. much lower
than those associated with professional translating companies).
Services would be charged per word or some other appropriate volume,
not per period of time. All services and interactions with clients
would be completed via the internet. It is not essential that payment
is guaranteed to be received. It is ok on small projects to complete
the translation first and allow them to pay after they receive them,
and on large projects to translate in parts and receive payment as
translation continues. Payments may be in amounts as little as $5-10.
Most likely, payments will have to be made through my Paypal account
because my friend has no access to any account that would allow for
secure payments of such small amounts. Wiring money to her Chinese
Agricultural Bank account would cost more money than her services
themselves.
The Question:
I would like to get information for 6-10 places where this kind of
service can be posted for free online. This may be something like
craigslist or possibly some kind of online service auctioning site.
The second might be more appropriate because it would probably include
a method of payment. Perhaps some other sites would be better -- I
have an image in my mind of sites that are quite focused on the
general subject, that may be more informative than commercial in
nature, yet have a place that allows for such posting. A targeted and
warm audience in other words. Of course it is important that the
audience is one that might require the service. Maybe a more targeted
craigslist type site would be good too. Keep in mind the service is
going to be lacking somewhat in professionalism but offered for a
price that definitely compensates that. We obviously aren?t targeting
large corporations. We are targeting those who want to have a piece
of information translated for their own use, not for publication
unless they plan to have it professionally edited.
If you have ideas about this that you would like to discuss or ask for
clarification at any time before or during your research please feel
free.
I would like a list of the most appropriate sites and a brief (short
paragraph) description of how to use them. Please provide brief
information that helps me to understand how each site is useful and
how to use it to make postings (as well as the most direct route to
this part of the site) so that I don't have to spend too much time
studying each site. If there is anything that you know I should be
aware of please mention it.
Please let me know how long we can tip after the answer is posted. I
know that we are offering a low amount for this research, so if the
information is useful for her success I will make sure that we do not
forget to repay our dept. Perhaps you will feel more comfortable with
the price if I tell you that she plans to send the money she earns to
help pay for the medical treatment of her two younger brothers who I
believe are suffering from Hep A. Her monthly salary is sent to keep
debtors satisfied who became threatening when her father lost all the
money he borrowed to a poorly conceived coal mining venture.
Personally I?m a bit angered by the situation since she never saves or
spends any money on herself, but anyhow?.. your help is valuable to
us. Thank you in advance. |
Clarification of Question by
omeprazole-ga
on
29 Jul 2004 17:28 PDT
Fons,
Actually, I was hoping to find English based sites that target
non-Chinese customers. If there are hundreds then hopefully you might
be able to help me to determine which might be the most useful based
on our purpose. It would surprise me if there were actually hundreds
of sites that really targeted this general topic exclusively, not that
that would necessarily make them most useful. I am asking for your
personal discretion to a degree, feel free to advise me.
If by ?China-related services, or even China-based ones? you mean
those that target non-chinese viewers then that would probably be a
good place to check.
As far as posting for Chinese customers. I would be happy to target
that audience and would find such sites to be very useful but for the
language barrier. If there are popular sites that include English and
Chinese versions of the site and allow for posting in both English and
Chinese then I imagine it could work. I could understand the site
enough to navigate and then since my Chinese ability is inadequate I
could get help with the post content and the post would be viewable to
those who use the Chinese version of the site.
I?m not sure though that the Payment issue is so related to currency.
Chinese banks are often divided by province, making it difficult or
impossible for someone to deposit money into a non-local account. If
there is an online method of depositing money into her bank account I
assume that it would involve wiring, which is associated with high
fees per transaction, making this method infeasible. There may be
other methods.
Thanks for you time, hope this helps.
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