Are Per Page price translation sites legitimate?

 The important question would be, do they honor the Per Page price?

 

This is an obvious bait and switch technique. Although these Per Page companies advertise in google and bing the low per page price, it is conditional to the number of words on the page, usually anywhere from 120 to 250. The trouble is, many documents have a larger number of words per page, take for instance the most modern version of the Brazilian birth certificate, which can now have as many as 470 words (by comparison, older versions had 170 words).

 

Additionally, they insist clients send full documents, including stamps in the back. You might have guessed it: the 10-word stamp will constitute a page, so right away the cost is doubled, and you are paying US$2.25 per word.

 

Others charge extra for notary, paper document and shipping service charges, in addition to the postal charges. So, very quickly the US$22.50 per page document becomes US$ 85.00.

 

As for more complex documents, such as Court judgments, the situation is even worse. Let us say you have a very dense 10-page judgment, single space. A document like this can have as many as 600 words per page, depending on font size. So, while you expected to pay US$ 225.00 for the translation, it quickly becomes US$720.00. A lease can have more than 1,000 words, etc., etc..

 

The same applies to uncertified text. Trouble is, once you are on their site, you are unlikely to leave and seek a better price, and they know how to manipulate you into thinking they are the best game in town. They may also tell you that is how everybody works. Not true, because we do not work like that.

 

At legaltranslationsystems.com we do not play games with the client. You send the document for a quote without obligation, and it is a firm quote. There is never any additional charge.

 

An informed client is a good client

#certifiedtranslation #certifiedtranslations #officialtranslations 

IS AI TRANSLATION ANY GOOD?

I have been studying machine translation from the very beginning, in fact, in the 90s I had already tried computer software in a few language pairs. They were all very bad back then, if you want my opinion.

 

With time translation software has become better, I must admit. However, most AI translations still sound like AI text, devoid of style and life, incapable of understanding figures of speech, irony, humor, nuances, and the proverbial text between the lines. It does not evaluate nor see intent.

 

However, I knew that sooner or later it would be widely adopted as a tool, so I continued to study several software titles in myriad languages, to remain up on things.

 

As it stands, AI produced translation still has a major problem: it reads context very poorly. That, in certain languages, can have disastrous consequences, for the same word can have different meanings in the same language, for instance, “recurso” can have several meanings in Portuguese. This can cause all types of nasty havoc. Embarrassment is one such problem. Legal issues are more serious, for the most popular AI translation tools around continue make positive negative, and negative positive, with disturbing frequency. This in a contract can lead to litigation, great expense and loss of face.

 

Not only that, AI frequently picks up the wrong translation for a given term, often leading to hilarious renderings. Certain words have a vulgar and a technical translation, and AI often chooses the wrong one.  This means that translation software fails to connect the dots where the dots are often very important.

 

Another problem is that AI translation works reasonably when text is well written. As writing skills are in short order these days, AI is often used to make sense of the senseless ghastly collections of words some people call writing. A badly written text will sound wacky, bizarre, after being put through translation software.

 

In short, commercial planes are flown by automatic pilot for the longest part of a trip, but qualified pilots have to take-off and land the darn things. It is no different with translations.

 

At the end of the day, one cannot stop the wheels of commerce. Businesses penny-pinch as much as possible when it comes to translation work, it has always been so, for it is often seen as nuisance.  Now that it is available a few clicks away, for free, the perception is that we translators have been highway robbers all along.

 

I saw the writing on the wall and specialized in editing AI produced translations, for it is the future of the written translation industry, whether we translators like it or not. I have been able to turn atrocities and inaccuracies into good and precise text, even making them enjoyable. When a client comes to me with “a translation he did”, I already know what that means. Mr. G did t. Or Mr MS.  I only draw the line on certified document translations: I do not accept AI done translations prepared by clients, after all, I have to certify that I did it. Those are done from scratch.

 

Whether AI will ever reach perfection is debatable. Brazilians, for one, like to be witty, and AI fails to handle wittiness all that well, so that a culturally competent editor will always be necessary when translation to and from Brazilian Portuguese. In other words, rather than making it my number one enemy, I decided to coexist with it. We translators have no choice. I am not that charismatic to become an influencer at this point in life.

