Many misconceptions surround contracts in society in general and among translators in particular, in part because awareness is not high. We can’t set it all straight today, but I’m going to give you an overview of what you can expect and, perhaps more importantly, the mechanics of the game.
Unlike some more conventional views, I would like to show you a contract not as a solemn pledge reflecting moral views but as an algorithm designed just like you would write a computer program, and as a risk management tool used consciously by the agency’s contract drafter as part of the agency’s business plan.
There are four basic ways of managing risk once it has been identified and assessed: avoidance, reduction, retention, and sharing (insuring, transferring, outsourcing). They may overlap and all be involved in a contract in varying degrees, but, since every contract is about current or future economic distribution, sharing will be our focus today.
In other words, I will be doing my best in 50 minutes to tell you how not to become an agency’s insurer.
Łukasz Gos is a lawyer turned translator from Warsaw, Poland.