Lost my English - Fluent - Verified status

Jennifer M · Oct 1, 2015 12:10:15 PM

lol this actually reminds me of a job I did for a Russian developer. He had translated the software prompts and content, but he wanted someone to clean up the English. I looked at the spreadsheet and thought "psssh 1 hour tops." Bid, hired, escrow funded.

I do the work, send it back thinking I had it in the bag. I went through at least 4-5 revisions of that (*&%(&)*&)* spreadsheet because he kept sending it back telling me certain things didn't sound right. He would make suggestions and I would tell him "No, that's not right." He wanted me to remove the "We" stuff in his testimonials, and I kept going back and forth over and over and over again. What a nightmare.

I kinda wonder how he would rate me on my English skills. lol

Ela K · Oct 8, 2015 10:24:20 AM

@Ela K wrote:
@Preston H wrote:
re: "So, how do you get this verification badge?"

[...]

The OTHER way you can be validated is that Upwork periodically asks clients to evaluate a contractor's English language proficiency at the close of a contract.

With enough evaluations from clients, a contractor might earn a validated English proficiency badget on their profile page.

Stephen B and I have asked similar questions in another thread last week (https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Are-you-TOP-RATED-If-yes-how-or-if-not-why/td-p/120279/p... - we're not getting any answers there.

So I am going to ask again: which clients can verify my English skills?
Only native speakers? Any client I worked for?

The ones that hired me because my English skills are better than theirs (GER-ENG translations)?

That can't be right and seems a rather odd & unprofessional way of verifying language skills.

Thanks,
Ela

EDIT: Valeria would probably be in a better position to evaluate my English skills as she has had to read too many of my posts in the past months!

Hopefully third time's a charm...

Could a moderator please provide an answer to this repeat question?

Many thanks!

Ela

Tanzeel Z · Oct 1, 2015 12:04:32 PM

Good. My English speaking skills are not great, but I will consider this test. Thanks.

Preston H · Oct 1, 2015 12:20:01 PM

re: "So I am going to ask again: which clients can verify my English skills?

Only native speakers? Any client I worked for?"

Probably anybody.

It's a novel, interesting system, but it's not a very sophisticated system.

We have heard plenty of accounts of clients with poor English language skills positively evaluating contractors, and contractors with poor English skills thus earning validated English proficiency badges.

Mariska P · Oct 1, 2015 01:47:29 PM

With Duolingo (and I'm making myself feel bad because I should have been doing my studies now instead of being here..sigh) I notice that when I'm doing voice answers, Duo will either say repeat and I get a couple more chances to speak the French, Dutch, or Spanish sentence correctly, or it just tells me I did fine and moves on. I think that, secretly, Duo is kind of tired of me and just wants to pass me through like my math teacher did when I took math in night school.

Sometimes Duo gets a bit annoyed with me because I don't spell words properly.. like with French, I type it with North American letters instead of using accents on the letters. Same diff to me, but Duo just can't let it go. I think we're drifting apart really... I really need to be more attentive because Duo's kind of needy that way....

So Duo isn't perfect but why not try for the $20 certificate? Can't hurt!

Lena E · Oct 13, 2015 02:15:27 PM

The verified status bug has been resolved and those who lost the badge should now see it on their profile. If for some reason it isnt showing try updating your language setting for it to trigger.

Thanks,

Lena

Ela K · Oct 13, 2015 02:21:59 PM

@Lena E wrote:
The verified status bug has been resolved and those who lost the badge should now see it on their profile. If for some reason it isnt showing try updating your language setting for it to trigger.

Thanks,

Lena

Lena,

Update it to what?

Native is gone - so is Upwork really asking people to have a 'verified badge' sitting next to 'masterful'?

Surely that is not what they got verified for...

Lena E · Oct 13, 2015 02:30:50 PM

Ela. you can update it to the option you would like to have selected at this time. We have heard the concerns about masterful and they have been noted. My update was for those who lost the checkmark recently.

Ela K · Oct 13, 2015 02:44:41 PM

@Lena E wrote:
Ela. you can update it to the option you would like to have selected at this time. We have heard the concerns about masterful and they have been noted. My update was for those who lost the checkmark recently.

Lena,

I didn't have a 'verfied badge' next to my native language. Never felt the need to verify that. But for 3 weeks now (or even longer) I have been trying to find out which clients can verify my English skills.

The verified badge disappeared on people who had verified their native status. So, my question is - what good is a 'verified' next to 'masterful' - as that is the level that has replaced 'native'.

And no, I can't update it to the selection I would like - because 'native' has been removed.

Ela

Bojana D · Oct 2, 2015 05:14:29 AM

Huh, interesting. Thanks for the info, Preston, I didn't know clients are asked to do that. That might explain how I got a Verified badge - I was wondering about that because I haven't provided any certificates; I only have the ~~oDesk~~ Upwork tests under my belt but I know for sure they don't qualify you for Verified status.