| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | How quick/slow were you when you first started out? Thread poster: Vivien Green
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| This is why they are speakers | Oct 23, 2013 |
Vivien Green wrote:
What's strange is that the speakers at a lot of the proz.com events (free webinars and industry panels etc.) have implied that this isn't financially viable in the long run and that you really need to be doing 4000 to 5000 a day if you're going to survive.
If you are able to survive with 40-50k gross/year, there is certainly no need to kill yourself with 4-5000 words a day, even in spikes, and even with agencies only.
I hardly do more than 3000 any day of the year. Maybe I couldn't.
But then, I am a doer, not a speaker.
Philippe
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:06
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Philippe Etienne wrote:
..........I hardly do more than 3000 any day of the year. Maybe I couldn't.
But then, I am a doer, not a speaker.
Philippe
My 3000-3500 a day is "working comfortably and not in a rush". I sometimes do more, but not habitually.
Maybe I have a modest lifestyle but if I had enough work to just do 3000-3500 a day I would be perfectly able to live here in London. Unfortunately the work isn't regular. There are down times.
| | | | Tatty 
Local time: 15:06
Spanish to English
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| Agree with Nicole | Oct 23, 2013 |
I think that a normal day's work is 2,500 words, not 3,500 or 4,000. You will need to be able to make a living off translation otherwise it just isn't worth it. I certainly translated more than 1,000 words a day when I started off, in fact I translated 2,500 because agencies only give you the time you need to finish a translation, but I found it hard, like Samuel. And it is horses for courses in the world of translation, I've always had a steady flow of work and don't really have any slack perio... See more I think that a normal day's work is 2,500 words, not 3,500 or 4,000. You will need to be able to make a living off translation otherwise it just isn't worth it. I certainly translated more than 1,000 words a day when I started off, in fact I translated 2,500 because agencies only give you the time you need to finish a translation, but I found it hard, like Samuel. And it is horses for courses in the world of translation, I've always had a steady flow of work and don't really have any slack periods to speak of. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 15:06
English to Spanish
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| I believe you should strive to get quicker | Oct 23, 2013 |
In my case I certainly have increased my translation speed quite a lot since I started translating, I'm not going to get into actual figures but I now translate more than twice as fast as I did when I started.
In my opinion increasing the speed at which you translate (obviously without sacrificing quality) gives you two very important options: 1) if you are happy with the money you are making then translating quicker means working less time; 2) if you want to make more money transla... See more In my case I certainly have increased my translation speed quite a lot since I started translating, I'm not going to get into actual figures but I now translate more than twice as fast as I did when I started.
In my opinion increasing the speed at which you translate (obviously without sacrificing quality) gives you two very important options: 1) if you are happy with the money you are making then translating quicker means working less time; 2) if you want to make more money translating quicker means making more money without having to work more time. ▲ Collapse
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| CAT tools and other software, word processing and specialisations. | Oct 23, 2013 |
I should have said before that I've only just bought Memoq so my per day amounts are without using a CAT tool, TM or term base up until now. I am really hoping the software will lead to a big increase in productivity. I've also just bought Wordfinder which is greatly reducing time taken looking up the dictionary for non-technical terms. It still isn't quite working 100% as it should so I've yet to use it for an actual job but the company are being very helpful and it's down to me that I haven... See more I should have said before that I've only just bought Memoq so my per day amounts are without using a CAT tool, TM or term base up until now. I am really hoping the software will lead to a big increase in productivity. I've also just bought Wordfinder which is greatly reducing time taken looking up the dictionary for non-technical terms. It still isn't quite working 100% as it should so I've yet to use it for an actual job but the company are being very helpful and it's down to me that I haven't had the time to get back to them on a few things they need to know. I think the problem is with windows 8.
Another thing that really slows me down is the word processing side of things. In the past it has added 3-4 hours to short projects and more to longer ones and this has greatly inflated my average word counts. What was interesting in one recent webinar was that one of the people from a translation agency said that they get their word processing and formatting done in-house so that the translators can focus on the translation. How common is this does anyone know? I would love to work for these agencies! That said I am currently doing the WLS course and have found out a few word processing "tricks" since I last worked on anything with a tricky lay out so I think I can skim off a good few hours on that too.
