| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: An interesting subject for a long-term study of issues affecting translators would be their: Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| other (combination of some of the above + some) | Dec 3, 2007 |
The relationship between [schedule and/or workload] and family life: does it affect many of us, how do we cope with it etc...
[Edited at 2007-12-03 04:18]
| | | | sylvie malich (X)
Germany
Local time: 01:10
German to English
Henry Hinds wrote:
I answered NA because my answer is all of the above and more, it would all be interesting.
Right.
sylvie
| | | | | @ Leticia Klemetz | Dec 3, 2007 |
Leticia Klemetz, CT wrote:
Some people get tendinitis.
Some people get sick of it because of work overloads.
Some people cannot handle the social loneliness.
Some people cannot handle the financial insecurity and become in-house translators.
Some people perhaps don't get enough work and have to switch to something else, within languages or not.
Other perhaps just get bored.
Thing is, I have a feeling few people have this (full time freelance translation) as a life-long career.
It would be interesting to find out why.
Your suggestion for statistics/a study about freelance translators sounds interesting (though rather somber), but I am wondering if all these factors are exclusive of freelance translators.
I get the feeling that, nowadays, with so many other professions offering the option to work as a freelancer (for example, DTP expert or graphic designer), they may also be "suffering" from the same problems.
I guess when you are a freelancer (of any profession) it basically boils down to being able to manage both the profession's aspects per se and the entrepreneur (management, self-marketing, etc.) aspects, two areas that may not be necessarily balanced in some freelance personalities.
Saludos,
Ivette
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 19:10
Spanish to English
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| Historical limits --> today's myth | Dec 3, 2007 |
Parrot wrote:
In the days of time-and-motion studies (before they called it P.E.R.T. -- these fashionable names and name changes), 3000 (at target) was the optimum figure for an 8-hour working day.
That fixes your reference time-frame somewhere in the 1950s - over half a century ago, long before the invention of the PC.
What may have been true then is surely not still true today?. And if it is, why don't we still use mechanical typewriters? After all, they're a lot cheaper than PCs and laptops, never need upgrading, (almost) never crash, ... They've got a lot going for them!
The implication we can draw from a comparison between your historical observations and comments frequently made in this forum about words/day limits, suggests that all our modern technology has done absolutely nothing to raise productivity in this business.
What we are seeing here is that 'limits' of half a century ago are still with us, luring freelancers, agencies and clients alike into the firm belief that 3000 words working day is still the 'norm'. Many modern-day myths have their roots in historical fact or circumstance. This 3000 words/day thing is just one example of that. It needs to be dispelled - for the good of this profession in general and for the benefit of freelancers' incomes in particular.
MediaMatrix
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Parrot 
Spain
Local time: 01:10
Spanish to English
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| The study was... | Dec 3, 2007 |
mediamatrix wrote:
That fixes your reference time-frame somewhere in the 1950s - over half a century ago, long before the invention of the PC.
Not that old. Certainly it was well after the Nuremberg trials.
What may have been true then is surely not still true today?. And if it is, why don't we still use mechanical typewriters? After all, they're a lot cheaper than PCs and laptops, never need upgrading, (almost) never crash, ... They've got a lot going for them!
around the time of electric typewriters and Wordstar
Starting with Wordperfect, I'd raise the upper limit by about 100-150/hour, but have no data. (And I'd attribute that to the relative weight of keystrokes and less formatting concerns rather than any other fantastic new technological advances, since plain transcription still yields a limited figure). No studies have been done to date on people working with Dragon. The role of CATs is rather quite arbitrary in this. (Depending on the text, they can raise or lower productivity, in my experience.)
[Edited at 2007-12-03 15:03]
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