| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Any experience with Silvia Macor's list of 6000 agencies Thread poster: Samuel Murray
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Hello everyone
Via another portal I received an e-mail about Silvia Macor's list of 6000 translation agencies. The list now sells for about EUR 35.00. Has anyone bought this list?
The selling point of this list is that it contains no e-mail addressesSilvia Macor's list of 6000 translation agencies. The list now sells for about EUR 35.00. Has anyone bought this list?
The selling point of this list is that it contains no e-mail addresses. Instead, it has links to each agency's sign-up form (if any) and/or web site. This seems like a positive development in the "agency lists" business, or what do you think? Silvia's argument is that if the list had contained e-mail addresses, the list would be rendered useless to future buyers in no time, if just a few people use the list to send mass mailings.
There is a tiny sample of the list, here.
Your thoughts?
Samuel
[Edited at 2015-01-19 17:52 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| What's the point of it? | Jan 19, 2015 |
HI Samuel
I occasionally these lists advertised but I can't see the point of them, since Proz already has comprehensive lists of agencies.
Added to which, it's easy with a bit of judicious googling to find literally thousands of agencies, and their websites, including application forms.
Example: in your language pair if you just google for "Afrikaans to English translation agencies" you'll get dozens and dozens of hits.
[Edited at 2015-01-19 18:05 GM... See more HI Samuel
I occasionally these lists advertised but I can't see the point of them, since Proz already has comprehensive lists of agencies.
Added to which, it's easy with a bit of judicious googling to find literally thousands of agencies, and their websites, including application forms.
Example: in your language pair if you just google for "Afrikaans to English translation agencies" you'll get dozens and dozens of hits.
[Edited at 2015-01-19 18:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
French to English
+ ...
| Genuinely confused... | Jan 19, 2015 |
If an agency is so damn secretive that you need to buy a Special List to know of their existence, how many clients are they likely to have...????
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| I could do this myself | Jan 19, 2015 |
Neil Coffey wrote:
If an agency is so damn secretive that you need to buy a Special List to know of their existence, how many clients are they likely to have...????
I could probably create such a list myself (if I could be bothered) and offer it for sale !
And another thing: the "no email address" concept seems like a red herring. Obviously if I can find an agency's website, I'm probably also going to be able to find their email address. Puzzling....??!!
[Edited at 2015-01-19 18:08 GMT]
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| | | I just deleted that mail | Jan 19, 2015 |
Of what use are addresses of 6000 agencies to me? I have Google and then I would want to look at their website to see whether they are likely to need my specialisms and language pair.
| | | | | OT - the joke | Jan 19, 2015 |
A great rendition of this joke was in Roberto Benigni's unforgettable film La vita è bella.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Tom in London wrote:
I can't see the point of them, since ProZ already has comprehensive lists of agencies.
Actually, this list is more comprehensive than ProZ.com's lists, in one critical respect, namely a direct link to the sign-up page. With ProZ.com's lists, you have to visit the web pages and spend valuable time searching for a sign-up page, but with Silvia's list, you save that time. It is up to you to decide if that time/effort saving is worth EUR 35.00 for you.
Having used the Blue Board and Company directory on ProZ.com to seek out potential new clients myself, I can tell you that a lot of valuable time is lost and effort needs to be made in exploration expeditions of agencies' web sites.
Added to which, it's easy with a bit of judicious googling to find literally thousands of agencies, and their websites, including application forms.
I think you overestimate the power of "judicious googling".
Example: in your language pair, if you just google for "Afrikaans to English translation agencies", you'll get dozens and dozens of hits.
Yes, dozens of hits, but hardly any of them are worth anything. 90% of the top 100 hits for "Afrikaans to English translation agencies" are for agencies that used grey-hat SEO to get their domain names to the top of the list, by creating separate boiletplate pages for every language combination on earth (with sufficiently "unique" content to fool Google), regardless of whether they have actually ever worked in those languages.
If you want to find translation agencies manually, the best places to do so are on portals like ProZ.com.
The "no email address" concept seems like a red herring. Obviously if I can find an agency's website, I'm probably also going to be able to find their email address.
Yes, obviously. So what's your point?
Silvia explains the rationale of not providing e-mail addresses roughly as follows: if you sell a list of e-mail addresses, some buyers may use it judiciously, but most will simply send an identical message to all the e-mail addresses on the list, regardless of each agency's actual preference or requirements. And when that happens, the list quickly loses its value for future buyers. Agencies getting spammed tolerate only so much.
By not providing e-mail addresses, the list author ensures that translators use the list as intended, i.e. not as an easy spam list but as a reference list. Do you agree that that logic makes sense?
[Edited at 2015-01-19 22:04 GMT]
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Michael Beijer
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
| I have more than enough agencies… | Jan 19, 2015 |
How about a list of end clients? Now that would be useful 
| | | | Edwin den Boer
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
| Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon and Spam | Jan 20, 2015 |
Tom in London wrote:
Obviously if I can find an agency's website, I'm probably also going to be able to find their email address.
Even worse, I could easily write a script to generate info@[domain.com] email addresses from such a list.
Samuel Murray wrote:
Actually, this list is more comprehensive than ProZ.com's lists, in one critical respect, namely a direct link to the sign-up page.
I agree, that is not trivial if you want to reach a substantial number of agencies.
Michael Beijer wrote:
How about a list of end clients? Now that would be useful
If you're specialized enough, couldn't you find end clients through a trade association?
| | | | | | | Be selective | Jan 20, 2015 |
I think our services are not "universal", nor are they "one-size-fits-all".
Therefore, the best way to approach agencies is looking into their website and determining whether they specialise in your subject matter in your language pair(s).
I think the list contains much more agencies than we can actually approach in this "personalised" way.
Long story short, I surmise nobody should pay for this kind of lists, provided we can do the trick ourselves.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:14
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Merab Dekano wrote:
I think our services are not "universal", nor are they "one-size-fits-all".
Therefore, the best way to approach agencies is looking into their website and determining whether they specialise in your subject matter in your language pair(s).
I think the list contains much more agencies than we can actually approach in this "personalised" way.
Long story short, I surmise nobody should pay for this kind of lists, provided we can do the trick ourselves.
What's more, and as we also know from information that is occasionally posted in these forums by agencies themselves, unsolicited requests from translators seeking work usually go straight in the trash.
So what is the point of doorstepping them anyway?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | @Merab and @Tom | Jan 20, 2015 |
Merab Dekano wrote:
The best way to approach agencies is looking into their website and determining whether they specialise in your subject matter in your language pair(s). I think the list contains much more agencies than we can actually approach in this "personalised" way.
Yes, and the interesting thing is that these facts lead you to the conclusion that "nobody should pay for this kind of lists", whereas those same facts lead me to the opposite conclusion. Somehow I see the fact that the list "contains much more agencies than we can actually approach in this 'personalised' way" as a positive thing, and you apparently see it as a negative thing.
Tom in London wrote:
As we also know from information that is occasionally posted in these forums by agencies themselves, unsolicited requests from translators seeking work usually go straight in the trash.
Exactly, Tom. And that is why a list that contains only information for making solicited requests is far more beneficial than a list that is designed to enable (or even: encourage) mass unsolicited requests.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 11:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | On contacting direct clients | Jan 20, 2015 |
Edwin den Boer wrote: Michael Beijer wrote:
How about a list of end clients? Now that would be useful. If you're specialized enough, couldn't you find end clients through a trade association?
Yes, although there are far fewer questions on these forums about finding direct clients, the advice given to such requests usually include cold-calling trade shows and directories of trade associations.
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