 

Carlos de Paula is one of the top Brazilian Portuguese translators in the USA since 1982. And now a top Portuguese AI Translation editor as well. 

Lojas Marisa - o desconto de R$15 vira prejuízo de R$41

Em uma recente e rápida passagem pela cidade de São Paulo, minha esposa e eu passeávamos faceiramente na Rua Augusta, e ela, por incrível que pareça, viu algo que gostou na Lojas Marisa, uma cadeia que sempre detestou. Entramos na loja e ela resolveu comprar o artigo.

Fomos pagar, e aí a gentil caixa nos ofereceu o cartão da loja, com 10% de desconto. Disse que não, ela simpaticamente insistiu, e embora já tivesse tido problemas com um cartão de loja nos EUA, aceitei. Duas outras mocinhas, uma simpática, e a outra não tanto, nos atenderam num outro setor, o do crédito. Ficaram muito tempo conosco, parecia que eu estava comprando uma casa. Garantiram que tudo sairia "nos conformes".

Como não moro no Brasil, a conta iria para a casa da minha sogra. Esta nunca chegou. Por sorte, minha esposa teve que passar por SP novamente, um mês depois, por questões de doença na família, e resolveu ir na loja e pagar a conta que não chegava. Lá descobriu que apesar da demora para finalizar o cadastro, a "especialista em crédito" tinha anotado um endereço inexistente!!! Esta foi, obviamente, a razão de não receber a fatura.

Pois bem. Fatura paga, recibo na mão, papo encerrado. Adeus, Lojas Marisa.

E as Lojas Marisa continuam a ligar para a casa da minha sogra. Resolvi entrar no site, e enviei um email explicando toda situação. Nunca recebi resposta. Julguei o caso por encerrado.

E as Lojas Marisa continuam a ligar para a casa da minha sogra, ameaçando colocar meu nome no Serasa. Fizemos uma ligação, e uma gentil atendente ouviu o que tinha dizer. Ouviu, porém, acho que não compreendeu, ou fingiu que não entendeu. Disse que por ter sido paga com atraso, encargos no valor de 26,65 reais incidiam na fatura anterior, que fora paga. Ou seja, lá se foi pela janela o propalado desconto. Expliquei-lhe, mais uma vez, que quem tinha anotado o endereço errado fora a representante das Lojas Marisa.

Como uma autômata, continuou a falar enquanto eu falava. Disse que a culpa não era dela, etc e tal. Ora, sabia que a culpa não era dela, porém, se ela estava ali para me atender, resolver o problema, que me atendesse.

Daí a burra (só posso me referir a ela desta forma) me disse que eu poderia pagar no Banco Bradesco. Já tinha dito, mais de uma vez, que morava em Miami, e não ia ao Brasil com frequência. Cada coisa que lhe pedia, a resposta nada tinha a ver com a pergunta, parecia um papo de bêbados. Só ficou claro que quem estava errado era eu, e as Lojas Marisa, certa, apesar de todas evidências ao contrário. Detalhe, a tal fatura cobrando os encargos, após minha esposa pagar a primeira fatura e corrigir o endereço na loja, nunca fora enviada.

Por fim, já perdendo a paciência, pedi-lhe que me desse informações sobre como pagar pela internet, meu único recurso sem ter que alugar familiares ou amigos para pagar uma merreca de 27 reais. Ela me deixou esperando na linha, para piorar, com uma música horrível, que em vez de me acalmar, me deixou mais nervoso. 

Daí voltou á carga. Deu o CNPJ e nome da administradora de cartões, um código. e disse que assim podia pagar na Internet!!!   

Desisti com tanta burrice e incompetência. A gentil moçoila (sua grande virtude foi continuar educada, apesar de eu ter semi-rodado a baiana umas duas vezes, para ver se chamava sua atenção) simplesmente se esquecera de dar o número da conta, ou mesmo indicar qual era o banco.

Enfim, nada resolvido.

Na pior da hipóteses, a Lojas Marisa treina muito mal as moças que trabalham tanto nas lojas ou nos SAC. Educadinhas elas são, incompetentes e burras também!! Em boa dose.