Finally, a lot of the work I've done is quite specialised - legal and financial as I've said before. AntDunn's answer was particularly useful as I suppose I am also starting out with more specialised/technical texts which isn't the case for everyone (but am lucky enough to have the internet and other recent innovations to make this easier than it was in the past). I didn't plan on going down this route at this early stage but ended up doing so as I joined the proz.com mentorship programme and it's what my mentor specialises in. Two thousand words in a working day of 7-8 hours is fine for non-legal/non-financial texts but with legal/financial I'm still triple checking everything - think confidence has a lot to do with it but I'm definitely more confident than I was when I started. That said, I only take on legal and financial work outside the mentorship programme if the deadline isn't a tight one.
Alex - just saw your post as I was about to post this; I definitely agree, I am very much striving to get quicker all the time although it's great to have an idea of what kind of speed other people are working at. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 15:06
English to Spanish
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| Don't worry about other people | Oct 23, 2013 |
Vivien Green wrote:
Alex - just saw your post as I was about to post this; I definitely agree, I am very much striving to get quicker all the time although it's great to have an idea of what kind of speed other people are working at.
I wouldn't worry too much about the actual figures and what other people do (which is why I did not mention my numbers), there could be many reasons why they are quicker or slower than you, just worry about your numbers and improving them. Once thing I find helps a lot is to work in spurts during which you don't do absolutely anything else and then rest. For example I usually try to work for 90 minutes non stop high concentration, and then take a 30 minute break and do something completely different (work around the house, walk the dog, call friends, go for a coffee, etc.)
| | | | | it's not about how fast you can type | Oct 23, 2013 |
Vivien Green wrote:
I'd be interested to know how many words you could process in a day or working day when you first started out and how long it took you to substantially increase this? What kind of increase in productivity can a translator expect to achieve in the first five or so years of his or her career? I'm primarily interested in those of you who started in the internet age but feel free to post about your experiences whenever you started.
You gain experience and after a few years increase the speed with which you can translate certain texts but I am not "typing" any faster. I want to make the point that translating is not about speed in the sense of how many words you can type.
I am saying this because ir depends on what material you are translating, how familiar you are with the terminology, and how much additional work you put in (research, proofreading, etc.). It's these latter things that you become more aware of the longer you work. Each project is different and I regard the thorough review of the original text as the most important task. It will determine how long you will take to do the job and how many words you can "translate", not "type" per day.
B
NB: I almost forgot: it's always about quality, not speed. That doesn't mean you should work slowly.
[Edited at 2013-10-23 15:26 GMT]
| | | | | not necessarily more productive | Oct 23, 2013 |
Vivien Green wrote:
I should have said before that I've only just bought Memoq so my per day amounts are without using a CAT tool, TM or term base up until now. I am really hoping the software will lead to a big increase in productivity.
Not necessarily. There is a lot of tedious additional work that can go into working with CAT tools that can slow you down even if there are phrases or even sentences that repeat at a 100% match (making sure your target formats match the source exactly). Again, the software might help with repetitions and word look-ups in the TM, but if you are translating a new text from scratch without having a TM, i.e you are creating your own TM, there is no increase in productivity at first. Sometimes, there will be technical problems (when you receive incomplete TM files or, when finalizing your work, encounter problems saving your file). I sometimes use a CAT tool, but in general, it does not speed up the translation process. Also, be careful about TM suggestions. In my experience, often what is suggested by the TM supplied to you is not the right choice. So that means you can't really trust the TM and have to weigh its suggestion with your own thoughts/research. The more technical we get, the more work becomes possible.
I can see an increase in productivity if you work with a TM you can trust = your own.
I certainly don't give any discounts BECAUSE I am asked to do so by a prospective client.
It's a false logic to expect us to charge less for more words we supposedly can translate using a CAT tool.
If a text has a lot of repetitions, I might take that into account for the overall rate I charge but don't let them fool you into believing you have to work for less because you use a CAT-tool and to have to be quicker.
B
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| typing and CAT tools again | Oct 24, 2013 |
Thanks for your comments Bernhard. Sorry if my original post was unclear but I wasn't referring to typing speed when I spoke of productivity etc. I was referring to all of the things you mentioned. Quality is obviously of utmost importance so I am talking about the time it takes to produce professional, quality work.
Regarding translation software, I'm aware there will be issues that cause time-consuming problems but from what I've heard it does speed everything up significantly ... See more Thanks for your comments Bernhard. Sorry if my original post was unclear but I wasn't referring to typing speed when I spoke of productivity etc. I was referring to all of the things you mentioned. Quality is obviously of utmost importance so I am talking about the time it takes to produce professional, quality work.
