Poll: Do you imagine what your clients look like if you have never seen them?
Người gửi thông tin lên tuyến đoạn: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
NHÂN VIÊN TRANG WEB
May 22, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you imagine what your clients look like if you have never seen them?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Bồ Đào Nha
Local time: 06:31
Thành viên kể từ 2007
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No May 22, 2019

Why should I waste my imagination on that? To be honest, I don't care at all what my clients look like. I know what some look like because they have profile photos in their emails (assuming those images are not fake...). The only thing I really care about is having a pleasant and reliable business relationship, preferably long-term.

ahartje
Philippe Etienne
Maja_K
Angus Stewart
Linda Miranda
Jeannette Issa
Josephine Cassar
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Đan Mạch
Local time: 07:31
Thành viên kể từ 2003
Danish to English
+ ...
Definitely May 22, 2019

Of course I don't have time for that kind of game with all contacts, but I definitely have mental pictures of some of them, especially if they have called me on the phone, and I have a voice as an added dimension.

I could clearly hear that one was a 'spirrevip' - slim and energetic - and I imagine another, who does a lot of technical work, as a bearded engineer.
There is no way of knowing whether those images fit, because they do not seem to have pictures on social media.
... See more
Of course I don't have time for that kind of game with all contacts, but I definitely have mental pictures of some of them, especially if they have called me on the phone, and I have a voice as an added dimension.

I could clearly hear that one was a 'spirrevip' - slim and energetic - and I imagine another, who does a lot of technical work, as a bearded engineer.
There is no way of knowing whether those images fit, because they do not seem to have pictures on social media.

At powwows and other gatherings I can very soon put names to faces, even when people use logos instead of photographs on their profiles or, like me, have used the same old photo for many years!
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Boryana Yovcheva
Angie Garbarino
Melanie Meyer
 
neilmac
neilmac
Tây Ban Nha
Local time: 07:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other May 22, 2019

I think it's part of human nature to sort of imagine or conjure up a mental image of our interlocutors when we haven't actually seen or met them in the flesh. So, my answer would be yes. I tend to assume that most people would operate in more or less a similar fashion, but then again, you never know.

Susanna Martoni
Boryana Yovcheva
Kaisa I
Muriel Vasconcellos
Natalia Pedrosa
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
Hoa Kỳ
Local time: 22:31
Thành viên kể từ 2003
Spanish to English
+ ...
I confess that I do May 22, 2019

I've been known to look them up to see if they're on LinkedIn or Facebook. I almost always look up the authors of the documents that I translate. They are easy to find. I feel much more comfortable when I can attach a face to the person I'm dealing with or the author of the document I'm translating.

[Edited at 2019-05-22 10:34 GMT]


Jean Shearer
Natalia Pedrosa
 
Isabel Sevilla
Isabel Sevilla  Identity Verified
Tây Ban Nha
Local time: 07:31
English to Spanish
+ ...
Trust that face May 22, 2019

When I take a job I always want to see the face, it sort of give me more trust which usually is a confident look, a smile, a clean aspect, and a clear photo. Those are things that everybody can have without the need of breaking the bank.

But again I suppose that in part these are just judgements we base on own understanding. For example, a rule in many countries is you cannot smile on your passport photo, well in Spain you can...
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When I take a job I always want to see the face, it sort of give me more trust which usually is a confident look, a smile, a clean aspect, and a clear photo. Those are things that everybody can have without the need of breaking the bank.

But again I suppose that in part these are just judgements we base on own understanding. For example, a rule in many countries is you cannot smile on your passport photo, well in Spain you can if you want to!

The clue, really, in a reliable business, is reflected on communication and efficient time management, keeping their word and so on. Have a lovely day y'all!
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Natalia Pedrosa
Eoghan McMonagle
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
Pháp
Local time: 07:31
French to English
yes May 22, 2019

It's not a matter of time, my brain goes there whether I want it to or not.
At the agency, I also used to imagine what the freelance translators we outsourced to looked like. I invariably got it very wrong. One woman, who was extremely competent and hard as nails when negotiating rates, turned out to be small and round and rather dumpy when I had imagined her thin and angular and towering over me. A guy I had imagined like George Harrison circa 1971 turned out to have short hair and a lea
... See more
It's not a matter of time, my brain goes there whether I want it to or not.
At the agency, I also used to imagine what the freelance translators we outsourced to looked like. I invariably got it very wrong. One woman, who was extremely competent and hard as nails when negotiating rates, turned out to be small and round and rather dumpy when I had imagined her thin and angular and towering over me. A guy I had imagined like George Harrison circa 1971 turned out to have short hair and a leather jacket.
Nowadays a lot of PMs have their photo in their signature, and I have connected with a lot of clients on Linked In, so I get to see their photo straight away, my imagination doesn't get as much opportunity get things completely wrong.
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Julio Madrid
 
داليا الأعمر
داليا الأعمر
Jordan
English
Do you imagine what your clients look like if you have never seen them May 22, 2019

Well... I think it comes naturally
The way he/she writes or speaks force you to


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Đức
Local time: 07:31
Thành viên kể từ 2009
English to German
+ ...
Other May 22, 2019

Some of my clients have sent Christmas greetings with their photo in it, so there was no need to imagine what they look like.

Others have sent me add requests on LinkedIn. There photo is displayed there.

Other than this, it doesn't matter what they look like. The only thing that matters is that our collaboration is pleasant and fruitful for both parties.


 
Merab Dekano
Merab Dekano  Identity Verified
Tây Ban Nha
English to Spanish
+ ...
I do May 22, 2019

Photos aside, I almost never look them up, but the names and surnames somehow help me to shape an image in my head. This is pure fiction, though.

Josephine Cassar
Liena Vijupe
 
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Hege Jakobsen Lepri  Identity Verified
Na Uy
Local time: 07:31
Thành viên kể từ 2002
English to Norwegian
+ ...
Most have websites with profle pictures May 22, 2019

I do like to see what they look like, but sometimes there is too much information in a photo. One PM at an Italian agency has a Skype image of herself on a beach that is bordering on soft-porn.

 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
Hoa Kỳ
Local time: 01:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Need To... May 22, 2019

..when I am going over to Europe to meet them, since in that case, they always send me a picture.

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
Vương Quốc Anh
Local time: 06:31
French to English
Yes May 22, 2019

The pretty French names always make me imagine Disney princesses.

 
Anne Schulz
Anne Schulz
Đức
Local time: 07:31
English to German
+ ...
No, but... May 22, 2019

I never consciously imagine what my clients might look like, and if you asked me, I'd say "No idea!" with utter conviction. Yet, the few times I happened to come across a photograph of someone I had known by voice or email, I had a clear feeling of "That's him/her - of course" or "THAT'S him/her - impossible!" Unconsciously, I guess, I do form images of my clients in my mind.

Elizabeth Tamblin
Liena Vijupe
Agneta Pallinder
 
Gibril Koroma
Gibril Koroma  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 01:31
French to English
+ ...
No May 22, 2019

No. It does not matter to me what they look like.

Philip Lees
 


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Poll: Do you imagine what your clients look like if you have never seen them?






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