Resta saber se não tem rolo por trás. Pois aqui nos EUA aconteceu a mesma coisa com um cartão da GAP.

Será que o ponto da coisa não é justamente anotar um endereço inexistente, para recuperar o desconto e ainda ganhar um troco em cima?

Em suma, Lojas Marisa nunca mais.

The N word economic exploitation - and a lot of hypocrisy

Before I start, let me say I am not a Paula Deen fan by a stretch. Don't get me wrong, I do not dislike her, I simply barely knew of her existence. I never watched one of her cooking shows, never bought any cookbook or any product endorsed or sold by her. That said, I have no reason to hold any partiality towards her, and in fact, this post is not directly about her predicament.

I found that there is huge hypocrisy about how this affair is being handled by the media, by folks in general, and mostly by store chains that carry Deen product. I am against racism in all shapes or forms, but the question begs: what is more racist, a person who used a derogatory remark to refer to a individual who practiced a violent crime against her decades ago, or a police officer who constantly addresses African-Americans by a respectful sir and Mr., but profiles against this racial group every day of his professional life.What is more racist, I ask? Enough about that, this is not about cop-racial relations as well.

The reason why the N word bothers so much in this day and age is because it is still so much in vogue in society. I am no insensitive, and I do know the context and how hurtful it is for an African-American to hear this word. In my thinking, though, the word is hurtful whether uttered by a white person or an African-American. And it seems that some African-Americans are at fault in keeping this word in vogue this day and age, and making mounds of money on the trot.

In fact, hundreds, possibly thousands of American  records, books and movies have been produced, since the hey days of civil rights in the 60s, that contain the N word in full regalia. In fact, lots of singers, comedians, composers, actors, writers etc, make sure the word remains very much alive, by using it plentifully. In fact, I reckon some artists have made millions on their use of the N word, making it a trademark of their performances. They maintain the N word contextually relevant in society, and their use is just as hurtful, wrong as when uttered by a person from another race.

You see, to me when a famous singer uses the N word in his songs, in the context that he is part of the group that is offended by it, he is nothing more than a huge hypocrite. A hip-hop artist who made millions in record and concert sales is no longer part of the ghetto - he is part of a financial and social elite, and he is very condescending against his public. He really means the N. Yes, artists do feel superior to other folks, even non-famous ones do, can you imagine a guy making eight figures a year?

One could say, "it would not be realistic for the N word to be removed from movies, there is a historical context, it would be censorship, where is the right of expression," blah, blah, blah. First, Hollywood is the first to say - when it is convenient, by the way - that it produces fiction. Movies are not necessarily about reality. Second, it would not be the first time Hollywood portrays non-realism in movies to make a point. The movie industry pushes several pet agendas, such as glorification of certain professions, derogatory portrayal of religion, social issues, sexual orientation, even sexual positions which do not correspond to the general truth at all. The only difference is that in this case, the self-censorship and removal of this word from movies would have a good effect, which is questionable when Hollywood seems to suggest everybody is having anal sex.

It occurs though, the shock value of keeping this word in movies does draw some people to the movies, just like it draws some people to concerts. If you know X, Y and Z will be in a movie or performance, you can be certain the N word will be used a few times, and you can laugh it off, as if it were OK for them to use it. They have "artistic license" to use the N word. I am sorry, but I do not buy this rationale that it is OK for an African American entertainer to use the N word, not so for everyone else. It is wrong and hateful for both.

Shock value is also used by the press, which needs a scandal du jour to draw audiences, and nothing better than place a rich, whitest of persons in the midst of such upheaval!

The one thing that bothers me is the double standard. Big store chains have undone contracts with Deen because of the N debacle, yet, you can find in their offerings, plentiful of CDs and DVDS from artists such as Public Enemy, Chris Rock, Paul Mooney, Eddie Murphy and Tupac Shakur, plus tons of movies with other lesser known artists, where the N word is said repeatedly in the vilest of ways. Thus, it is OK to propagate this hatred in "artistic" form, while making a stand against a woman who admits having used the word once!  

