Forum: MemoQ support
Topic: Make sure agencies leave "Homogeneity" switched OFF when running statistics in memoQ!
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: @Michael
[quote]Michael Beijer wrote:
Samuel said he doesn't mind offering discounts on internal fuzzies, because he then just increases his word rate on every job...
Interesting solution, but with most of the agencies I work for, we agree on a word rate in advance, and this can't be changed for each project. [/quote]
I also prefer to have a standard per-word rate that applies to all jobs, and most of my agency clients have such a policy. Most of my agency clients also have their own discount grid that they apply to all jobs (i.e. they don't apply my grid, but instead they apply theirs). This is also fine, for most jobs, as long as the translator knows how the agency's grid works, because then he can adjust his per-word rate accordingly, if he feels that the agency's grid is unreasonable.
It is not ideal if the agency sets the conditions, but that's just the world I (we) live in. In reality, I have a much greater objection to discounts for external matches than for internal matches, for reasons mentioned previously. And I have greater objection to low fuzzy match discounts than to high fuzzy match discounts. And I have an even greater objection to pre-inserted fuzzy matches. Still, most of my clients expect discounts for external matches, and many of their grids go as low as 60%, and some of them pre-insert fuzzy matches, and I oblige, because that is the industry that I'm in. I just change the variables that I do have control over.
[quote]Also, by admitting that he has to increase his word rate if they demand discounts on internal fuzzies, isn’t Samuel saying that he doesn't accept internal fuzzy matches? So why not say so from the start and make your position on the matter clear? [/quote]
I don't increase my per-word rate merely if they demand internal match discounts. I increase my per-word rate if the agency's weighted word count is lower than the weighted word count that I consider reasonable for the job... regardless of what kind of matching was used.
[quote]Also note (Samuel) that I am not annoyed because the agency in question had switched on homogeneity without telling me, but because it is their company policy to do so in all MemoQ projects. [/quote]
Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding.
You can be angry about this, or you can meet them halfway.
The fact is that internal fuzzy matches do save you time (right?), so if there are a lot of internal fuzzy matches, your speed will increase a bit. So then, offer a slightly higher rate for jobs that involve internal fuzzy matching... knowing that in most cases, the higher rate will neutralise the agency's discount grid, and in those few cases that it doesn't, it will be off-set by an increase of speed anyway.
[quote]Let me ask you: do any of us here even REALLY, FULLY understand how memoQ's homogeneity algorithm even works? [/quote]
No, but I don't understand how any of my CAT tools' match algorithms work. I assume the internal match algorithm is the same as the external match algorithm (why would developers go out of their way to develop two, when the same can be used for both?).
[quote]I sometimes look at [CafeTran's homogeneity thingy], but so far it has never successfully predicted how long it ended up taking me in practice to complete a job. [/quote]
My experience is similar -- the internal fuzzy match statistics help me gain an understanding of how much faster I'll be in general, but every job is different, and internal fuzzy matching is just one of the variables that affect how long it takes to do the translation.
Topic: Make sure agencies leave "Homogeneity" switched OFF when running statistics in memoQ!
Poster: Samuel Murray
Post title: @Michael
[quote]Michael Beijer wrote:
Samuel said he doesn't mind offering discounts on internal fuzzies, because he then just increases his word rate on every job...
Interesting solution, but with most of the agencies I work for, we agree on a word rate in advance, and this can't be changed for each project. [/quote]
I also prefer to have a standard per-word rate that applies to all jobs, and most of my agency clients have such a policy. Most of my agency clients also have their own discount grid that they apply to all jobs (i.e. they don't apply my grid, but instead they apply theirs). This is also fine, for most jobs, as long as the translator knows how the agency's grid works, because then he can adjust his per-word rate accordingly, if he feels that the agency's grid is unreasonable.
It is not ideal if the agency sets the conditions, but that's just the world I (we) live in. In reality, I have a much greater objection to discounts for external matches than for internal matches, for reasons mentioned previously. And I have greater objection to low fuzzy match discounts than to high fuzzy match discounts. And I have an even greater objection to pre-inserted fuzzy matches. Still, most of my clients expect discounts for external matches, and many of their grids go as low as 60%, and some of them pre-insert fuzzy matches, and I oblige, because that is the industry that I'm in. I just change the variables that I do have control over.
[quote]Also, by admitting that he has to increase his word rate if they demand discounts on internal fuzzies, isn’t Samuel saying that he doesn't accept internal fuzzy matches? So why not say so from the start and make your position on the matter clear? [/quote]
I don't increase my per-word rate merely if they demand internal match discounts. I increase my per-word rate if the agency's weighted word count is lower than the weighted word count that I consider reasonable for the job... regardless of what kind of matching was used.
[quote]Also note (Samuel) that I am not annoyed because the agency in question had switched on homogeneity without telling me, but because it is their company policy to do so in all MemoQ projects. [/quote]
Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding.
You can be angry about this, or you can meet them halfway.
The fact is that internal fuzzy matches do save you time (right?), so if there are a lot of internal fuzzy matches, your speed will increase a bit. So then, offer a slightly higher rate for jobs that involve internal fuzzy matching... knowing that in most cases, the higher rate will neutralise the agency's discount grid, and in those few cases that it doesn't, it will be off-set by an increase of speed anyway.
[quote]Let me ask you: do any of us here even REALLY, FULLY understand how memoQ's homogeneity algorithm even works? [/quote]
No, but I don't understand how any of my CAT tools' match algorithms work. I assume the internal match algorithm is the same as the external match algorithm (why would developers go out of their way to develop two, when the same can be used for both?).
[quote]I sometimes look at [CafeTran's homogeneity thingy], but so far it has never successfully predicted how long it ended up taking me in practice to complete a job. [/quote]
My experience is similar -- the internal fuzzy match statistics help me gain an understanding of how much faster I'll be in general, but every job is different, and internal fuzzy matching is just one of the variables that affect how long it takes to do the translation.