Translation needed.

[Lenguyen]

I'm very appreciated if anyone could help me with these words:
1.'production pool' How is it translated into Vietnamese? this is a term to call employees who are hired to work as full time or part time( manufacturing firm) in a work pool until the next available job opening.' công nhân làm việc theo thời vụ?' doesn't sound right?!

2.'Load balancing crew' this employment classification is to call employee(s) who has a variable work schedule depending on the company needs and the individual's schedule.

Thanks in advance.
Lenguyen.

[sunset]

I'm very appreciated if anyone could help me with these words:
1.'production pool' How is it translated into Vietnamese? this is a term to call employees who are hired to work as full time or part time( manufacturing firm) in a work pool until the next available job opening.' công nhân làm việc theo thời vụ?' doesn't sound right?!

2.'Load balancing crew' this employment classification is to call employee(s) who has a variable work schedule depending on the company needs and the individual's schedule.

Thanks in advance.
Lenguyen.

1. You are right."Công nhân thời vụ" is OK. (Công nhân làm theo thời vụ=employee(s), who are hired to do saesonal work, thường làm những công việc thô sơ, ko cần tay nghề).
2. Maybe "công nhân hợp đồng" hoặc "nhân viên hợp đồng"?( là người có tay nghề, tùy theo yêu cầu cụ thể mà công ty thỏa thuận bằng một hợp đồng làm việc như với kỹ sư, kế toán, thợ may...).

[Lenguyen]

You are fast Sunset.Thanks for the input.
Lenguyen.

[carolton67]

I think "công nhân làm việc theo thời vụ" is acceptable. It doesn't sound right to you because we don't have this terminology in Vietnamese. In my line of work, there is a term called "jury pool" and "pool" is "một nhóm, một tổ người được lựa chọn" so we translate that as "nhóm bồi thẩm đoàn túc trực được lựa chọn"; because the main reason why you have a pool of something is that you can select from it. The word "túc trực" means on call and that is similar to what you described: the workers are "on call" for work; so you can use your translation or "tổ công nhân túc trực".

#2 Load balancing crew: (Đội công nhân bảo dưỡng theo khối lượng công việc" which in essence means: workers that are maintained according to the work load. I believe that's how you explained it. I know these translations seem long and wordy but there is no other equivalent because we don't have these phrases in Vietnamese and so you have to define it yourself and translate it too. This is not unusual, I've come across it many times in translating; an English phrase will only have 2-3 words but it takes 7-8 words to translate into Vietnamese and if you shorten it or leave out some words, people will not understand it.

[Lenguyen]

Thank you very much Carolton for your detailed illustration. But 'Đội công nhân bảo dưỡng theo khối lượng công việc' does not sound right to me either, balancing means giữ cho thăng bằng or giữ cho cân bằng in this case whereas bảo dưỡng means maintenance or to maintain for example: Maintenance personel has to do PM on the molding machine every 4 months, Công nhân bảo dưỡng phải làm công việc bảo trì máy đúc khuôn ấy 4 tháng một lần. So we should put it ' Tổ vần công' ? Just a thought! I heard that in Vietnam, expecially in the North, farmers would exchange their labor with each other.One would work as non-paid employee for other to complete whatever needed to be done for that season and in return he will receive the same service from other, it's kind of 'balancing' work between farmers.

Lenguyen.

[carolton67]

I know what you mean but you cannot translate word for word. If you translated word for word, you would get something like: "đội công nhân quân bình khối lượng công việc" which sounds even more strange. Like I said previously, since there is no equivalent Vietnamese translation you have to understand the meaning then translate that. And the way you explained it to me was that: the company maintains these workers so that they can call on them to work whenever they have a heavier workload, no? and they can let these workers off when there is less work right? Where do these workers go when they're not working? Doesn't the company still maintain them on the employee roll? or are they like migrant or seasonal workers?

I don't think you would want to compare what the Northern Vietnamese farmers did with the work in American companies. Northern Vietnamese lived under communism and practiced socialism so the way they worked was through a collective means of production. that's the whole premise of socialism; whereas American business is based on capitalism. Just a thought, you can use whatever you want. It's going to sound strange to you or to everyone else like I said because no one has used it Vietnamese because there is no such thing.

[carolton67]

Sorry, I just wanted to ask "vần công" means work-exchange. So then, the workers would be doing work in exchange for what? It's management's decision that determines the number of people in a work crew so that they don't have too many workers when production demand (workload) is low, this is to minimize costs, no?

[Lenguyen]

Sorry, I just wanted to ask "vần công" means work-exchange. So then, the workers would be doing work in exchange for what? It's management's decision that determines the number of people in a work crew so that they don't have too many workers when production demand (workload) is low, this is to minimize costs, no?

Yes, You were right, 'vần công ' or ' đổi công ' means work-exchange. Within the farmer community or a village( Again in Northern Vietnam, I heard), since one family don't have enough manpower and if they don't transplant their rice seedlings for instance within a period of time, their crop would be wasted, To achieve this goal, they would need more help, that's when ' vần công ' comes in, Again, the reason I brought up the term ' vần công ' because It was just a thought and I was pretty sure that I was right on one element of comparison which is 'balancing'. Anyway, we're wandering quite far away from the main subject. Yes, I totally agree with your previous translation , the whole argument is to find a good and suitable translation.

Nice discussing with you. I've learnt alot from you. Thanks indeed.
Lenguyen

[carolton67]

I don't know what you're going to be using it for or how much you will be using it. You're not going to publish it in print or something are you? If not, just pick anything. Americans don't know what the Vietnamese words are and Vietnamese have never heard of that so they won't know what it is either. Just kidding.

[carolton67]

Lenguyen, I just thought of something else. My choice of the words "bảo dưỡng" was not a good one and agree it might have sound strange. I was not thinking very clearly at that time of night. We can change that to "công nhân được duy trì theo khối lượng công việc" or "sự quân bình của công nhân theo khối lượng công việc" or "công nhân được quân bình theo khối lượng công việc" just another thought. I like kicking back and forth ideas of translations with others also, it helps me improve my language skills. That also proves true the saying: "You learn something new everyday."