Mind you, these store chains, who shall remain nameless, but you know who they are, have been asked in the past to remove such merchandise from their shelves by myriad groups . Yet, it continues to be there.

Thus, if you ask me, this whole Deen affair is one huge piece of hypocrisy.

Exchange between a Doctor's Office and a Patient

“Hello, I would like to speak to Mr. Smith.”

“This is him.”

“Good morning, mr. Smith. I am calling from Dr. Herz` office. I am calling about the US$15,675.00 balance you have with us.”

“Well, let me explain something to you. There are two possibilities, that you may get paid, or you may not. If you do get paid, you might get paid on the short-term, mid-term or long-term. 89% of the people that pay bills on the long-term especially in my age group, do pay in installments. Out of these, about 43 % pay 50 % or more of the balance, which is left hanging. Considering my age group, there is a 32.5 % possibility that I would die before settling the balance. There are no guarantees. Also there is a 69.5 % possibility that people on my age group that leave this type of balance unpaid, actually do not have sufficient assets to settle the bill after death. Of the 50 % that do pay the balance, 38.2 % actually do it in 2 to 5 years.”

“Mr. Smith, you got me lost, I am asking a simple question, when you can pay the balance, that is all.”

“Let me finish my reasoning. About 75 % of the people who live in my area, who are in my age group, actually do have medical bills in excess of 15,000 dollars, with a standard deviation of 2.5. This is actually 13.2 % worse than the country’s average.”

“Thanks for enlightening me, Mr. Smith. I just want to know when Dr. Herz can expect the check, please make my life easy.”

“That depends, recent studies indicate that in times of economic upheaval such as this, there is a 32 % less likelihood that unsecured bills late in excess of 120 days will be paid. And nothing can be done about that, there is no way to solve this situation.”

“Mr. Smith, I am losing my patience. The dinero, the moolah, when can Dr. Herz expect the payment for your treatment, after all, services were perfectly provided, were they not?.”

“Well, dear, what is your name again?”

“Loretta, sir.”

“Loretta, let me read you Dr. Herz explanation of my disease. I also asked a simple question, what do I have and how to treat it. He said that are two possibilities, that I have Mensonge syndrome, or you it may be something else yet unidentified, a very rare disease. He said that 89% of the people that have Mensonge survive it on the long-term especially in my age group, but do have a slow decline in quality of life. Out of these, about 43 % survive beyond 50 % of the normal life expectancy for my age group. Also considering my age group, studies say there is a 32.5 % percentage that I would die a sudden death from an unrelated disease, if I do have Mensonge. There are no guarantees. However there is a 69.5 % possibility that people in my age group that do have unidentified diseases might actually die before the disease is identified. Of the 50 % that do survive such unidentified disease, 38.2 % actually die in 2 to 5 years due to heart problems. About 75 % of the people who live in my area, who are in my age group, actually do survive 7.5 years even in perfect health, with a standard deviation of 2.5. This is actually 13.2 % below the country’s average. That depends on other circumstances, for recent studies indicate that in times of economic upheaval such as this, there is a 32 % less likelihood that people with such unidentified diseases will survive more than 120 days. And nothing can be done about that, there is no treatment.”

“I don’t understand a thing you said.”

“Guess what, Loretta, neither do I. So my payment to Dr. Herz will be very similar to his diagnostic and treatment. Ask him whether he likes some of his own medicine. Have a good day.”

Experian One Dollar Credit Reports are not what they seem

I never had my identity stolen, however, a couple of months back, I suspected something was wrong.
A few years ago, I requested free credit reports (everyone is entitled to one, once a year), writing directly to the top credit reporting agencies, by snail mail. It worked great.  Now, you have to go through a website, which confuses users by hinting their identity has been really stolen. Since I have very little time to waste with games, I decided to go directly to one of the providers, and I chose Experian.

The free report I was entitled to quickly became a 1 dollar report. That meant I needed to provide a credit card number to pay the buck. And here a little nagging problem started.

Not only would I be charged US$ 1 for the report, however, by requesting it from Experian, I would agree to try out for a US$17.95 a month credit monitoring service, which I could cancel at any time. If I canceled within 7 days of ordering the trial subscription, I would not be charged anything, not even the first charge.    

