GBK answers "specialization" barrier
Автор темы: Albana Dhimitri
Albana Dhimitri
Albana Dhimitri  Identity Verified
Греция
Local time: 22:58
греческий (новогреческий) => албанский
+ ...
Oct 29, 2009

Yesterday I was trying to post some answers to GBK questions, when I just found out that I was not entitled to do so due to my "lack" of specialization in the respective fields. And, strangely enough, these "foreign" (so to speak) fields were quite few (maybe, I just got unlucky yesterday).

I am just wondering why should there be such barriers and targeting of translators (which I have also noticed happening in regular KudoZ) and not let anyone suggest an answer, when the discardin
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Yesterday I was trying to post some answers to GBK questions, when I just found out that I was not entitled to do so due to my "lack" of specialization in the respective fields. And, strangely enough, these "foreign" (so to speak) fields were quite few (maybe, I just got unlucky yesterday).

I am just wondering why should there be such barriers and targeting of translators (which I have also noticed happening in regular KudoZ) and not let anyone suggest an answer, when the discarding of unprofessional (let's say) - or, at least, not best - answers is guarded by the peer voting and comments, which are - after all - the final criterion of grading and choosing one answer as "THE answer".

Or am I wrong?

I had some very good answers (it seemed to me, of course, and it would be up to my colleagues to determine) which I was not allowed to share due to this requirement to be "specialized in filed" and it just felt uncomfortable yesterday. So, I would really appreciate your opinions about it. Has anyone else experienced it, or is it that I am overreacting?

Thank you for your time and sharing!
Albana
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Milan Djukić
Milan Djukić  Identity Verified
Сербия
Local time: 21:58
английский => сербский
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Agree Oct 29, 2009

In my language combination EN-SR there are lot of unanswered or still open GBK questions.
Oposite of regular KudoZ, for GBK you can not just enter your answer/translation (often without any explanation or sources to confirm it), but to do some research, find definition in target language, example sentences, sources... That is the reason why many regular KudoZ answerers do not care for GBK or dare to answer the questions.

So, I agree with you Albana - GBK rules are exact, there
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In my language combination EN-SR there are lot of unanswered or still open GBK questions.
Oposite of regular KudoZ, for GBK you can not just enter your answer/translation (often without any explanation or sources to confirm it), but to do some research, find definition in target language, example sentences, sources... That is the reason why many regular KudoZ answerers do not care for GBK or dare to answer the questions.

So, I agree with you Albana - GBK rules are exact, there are criteria for defining good and applicable answer and also for grading it - and I think GBK team should reconsider limitations and requirements.

Regards,
Milan
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Lesley Clarke
Lesley Clarke  Identity Verified
Мексика
Local time: 13:58
испанский => английский
What is GBK? Oct 29, 2009

Excuse my ignorance, but what does GBK mean?

 
Milan Djukić
Milan Djukić  Identity Verified
Сербия
Local time: 21:58
английский => сербский
+ ...
GBK meaning Oct 30, 2009

Lesley Clarke wrote:

Excuse my ignorance, but what does GBK mean?


Glossary-building KudoZ (GBK) terms
The GBK network enables the ProZ.com community to find the best translation of a given term into a given language and to incorporate it into an authoritative glossary.

Regards,
Milan


 
Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Post removed by poster
Anna Haxen
Anna Haxen  Identity Verified
Дания
Local time: 21:58
Член ProZ.com c 2005
английский => датский
+ ...
Thank you for bringing this up Dec 9, 2009

I've been considering raising this question for some days. In my pair (En-Da) there have been and are some quite simple questions, which I am not allowed to answer.

For instance 'leave without pay', which virtually any Dane who has been employed anywhere in Denmark and who knows a bit of English could probably answer. It had already been answered, but I wasn't even allowed to agree, because that right is reserved for translators who have reported a specialty level in Human Resource
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I've been considering raising this question for some days. In my pair (En-Da) there have been and are some quite simple questions, which I am not allowed to answer.

For instance 'leave without pay', which virtually any Dane who has been employed anywhere in Denmark and who knows a bit of English could probably answer. It had already been answered, but I wasn't even allowed to agree, because that right is reserved for translators who have reported a specialty level in Human Resources. Very frustrating.

And now: 'linear regression', and, recently: 'porosity'. Both terms that someone familiar with scientific terms in general could answer, but I can't because I haven't reported mathematics or geology as my specialties.

