Given the recent punishing work schedule I imposed on myself, I may be forgiven for thinking that I was hallucinating, but this e-mail actually did arrive in my spam folder.

I appreciate that it is very difficult to achieve perfection of expression in one’s own language, let alone a second one. I am not knocking language use here. I am objecting to the underlying approach. Let us remember that this agency is attempting to solicit the services of professionals.

I have quoted the e-mail verbatim below, with references to the agency removed. Needless to say, I now feel hopelessly under-qualified since I translate only three languages into English, edit in only one language (English), and have only a handful of fields in which I can claim a modest degree of expertise. Oh, and I am no Italian native. I have a Heinz-57 nationality family tree, but no claim to ancestors from Italia.

The bits which freaked my being have been bolded and underlined as appropriate:

Hello,

[Blah Blah] is one of the leading translation agencies in Italia.
We are currently looking for native freelance translators/editors translating into every language pair and for every fields of expertise.

Requirements

– TranslationProofreading experience
– Excellent command of source and target languages
– Higher education (preferably in linguisticstranslation studies or technicalmedical field)
– Use of CAT tools (preferably Trados) is mandatory
– Determination to meet deadlines and quality requirements

We can offer you a rate of 0.10€/word for translation and 0.04€/word for proofreading.

Please fill our form application to the link below:

[deleted guff]

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

[Name of Person – Head of Something or Other]

[Lots of Logos, an Address, and Such; then This Disembodied Sentence]:

Long Term collaboration is required in every language pair.

END

Offer not accepted. End of.

Allison