Complete a translation test

Overview

When a client wants to evaluate your translation skills before adding you to a project, Smartcat invites you to complete a short test. This guide walks you through accepting a test invitation, translating in the CAT editor, and submitting your work for review.

Complete the test

1. You receive an email inviting you to participate in a project, with a request to first complete a test

2. Read the email carefully, including the project details. If you are not interested in the project, ignore the email. If you want to participate, complete the test

3. Start the test by clicking Complete the test

   

4. The test opens in the CAT editor. Complete it by translating each segment

   

5. After you finish translating and save all the segments, click Done

   

6. A Completed label appears in place of the Finish button, confirming that you have finished the test

   

7. Smartcat saves your results automatically. The client reviews them on the platform and evaluates your work, and you receive an email with the test results

Your completed test is now submitted, and the client will notify you of the outcome by email.

FAQs

Will I get paid for a test assignment I have completed?

Test translations are not paid in Smartcat. If you are invited to complete a test, you receive an email notification with details of the assignment. Such assignments are marked as Test Tasks in your workspace.

⚠️ Report any cases where a customer asks you to perform tasks in Smartcat for free by contacting support@smartcat.ai.

Where should I send the completed test?

Complete the test in the built-in CAT editor. When you finish, press the green Done button. Smartcat saves the results and sends them to the client.

How and when will I receive the test results?

After the client reviews your work, you receive an email notification. If you are testing for a specific project, you know the results within two weeks.

If the project description indicates that the testing procedure runs for a prolonged period, the client likely has no end date for the search and needs specialists in the specified language pair and subject matter on a constant basis.

The client may quickly review tests from some candidates applying for the current project and consider the remaining candidates later when the need arises again. In this case, you are notified about the results in a month or two.

If you have not received your test results within two weeks and the test was not long-term, the client has most likely already found all the candidates they needed and will not review the rest of the tests.

The link to the testing page is not accessible

Most likely, recruitment of candidates for the project has finished or the deadline for passing the test has expired.

What is the deadline for completing the test?

If the description does not indicate a specific period, complete the test within three days. Clients usually get enough applications during this time and close the testing session.

I was invited to complete a test, but I am not interested in the project

It is up to you to decide which tests to participate in. The invitation email notifies you of the opportunity, but if you are not interested, ignore the email.

What if the client uses the testing procedure to get translations for free?

The supplier testing procedure is designed so that its results cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Clients cannot upload different content for testing. The maximum text size is 250 words (one standard page). Smartcat automatically generates tests from a file provided by the client for the required number of linguists, and the client receives different translations of the same content from each applicant.

Smartcat manually reviews each client request for testing and removes anything that violates the Terms of Use from the description and testing materials. If a client wants to run several tests with similar texts in the same language pair and subject matter, Smartcat prevents that.

Will the test be paid or reviewed?

Completed tests are not used for commercial purposes, and they are not reviewed or paid for. Corrected results or samples of correctly completed tests are not provided. Test results are not discussed and are not subject to review. The sole purpose of a test is to determine your language level and translation skills.

What happens if I don't pass the test or do the job poorly?

After being tested, you get the opportunity to participate in the project you are interested in. There are no sanctions for poor quality results. However, remember the following:

• Do not use AI translation. A system is in place to prevent it. If it turns out that you used an online translator tool, the results are not handed over to the client

• If you open a test job and realize that you cannot deliver a high quality translation, you probably should not participate in the project. Testing materials are usually an extract from the project or a related text. If you have a hard time passing the test, you will likely have difficulties working on the project too, even if you pass the test. Another project may suit your skills and subject matter expertise better