Changing or adding to you areas of specialization to be allowed to provide answers to GBK seems too silly, and it's a problem for the smaller language pairs that so few questions are answered, and, when they are, it takes very long to get sufficient agrees/disagrees to reach a verdict.
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Andrea Re
Andrea Re  Identity Verified
Великобритания
Local time: 20:58
английский => итальянский
+ ...
Same here... Dec 9, 2009

Anna Haxen wrote:



And now: 'linear regression', and, recently: 'porosity'. Both terms that someone familiar with scientific terms in general could answer, but I can't because I haven't reported mathematics or geology as my specialties.



Indeed, I could have answered these questions, but didn't bother. I mean, pretty much everybody would know the answer and if they didn't they could find out easily enough and if they couldn't find out... well, perhaps that's just as well:)
So... what is the point of the exercise?

Andrea


 
Cedomir Pusica
Cedomir Pusica  Identity Verified
Сербия
Local time: 21:58
Член ProZ.com c 2009
английский => сербский
+ ...
Agree Dec 9, 2009

What irritates me the most is that many of the terms are not that "specialist", but quite general.

My suggestion is to change the system by simplifying it altogether or, as you suggested, invalidating the "specialization" requirement, at the least.


 
Ron Willems
Ron Willems  Identity Verified
Нидерланды
Local time: 21:58
Член ProZ.com
английский => голландский
Drop specialization requirement after 1 week Jan 23, 2010

I certainly sympathize with all comments made here about fairly simple, general questions that somehow are only reserved for specialists.

Although there may be valid reasons for requiring specialization, in the vast majority of language pairs there simply aren't enough specialists around for most of these quetions.

A proposal for a simple solution:

Drop the specialization requirement if a GBK question is still open after, say, 1
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I certainly sympathize with all comments made here about fairly simple, general questions that somehow are only reserved for specialists.

Although there may be valid reasons for requiring specialization, in the vast majority of language pairs there simply aren't enough specialists around for most of these quetions.

A proposal for a simple solution:

Drop the specialization requirement if a GBK question is still open after, say, 1 week.

This way questions for which specialists exist, will be answered by them; and if no specialist provides an acceptable answer within the time limit, others can contribute as well (both by agreeing or disagreeing to the existing answers and by providing new answers).

The average quality of the answers wouldn't suffer much and the percentage of closed qustions would rise greatly.
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Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:58
Член ProZ.com c 2004
итальянский => немецкий
+ ...
Strange! Jan 23, 2010

I too wondered, like Lesley, what GBK questions are. I never ever have come acrosse one, and yet I didn't check "Ignore glossary-building questions" in my settings.

Would you mind explain further - maybe there are special requirements to see them? Thank you.


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Аргентина
Local time: 16:58
Член ProZ.com c 2006
английский => испанский
There are plans to do as you suggest Jan 24, 2010

Ron Willems wrote:

I certainly sympathize with all comments made here about fairly simple, general questions that somehow are only reserved for specialists.

Although there may be valid reasons for requiring specialization, in the vast majority of language pairs there simply aren't enough specialists around for most of these quetions.

A proposal for a simple solution:

Drop the specialization requirement if a GBK question is still open after, say, 1 week.

This way questions for which specialists exist, will be answered by them; and if no specialist provides an acceptable answer within the time limit, others can contribute as well (both by agreeing or disagreeing to the existing answers and by providing new answers).

The average quality of the answers wouldn't suffer much and the percentage of closed qustions would rise greatly.


Thanks Ron,

There are plans to allow the participation in GBK without filtering by field of expertise, ten days after the question was published. This way, as you suggest, priority will still be granted to specialists and a wider participation will be allowed for questions that remain open.

Regards,
Enrique


 
Enrique Cavalitto
Enrique Cavalitto  Identity Verified
Аргентина
Local time: 16:58
Член ProZ.com c 2006
английский => испанский
GBK questions Jan 24, 2010

Christel Zipfel wrote:

I too wondered, like Lesley, what GBK questions are. I never ever have come acrosse one, and yet I didn't check "Ignore glossary-building questions" in my settings.

Would you mind explain further - maybe there are special requirements to see them? Thank you.



Hi Christel,

You may find out about GBK questions at http://www.proz.com/faq/4333#4333

GBK questions are currently asked from English into another languages (42 language pairs so far). This may explain why some members working in other pair have not been exposed to GBK.

Regards,
Enrique


 


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GBK answers "specialization" barrier






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