Forum: French
Topic: Question about translation service delivery date - French biz laws
Poster: Sheila Wilson
Post title: I've no idea about the legal position
[quote]veratek wrote:
When I sent My Client the translated file, I sent along a couple of translation questions for the Final Client to answer and said that I would incorporate their answers, if anything needed to be changed, after the Final Client reviewed the translation and sent us their answers.
I told My Client that the invoicing "delivery date" was the date I sent the translated file with the questions, and that any changes requested afterwards by the Final Client would not change the delivery date. [/quote]
[quote]My Client then said to me: the delivery date for the invoice is going to be the date after the Final Client answers you and you send back the translation with the requested changes.[/quote]
[quote]Who is right? Do you normally wait as long as it takes for a client to answer your translation questions and then consider that your invoicing delivery date? Who determines the delivery date?[/quote]
If I've got it right, your actual situation seems to be that the translation was delivered complete - no blanks, no series of question marks, no track-changes remarks. It's just that you gave the end client an explanation of the way that a similar target term, also a perfectly valid translation of the source term, could fit better in certain circumstances, which might or might not fit their particular context. And there were just a couple of these terms, not a couple of dozen. Is that about what we have here? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, I don't know what the legal profession think, in France or elsewhere, but I did that often when I was in France, and have done it since leaving France. All clients but one have accepted it with no problem; the other client was an Indian agency who asked for monolingual proofreading, but actually wanted a complete rewrite, from very poor English to polished marketing-speak (for about 1 cent per word???). They claimed I invoiced them before the job was completed; I claimed they paid way after the due payment date. It didn't go to court, so I'm none the wiser about the legal position. I was just pleased to finally see my money and the back of them.
On the other hand, if there are source terms I really don't understand, e.g. acronyms, then I'll query them before the deadline and I won't deliver the final translation until I have their answer. If the client is slow answering, that may mean that final delivery, and hence my payment date, gets put back a bit.
If it's worth anything to you, I can say that the one time I did test the legality of a contract was when I'd stupidly signed a client's contract which said I wouldn't be paid for a teaching assignment until the end of the course. Well, the student backed out, through no fault of mine. That DID go to court, and the judge decided in 10 seconds flat that the clause was abusive and I should be paid in full for my work (not for the full course, naturally - I wasn't asking for that). That was a French court and it did a lot to improve my personal view of the legal system in France and in general. It appears that judges are quite prepared to go by what's "normal and fair" rather than by what's in the contract.
It sounds to me that you're acting in a normal and fair way. I suppose the agency may have to postpone their own payment from the end client, but I think that's unlikely, or at least insignificant. Let's face it, most agencies get their hands on their client's money long before they graciously condescend to paying our invoices.
Topic: Question about translation service delivery date - French biz laws
Poster: Sheila Wilson
Post title: I've no idea about the legal position
[quote]veratek wrote:
When I sent My Client the translated file, I sent along a couple of translation questions for the Final Client to answer and said that I would incorporate their answers, if anything needed to be changed, after the Final Client reviewed the translation and sent us their answers.
I told My Client that the invoicing "delivery date" was the date I sent the translated file with the questions, and that any changes requested afterwards by the Final Client would not change the delivery date. [/quote]
[quote]My Client then said to me: the delivery date for the invoice is going to be the date after the Final Client answers you and you send back the translation with the requested changes.[/quote]
[quote]Who is right? Do you normally wait as long as it takes for a client to answer your translation questions and then consider that your invoicing delivery date? Who determines the delivery date?[/quote]
If I've got it right, your actual situation seems to be that the translation was delivered complete - no blanks, no series of question marks, no track-changes remarks. It's just that you gave the end client an explanation of the way that a similar target term, also a perfectly valid translation of the source term, could fit better in certain circumstances, which might or might not fit their particular context. And there were just a couple of these terms, not a couple of dozen. Is that about what we have here? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, I don't know what the legal profession think, in France or elsewhere, but I did that often when I was in France, and have done it since leaving France. All clients but one have accepted it with no problem; the other client was an Indian agency who asked for monolingual proofreading, but actually wanted a complete rewrite, from very poor English to polished marketing-speak (for about 1 cent per word???). They claimed I invoiced them before the job was completed; I claimed they paid way after the due payment date. It didn't go to court, so I'm none the wiser about the legal position. I was just pleased to finally see my money and the back of them.
On the other hand, if there are source terms I really don't understand, e.g. acronyms, then I'll query them before the deadline and I won't deliver the final translation until I have their answer. If the client is slow answering, that may mean that final delivery, and hence my payment date, gets put back a bit.
If it's worth anything to you, I can say that the one time I did test the legality of a contract was when I'd stupidly signed a client's contract which said I wouldn't be paid for a teaching assignment until the end of the course. Well, the student backed out, through no fault of mine. That DID go to court, and the judge decided in 10 seconds flat that the clause was abusive and I should be paid in full for my work (not for the full course, naturally - I wasn't asking for that). That was a French court and it did a lot to improve my personal view of the legal system in France and in general. It appears that judges are quite prepared to go by what's "normal and fair" rather than by what's in the contract.
It sounds to me that you're acting in a normal and fair way. I suppose the agency may have to postpone their own payment from the end client, but I think that's unlikely, or at least insignificant. Let's face it, most agencies get their hands on their client's money long before they graciously condescend to paying our invoices.