Regarding translation software, I'm aware there will be issues that cause time-consuming problems but from what I've heard it does speed everything up significantly when you're up and running with it. I researched all the different options carefully so as to make sure I ended up with the best option, this being the one that causes the least problems and offers the best support for when they do occur (in my opinion). Almost everyone I have spoken to in real life has said that a CAT tool has substantially increased their productivity in the medium to long run so I am confident it will boost my daily output without having any adverse effects on the quality. As will developing a term base.
Thanks everyone for your input! Anyone who comes across this thread in the future is more than welcome to add to it though! ▲ Collapse
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The beginning was rough, I remember translating circa 375 words per hour, about 750 when typing fast and not self-proofing much (e.g. due to lack of time in consequence of urgency). I improved over time but also started checking more, thinking harder, seeing more room for optimisation, so it sort of evened out.
You can train yourself to deliver high-quality translation at a fast rate, but the skill is mostly useful when you know there's a strong layer of proofreaders editors and rev... See more The beginning was rough, I remember translating circa 375 words per hour, about 750 when typing fast and not self-proofing much (e.g. due to lack of time in consequence of urgency). I improved over time but also started checking more, thinking harder, seeing more room for optimisation, so it sort of evened out.
You can train yourself to deliver high-quality translation at a fast rate, but the skill is mostly useful when you know there's a strong layer of proofreaders editors and revisers responsible for the final product, while your task is to churn out almost-finished product as fast as possible. On the other hand, if you're supposed to guarantee optimum polish of every single detail, then your workload to time ratio plummets.
Personally, I love fast-paced jobs and don't like the dullness of acting as my own proofreader. However, most clients and agencies expect a one-stop shop, the rationality of which is debatable, but it's still a fact of the market.
Also, if typing is a factor, just stop translating for a while and get yourself a heavy duty touch-typing course, like they taught the secretaries of old by blindfolding them and then giving them a typewriter. Thereafter you can purchase a keyboard with no inscription on keys. You should preferably learn the right way of typing before your bad (i.e. non-optimal) ways settle in muscle memory, as has been the case with me, for example (and it's hard to unlearn). I think learning to type fast can help your productivity with simple texts, it also opens up a couple of possibilities that are hard to narrow down otherwise. It basically removes a bottleneck.
[Edited at 2013-11-03 18:11 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | 2000 words a day is my target | Nov 3, 2013 |
I feel really comfortable with 2000 words a day and I would love it if I was sent 12,000 words a week.
However, nothing's ever perfect and I find myself translating anything from 500 words to 5000! Although I find that when I'm under pressure, I work a lot faster.
Yesterday I only had to do 600 words to do but because I wasn't under any pressure, it took me two hours!!
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I think 375 words an hour is pretty decent for a beginner, Lukasz! Even if it's low compared to your current output!
I slow down when I've got more time too Helena - the proofreading stage just expands to fill the extra hours!
I've had my first few jobs using a TM for the first time (haven't started using a term base yet and I've only just realised I can add dictionaries to MemoQ) and it's making a HUGE difference! It's definitely knocked a few hours off my workin... See more I think 375 words an hour is pretty decent for a beginner, Lukasz! Even if it's low compared to your current output!
I slow down when I've got more time too Helena - the proofreading stage just expands to fill the extra hours!
I've had my first few jobs using a TM for the first time (haven't started using a term base yet and I've only just realised I can add dictionaries to MemoQ) and it's making a HUGE difference! It's definitely knocked a few hours off my working day and is good for morale boosting too - just when you think there's loads left to do, you realise there actually isn't! Things can only get even better when I've made a few decent term bases and the TM has more pairs in it! ▲ Collapse
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Hello, Tom
Yes I agree with you that there is always something that could be improved. But there is always 5% of mistakes in the texts even after multiple times of polishing. I often give the text some other people for reading. It helps me.
Tom in London wrote: Sheila Wilson wrote:
.........but the proofreading stage was interminable. For me, it still is. No matter how many times I polish a text, print it, leave it for a while, and re-read it, there's always something that I think could be improved. It's amazing how the perceived quality of a translation can change depending on time of day, mood, etc. In the end, only the delivery deadline stops me from doing this ad infinitum. My own average per day (for text fully corrected and ready to go) is about 3000-3500 words unless it's the kind of text that requires every single term to be researched. My days tend to be long. [Edited at 2013-10-22 13:06 GMT]
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