I ordered my US$1 (free) report on a Wednesday, and found out all was clear with my credit. Then, the next Wednesday I called to cancel the subscription. Funny thing. To sign up, you can do everything on line, within tops five minutes . To cancel, you have to speak to a rep, and stay online for a good 30 minutes. I hate to think that the idea is to have you give up on the cancellation and be stuck with the subscription forever...

Be that as it may, I did call, stayed on the line patiently, and spoke to a nice rep. Although she kept on trying to convince me to keep the service, I denied every time. Then, after five attempts to keep my hard earned dollars, she offered the service for half-price, which I found outrageous. After I gave her a few thoughts on the hard selling tactic (why not offer the service for US$8.00 to begin with?), she confirmed the service would be cancelled, THAT I WOULD NOT GET ANY FURTHER BILLING FROM EXPERIAN, and I got an email confirmation on the trot.

Much to my dismay, I just got my credit card bill, and guess what it contains? A US$17.95 charge from Experian!! Yes, siree!

Needless to say, I was beyond outraged by this point. I explained, over and over again, that I opted out of the service within the prescribed seven days, that I got verbal and written confirmation, yet, the representative insisted I did not comply with that requirement, and that although the subscription would be canceled henceforth, that US$17.95 charge would stand. 

After referring to this business deal in not very endearing terms, and making a rhetorical observation concerning the mission of the company, which is to protect us from scams and aspects of this transaction, which looked like a scam to me, I told the representative that I would feel free to share my nasty experience with the entire world, by writing on several dozens of blogs to which I contribute material.

That did the trick, though. She was so adamant that the charge would stand just a few seconds before, however, when I said I would make the matter public, a third party, a supervisor, I guess, entered the picture and allowed the credit!

I can only say this: before you order anything from Experian, think twice. I have since then read similar stories on the internet, so I can assure you that this is not an isolated incident. I am ready to do battle next month again.

Você sabe quem eram os concorrentes do Bill Gates há trinta anos atrás?

Já conheci muita gente nesse mundo. Conheci um cara que jurava de pé junto que foi ele que deu a primeira "gaita" ao Roberto Carlos, insinunando que o iniciou na música. Também conheci um sujeito que vendia gôndolas para comércio numa loja bastante mequetrefe e desarrumada, que disse ter sido sócio do dono da Barnes & Nobles, que eventualmente se tornou a maior livraria dos Estados Unidos, quem sabe, do mundo.

As estórias são muitas. Se são verdadeiras, não tenho ideia.

Voltando ao Bill Gates, com certeza ninguém lembra dos nomes das empresas, muito menos dos caras, que tentaram entrar no mercado de sistemas operacionais e software no início da era do micro, nos anos 80. De fato, muitos não devem sequer saber o nome do sujeito que realmente inventou o DOS e vendeu o projeto ao Bill Gates. E assim perpetua-se a estória de que Bill Gates inventou o sistema operacional...

Gosto de repetir esta citação, do Machado de Assis. "Ao vencedor as batatas". Fiz uma emenda - "aos perdedores, no máximo as cascas".

Com certeza, os sujeitos que concorreram com Bill no início da indústria da micro-informática, hoje são bem menos ricos do que o Geek-mor da nação, e infinitamente menos conhecidos. Bill e sua cara de bobo tornaram-se a face do novo rico tecnológico, substituindo os velhos austeros barões da indústria. A história, na ótica dessas pessoas, provavelmente está sendo cruel com eles pois "meus produtos eram melhores do que o DOS", "eu realmente inventei algo, não comprei", "me sacanearam" e outras lamúrias mais.

O fato é que a história enaltece os vencedores, e quase se esquece dos perdedores.

Também é certo que os primeiros concorrentes de Bill devem ter investido tudo que tinham, se esforçaram bastante, venderam casa, empenharam herança, deram calotes, ficaram dois anos sem dormir, e não atingiram o danado do sucesso. E hoje seus netos sabem a história de cor e salteado.

É um pouco assim no automobilismo. E paro por aqui.

Carlos de Paula é tradutor, escritor e historiador de automobilismo baseado em Miami