How many words per day can you translate on a day-to-day basis?
Nicole Schnell United States Local time: 00:34 Member English to German + ...
The number of words vs. the number of jobs
Jun 6, 2011
Translating 3000 or 4000 words a day? No problem. If all those words belong to one, continuing job that you are already familiar with and that doesn't require full research from scratch.
If 3000 or 4000 words are supposed to equal 6 to 8 public relations articles at 500 words each - sorry, guys. Nobody will buy THAT myth.
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apk12 Germany Local time: 09:34 Member (2009) English to German + ...
...or vs. number of clients - or vs. number of new clients...
Jun 6, 2011
Sure, sev-k-records are possible only with medium to larger, coherent texts. With several smaller projects or even several smaller projects from several (direct) clients hardly.
[Edited at 2011-06-06 20:19 GMT]
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Martin Cross United States Local time: 00:34 Japanese to English
3-5000
Nov 11, 2011
Experienced translators working in their specialty field and not doing any formatting typically produce about 500 words an hour of polished text. I can do about 1000 words/hour of draft text, so if there are no curve balls I can produce about 750 words an hour of finished text, assuming I have another translator checking my work. I know quite a few translators who can consistently put out 10,000 words a day of polished technical translation.
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Germaine Canada Local time: 03:34 Member (2005) English to French + ...
The dictation question
Nov 12, 2011
N Ivan Contreras wrote:
Nobody seems to have paid any attention to the dictation question I posted a couple of days ago. Should I suppose that no translator ever dictates a text (either alive or using a dictating machine) to a fast typist to improve his/her speed?
Or shall I suppose those who do it won´t confess the sin?
I occasionally do transcription for translators, so yes, some dictate! They usually deliver the tapes and email the source text, although it is also possible to email audiofiles. Only one dictates "live" though. At the end, it might be a little more expensive for him since he takes time to discuss any problem/blanks he may have. On the other hand, he also save time on research and even more when it comes to wordprocessing and formatting.
I usually type 70-90 words/minute, which means an output of 4 to 6 pages an hour for typing only, depending on the quality of the manuscripts I receive. Under (good) dictation, I can easily double that, which would mean an output of 2400 to 3000 words for one hour of (good) dictation. So, the bill may not be that "heavy" for the translator (obviously, depending on his rate vs the transcriptionist/audiotypist's rate!).
In Montreal, as far as I know, an audiotypist would charge $25 to $40CA/hour (plus taxes in some case). One of my clients adds this cost to his invoice; I don't know for the others. Anyway, it must be profitable somewhere: I know of three translators who have been doing it for more than 15 years.
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Tom in London United Kingdom Local time: 08:34 Member (2008) Italian to English
Hmmm
Nov 12, 2011
jjacek wrote:
How many words per day can you translate on a day-to-day basis? How many words/day do you think a beginning translator can translate?
Hmm. This is an interesting thread that has made me rethink a little.
If I include all necessary research, revision, polishing, checking, doing a final print and checking again, etc. plus invoicing at the end, chasing late payments, registering the invoice, doing the other paperwork, and all other related admin., in other words, fully finished, delivered, paid, and entered on my books, I wouldn't generally go above 3000 words per day unless it's a special rush job that requires me to work long hours and weekends.
Moreover, that estimate is based on the assumption that I have no other jobs in hand and that nothing will interrupt my work. In reality, when giving clients an estimate of how long a job will take, I always add extra time. And I do like to get out of the house once in a while, to keep my sanity.
I try to avoid phone calls. There's very little you can do in a 5-minute phone call that you can't do by writing a 30-second email.
This is of course only an estimate. I can often do better than 3K words/day.
On the other hand, sometimes I get really challenging academic texts written in abstruse, dense language that not only require more time but are often so interesting that they set me off reading other things, ordering books for myself, just sitting and thinking, etc. Which all slows me down, but in a very enjoyable way.
Speed isn't everything. What matters is quality, faithfulness to the source text, and writing style. If you have to slow down to achieve those things, then...slow down!
As for beginners, I don't know. What does it mean to be "a beginner"? A beginner could be highly fluent and literate in their mother tongue (i.e. their target language) and have an excellent vocabulary, but might not be nearly so literate in their source language. Or they might not be very literate in either language.
In the worst cases (which, alas, do exist) they might not even know the meanings of words like "literacy". I regret to say that all too often I see translators asking for help with questions that reveal a low level of literacy in their own mother tongue. Such people might have to grope for a long time for the "mot juste", whereas a literate person will often be able to find a good word inside their own head, without needing to have recourse to a thesaurus or a dictionary.
A beginner would presumably not be very confident about when to adhere punctiliously to the precise literal meaning of a text, and when to let go and be creative.
They might also be very slow with a computer, and inefficient at creating a basic workflow for doing translations.
There are so many factors at play in defining what a "beginner" is that I wouldn't hazard a guess as to how many words a beginner might be able to deliver. Presumably it would be a lot less than my basic 3K.
Oh - and my estimate doesn't include for "time spent browsing through the Proz discussion forums and contributing to them". But I usually only do that when I'm not busy. This is Saturday !
[Edited at 2011-11-12 10:01 GMT]
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juanpablosans Venezuela Local time: 03:04 Member (2011) Italian to Spanish + ...
2,500-3,000
Nov 14, 2011
The other day I hit 15,000 words in three days and the quality was VERY GOOD!
From last Saturday up to today I hit 7,000 words.
It depends on the person and the speed typing and the them you are dealing with. I suppose it also has to be with age (youngsters like me being able to type faster than not so young translators and being able to use word in a better way).
It depends on your skill as a translator.
I have only 5 years translating and I feel comfortable doing 2,500-3,000 a day.
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xxxinge van dri Belgium Local time: 09:34 German to Dutch + ...
Well...
Nov 14, 2011
I have 20 years of translation experience, am a fast typist and still translate "only" 2,500-3,000 words a day. I can speed up if necessary (using a CAT, having coffee and meals prepared by my husband, working more hours, doing paperwork on Saturdays, etc.), but max speed in one working day still remains about 4,000. When I deliver everything has been thoroughly checked. By the way, I do not translate easy commercial or IT texts.
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