Giving feedback in a proper way and my website for practicing
Thread poster: Yelisey Moroz
Yelisey Moroz
Yelisey Moroz  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 22:31
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
Mar 30, 2017

There is a great way to give feedback to a person. It is called the "shit sandwich" technique. First you tell what is good about the work that you evaluate, then squeeze in your constructive criticism, and always finish with some positive stuff.

I know that this method may seem trivial but for me it was a kind of revelation. I knew about the first two components but had no idea about the third one. Hope that this technique might prove useful for somebody.

You can practi
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There is a great way to give feedback to a person. It is called the "shit sandwich" technique. First you tell what is good about the work that you evaluate, then squeeze in your constructive criticism, and always finish with some positive stuff.

I know that this method may seem trivial but for me it was a kind of revelation. I knew about the first two components but had no idea about the third one. Hope that this technique might prove useful for somebody.

You can practice this approach right now. I have finished my website yelisey-moroz.com and would be really thankful for some feedback

[Edited at 2017-03-30 17:52 GMT]
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Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 01:31
Member (2013)
English to Russian
- Mar 30, 2017

Yelisey Moroz wrote:

There is a great way to give feedback to a person. It is called the "shit sandwich" technique. First you tell what is good about the work that you evaluate, then squeeze in your constructive criticism, and always finish with some positive stuff.

I know that this method may seem trivial but for me it was a kind of revelation. I knew about the first two components but had no idea about the third one. Hope that this technique might prove useful for somebody.

You can practice this approach right now. I have finished my website yelisey-moroz.com and would be really thankful for some feedback

[Edited at 2017-03-30 17:52 GMT]


The website looks simple and neat, without clutter or noisy visual elements. The writing is also decent, which is a selling point in itself. If there is one problem with it, it is that, well, "industry, business and IT" is not a strict specialization. In my opinion, it'd be better to further specialize in a particular area and change the website to highlight that.


 
Ekaterina Kroumova
Ekaterina Kroumova  Identity Verified
French to Bulgarian
+ ...
Nice job! Mar 30, 2017

I absolutely love your website.

Just one question: why did you put your CV and projects on Dropbox? It loads terribly slow and looks poor, compared to your website. You can well upload them as PDFs in your Media container. Even if you need to update your projects list, I suppose you won't do that more than once a month.


 
Angela Malik
Angela Malik  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:31
German to English
+ ...
Great website, copy needs tweaking Mar 31, 2017

I love that you use actual pictures of yourself, and they are professional and engaging.

I would remove some of the superfluous information. You don't need your CV on there; all the necessary information from your CV is already on your website under the "About me" section. With all the CV scams out there, I would remove the link to download your actual CV.

I also agree with another poster that "industry, business and IT" is very vague. You're offering "a solution rather
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I love that you use actual pictures of yourself, and they are professional and engaging.

I would remove some of the superfluous information. You don't need your CV on there; all the necessary information from your CV is already on your website under the "About me" section. With all the CV scams out there, I would remove the link to download your actual CV.

I also agree with another poster that "industry, business and IT" is very vague. You're offering "a solution rather than merely a translation" so your target audience will be a company that has a specific objective or problem and is looking for a specific answer to that. It looks like the bulk of your experience is based in the energy sector. I would mention that! Also you have a FINANCE DEGREE and this should definitely be pointed out more prominently -- it's an area that many translators run from and if you do it and you do it well and you like doing it, for god's sake, man, put that front and centre because there will definitely be takers! So to turn this into practical advice, I would revamp that description and make it a lot more specific to you and your expertise:

"I am a professional translator and interpreter. Since 2010, I have been helping people and companies achieve success by providing them with coherent and accurate translations from English to Russian and Ukrainian." -- Well, OK. NONE OF THAT is special information. There are thousands of good and not-so-good translators and interpreters out there who would be able to say exactly the same thing about themselves.

What about:
"I am a professional translator and interpreter with a degree in finance and extensive experience working with the energy and mining sector. Since 2010, I have been helping people and companies in the energy and mining sectors achieve success, by providing high-quality translations of their technical, financial, corporate and IT documentation from English to Russian and Ukrainian, and providing competent consecutive and simultaneous interpreting services in Ukraine and abroad, where my experience includes high-level meetings attended by the President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Head of the State Property Fund, and other officials, as well as international forums, summits, conferences, and round tables."

That was just an example, but I think it shows what I mean. You want whatever you say about you to be so specific that it can really only apply to you -- you are trying to point out your USP to your target audience.
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Yelisey Moroz
Yelisey Moroz  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 22:31
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks! Mar 31, 2017

Ekaterina Kroumova wrote:

I absolutely love your website.

Just one question: why did you put your CV and projects on Dropbox? It loads terribly slow and looks poor, compared to your website. You can well upload them as PDFs in your Media container. Even if you need to update your projects list, I suppose you won't do that more than once a month.


I absolutely agree. This is a temporary measure so that I could launch the website already. I thought about PDFs and I guess I could also put them on separate pages that would display only when accessed via a link.

Thanks for appreciating the site and taking the time to check it!


 
Yelisey Moroz
Yelisey Moroz  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 22:31
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for the comment. Mar 31, 2017

Max Deryagin wrote:

The website looks simple and neat, without clutter or noisy visual elements. The writing is also decent, which is a selling point in itself. If there is one problem with it, it is that, well, "industry, business and IT" is not a strict specialization. In my opinion, it'd be better to further specialize in a particular area and change the website to highlight that.


I guess you are right. It sounds too general. I'll see how I can tweak it a little bit to get rid of the generalization. Thank you for having a look at the website!


 
Yelisey Moroz
Yelisey Moroz  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 22:31
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
That is an amazing piece of advice, thank you Angela! Mar 31, 2017

Angela Rimmer wrote:

What about:
"I am a professional translator and interpreter with a degree in finance and extensive experience working with the energy and mining sector. Since 2010, I have been helping people and companies in the energy and mining sectors achieve success, by providing high-quality translations of their technical, financial, corporate and IT documentation from English to Russian and Ukrainian, and providing competent consecutive and simultaneous interpreting services in Ukraine and abroad, where my experience includes high-level meetings attended by the President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Head of the State Property Fund, and other officials, as well as international forums, summits, conferences, and round tables."

That was just an example, but I think it shows what I mean. You want whatever you say about you to be so specific that it can really only apply to you -- you are trying to point out your USP to your target audience.


It haven't even come to my mind. That is really a lot of food for thought. Thank you so much for providing a practical example. I can see that you have looked at almost every page of the website to collect the info. This copy is really striking.

A quick question if you allow. Does the copy sound too Runglish to your native ear?


 
Angela Malik
Angela Malik  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:31
German to English
+ ...
Your English is excellent :) Mar 31, 2017

Yelisey Moroz wrote:

A quick question if you allow. Does the copy sound too Runglish to your native ear?


Absolutely not. I think it's exceptional English, not only because I have seen a lot of English written by Russian native speakers (and as I'm sure you are aware, sometimes the results are quite dire!) but also because I genuinely think it reads well and stands it own as an English text. I mean, I didn't pick through your website copy with a fine-tooth comb but what I did read was perfect, linguistically speaking.


 


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Giving feedback in a proper way and my website for practicing







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