

 Review my Translation Site (#2) - csytan
http://www.caterpi.com

======
enjo
For me, the thing that makes most nervous about translations is that I can't
read them. They're a black box. They could say almost anything... 'all your
base are belong to us' springs to mind (and it can be much worse).

So when I see:

'First available freelancer works on your order'

I leave. Tell me it's quick. Tell me it's easy. For whatever reason, that
phrase just makes me lose all confidence in your site.

On another note. Are these translations audited? For an additional fee can I
have another translator (maybe a 'senior' or 'trusted' translator) proofread
them?

~~~
rookie
I would probably just have another from the same service translate it back to
English. Paying double but it would help add some type of feedback for judging
accuracy.

If it comes back good enough then I would accept it. If not I would ask for my
money back. I wouldn't tolerate too many screw ups though before I went
somewhere else.

~~~
kristiandupont
The problem is that even if the meaning is clear, it can still be very poor
language. In fact, you could possibly end in a situation where a certain idiom
is translated directly which might give a bad result but look fine when
translated the other way.

If you translate "I won't take no for an answer" directly into Danish, you
would get something like "jeg vil ikke tage nej for et svar", which isn't very
good Danish though the meaning is quite clear. Translated back, it would give
you the impression that the translation is excellent.

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george7
Just signed up as a translator.

1) There is no confirmation email. However, since you do not require a choice
of a password when signing up, this is doubly problematic.

2) You place translator emails in the clear, even when not signed in to the
site.

3) There is no way to delete an account.

4) You need to be clearer about your fees. State explicitly that there are no
fees for withdrawal if there are none.

5) The best solution for a a verified translation would be to allow
translators to post a review rate, and allow clients to choose their
reviewer(s). This will not be a free service for any but the most needy of
translators. Eventually, this could be integrated into the translation
ordering wizard.

6) You forgot a language: Latin, which is critical for legal translation.

7) More important than age is education, but above all, you should require
translators to post their mother tongue. It is also virtually required to
state one's field(s) of specialization.

8) The site design is smashing, although the translator sort and filtering is
weak (see note above).

------
amix
I really like the UI, it seems to be very simple and user friendly.

It would be great if the translators were required to uncover information such
as education and how old they are. It would also be great if you could filter
out based on age and education. But maybe this isn't an issue if you have
enough data and a good enough rating system...?

Anyhow, good luck, seems like a solid product.

~~~
csytan
Thanks,

This is my 10th design iteration so I'm glad you like it!

------
fjania
You might consider having an additional meta field where the person requesting
can write notes about the translation request to provide context for the
translator. I worked on large piece of software that had to be translated into
many languages and often the translators would ask us for comments in our
string files so the could come up with the most appropriate translation.

~~~
csytan
Yup, once you add a translation to your cart you can add comments for the
translator (and vice versa)

------
csytan
Hi HN,

Thanks for the last round of advice for caterpi
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1267012>)!

I've worked on a lot on design, bug fixes, and suggestions since then. Would
appreciate some more advice especially regarding marketing/bootstrapping :)

Chris

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LaPingvino
I registered at the site (<http://www.caterpi.com/people/545002>) and want to
help with the translation of the site, but it's not possible to choose a
language there besides what's already offered. Where should I ask to start
translations into other languages? (Like Dutch, Esperanto and Portuguese).

One essential point... You don't see anything about the native language of the
translators (and nothing about e.g. Brazilian Portuguese and European
Portuguese). Also local languages are not there but might be in want. (If you
put Esperanto in the list, better also Frysian for example)

But please try to find a way to not get details in the way. It's a nice and
clean site and that's good :).

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NEPatriot
I think you could aim this at non-native English speaking folks who write tech
support emails in English.

------
hermanthegerman
It's cool that you can pay in Ruby.

