| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: How many words can you accurately translate in an hour? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| I have no idea | Jul 17, 2014 |
Researching for ONE word may take one hour, while translating text on a subject that I am fully familiar with (and which has puzzled competent colleagues who specialize in other areas) may go like a bobsleigh downhill.
My rated yield is 3,000 words/day, however I've done 10,000 words within a continuous 19-hour span.
Accurately? Yes! The 10K job client praised the quality for weeks in a row, I was getting bored from so many laudatory comments. Worst of it, technically i... See more Researching for ONE word may take one hour, while translating text on a subject that I am fully familiar with (and which has puzzled competent colleagues who specialize in other areas) may go like a bobsleigh downhill.
My rated yield is 3,000 words/day, however I've done 10,000 words within a continuous 19-hour span.
Accurately? Yes! The 10K job client praised the quality for weeks in a row, I was getting bored from so many laudatory comments. Worst of it, technically it was from my L1 into L2. So much about demanding truly native speakers. Of course, it was in my 'native' subject area... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I am definitely a pedant | Jul 17, 2014 |
Chris S wrote: Why do people here find the concept of an "average" so taxing? Granted the question is ambiguous (are we talking typical or extreme circumstances?), but once you plump for one or the other it shouldn't be too hard to guesstimate an average. I kinda feel we need an "I am a pedant" option in most of these polls 
... but the average in this case is meaningless.
The chances of the average language pair
average translator
average subject area
average number of disturbances per hour
and average state of good form/influence of coffee/weather/biorhythm...
all occurring at once are negligible.
Real life is much more interesting for a discussion 
| | | | Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 16:17
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Depends on a few variables | Jul 17, 2014 |
Number one: define accurately for me.
See? It's not that easy.
At the risk of being a pedant for a minute, here's the gist of what I think: accuracy in translation usually refers to completeness: nothing taken out, nothing omitted, nothing added.
Like several of my colleagues here, one of the variables is subject matter. In a mechanical list of parts, for example, accuracy is paramount, there is no room for expansion with unnecessary details that hav... See more Number one: define accurately for me.
See? It's not that easy.
At the risk of being a pedant for a minute, here's the gist of what I think: accuracy in translation usually refers to completeness: nothing taken out, nothing omitted, nothing added.
Like several of my colleagues here, one of the variables is subject matter. In a mechanical list of parts, for example, accuracy is paramount, there is no room for expansion with unnecessary details that have no place in a parts list.
In a legal document, such as a summons or a motion, acronyms have to be explained sometimes to avoid confusion. Completeness is paramount, but there's room for ambiguity since legal traditions (common law vs. Roman law) present the translator with inexact equivalents. Just take the types of damages that can be sought: indirect damages may be translated in different ways, or maybe a product liability clause, even if properly translated, has no application in a country with no product liability regulations. Still, in this particular subject matter, as far as American English contracts and legal documents are concerned, the translation is done for the benefit and convenience of one of the parties to a claim and the translated document has no legal standing before a court of law.
But I digress.
It is difficult to specify a range of words accurately translated in an hour because of some of the reasons given by other colleagues here. Also, because we have off days like everyone else, or some turn of phrase still sounds inelegant or awkward, or reads much like an amateurish piece of translation even after two hours of struggle.
Maybe the poll's purpose is to learn what to say in a form or in an interview (the poll's author may be a novice) or to compare so-called productivity among translators.
If a customer (not a translation agency) or employer asks us what's our hourly output, we could always answer with another question: “How long does it take for your senior technical writer to crank up one of these manuals or help files? How many weeks? How many words per hour? Do they meter the words like that?” ▲ Collapse
| | | | Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 22:17
Italian to English
In memoriam | About 200 wph (100,000 word sample) | Jul 17, 2014 |
On the basis of the 150 or so articles I've translated for the Corriere della Sera website (www.corriere.it/english) so far this year, just under 100,000 words in all, the average wph figure works out at about 225.
The articles range in length from 200-2,000 words (median: 651 words) and they have to be turned round in 2-4 hours, although they're usually out the door in less than three.
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Diana Obermeyer
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:17
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
| Everything can be quantified. | Jul 18, 2014 |
LilianNekipelov wrote:
weather (just kidding--not entirely).
Absolutely!
My productivity peaks at 16°C, mostly sunny and dry with winds at around 10 mph. In these weather conditions, I will average 431 wph with a standard deviation of 212. Weather affects these figures by factor 1-(0.07*(°Cperfect+°Cactual)(°Cperfect+°Cactual)+0.23*(|Windperfect-Windactual|)/100.
Naturally, I have optimised productivity through choice of location http://visit.shetland.org/climate
What I found really surprising in my calculations is that humidity levels only affect projects from certain clients.
Breaks have not been taken into account.
[Edited at 2014-07-18 07:38 GMT]
| | | | | It depends, but.... | Jul 22, 2014 |
Well, It depends to my mood and other factors, but I can say between 300 to 500 Words per Hour.
| | | | | 800 words / hour, average | Sep 19, 2014 |
800 words / hour, average.
I use Wordfast Anywhere, mainly because I've just never bothered to get and learn anything else, but I can translate 5000 - 6000 words a day with it, with very high quality, in a broad range of fields.
I've been scratching my head for 10 years now about the average turnaround figures of 3000 words/day out there.
I do not consider myself particularly fast.
I've always been a slow and methodical worker, I don´t have sophis... See more 800 words / hour, average.
I use Wordfast Anywhere, mainly because I've just never bothered to get and learn anything else, but I can translate 5000 - 6000 words a day with it, with very high quality, in a broad range of fields.
I've been scratching my head for 10 years now about the average turnaround figures of 3000 words/day out there.
I do not consider myself particularly fast.
I've always been a slow and methodical worker, I don´t have sophisticated tools, my language skills are very strong but I'm not a genius.
And I can quite easily do 5000 - 6000 / day.
With 2 kids. And a dog. And a life.
I don´t get it. ▲ Collapse
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