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Does any one have good time management advice
Thread poster: Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
Oct 25, 2001

As I ever so slowly grow older and older, I’m starting to realize that time is really one of my most valuable resources. I’ve always paid a lot of attention to organization and management in the past and do my best but frankly, I know I could do better. I see people out there with 20 + years experience translating and if someone out there thinks they are good about managing time, I’m all ears for suggestions.



I’d like to know, for example, the exact process you u
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As I ever so slowly grow older and older, I’m starting to realize that time is really one of my most valuable resources. I’ve always paid a lot of attention to organization and management in the past and do my best but frankly, I know I could do better. I see people out there with 20 + years experience translating and if someone out there thinks they are good about managing time, I’m all ears for suggestions.



I’d like to know, for example, the exact process you use after receiving a text. Do you read the whole thing. Do you immediately look up tough words before starting the translation? How do you integrate the process with CAT tools. Do you use two column checking? Do you proof only on screen, and then in writing? Do you outsource the proofing, etc? If so, why? How? etc.



I guess I’m really asking for a detailed description of an experience translator’s process with comments and comparisons to possible variations. I may be asking a lot, but after all is said and done, it means spending more time with my son, wife and friends (as opposed to this damn computer). Thanks in advance



Jerry

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Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Local time: 04:18
English to Spanish
+ ...
Are you kidding? Oct 25, 2001

Hey colleague,

Are you kidding? You must be knowing all these things by now.

As for me, I do check on the screen, but the best checkng is done on a hard copy. Secondly, I mark in red the itchy areas for further verification.( and sometimes spend a long time pondering over it)

I would like to seek the help of a colleague after the translation is over. It helps a lot. They say \" the best translaion is the one after being checked by a colleague\". But it is hard to g
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Hey colleague,

Are you kidding? You must be knowing all these things by now.

As for me, I do check on the screen, but the best checkng is done on a hard copy. Secondly, I mark in red the itchy areas for further verification.( and sometimes spend a long time pondering over it)

I would like to seek the help of a colleague after the translation is over. It helps a lot. They say \" the best translaion is the one after being checked by a colleague\". But it is hard to get colleagues at hand sometimes,but the Internet is the best help.

Translation tools are very useful for the repeated texts.And finally do not forget to keep a thesaurus at hand. And finally, chcking if some line is left out by mistake, and that can be awful.
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Sven Petersson
Sven Petersson  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 23:48
English to Swedish
+ ...
My way Oct 26, 2001

1. Never accept a job unseen. Price all jobs considering the expected time needed AND if you would need the service of a proofreader/verifier for the job in question (My fees vary with a factor 3 between “dead simple texts” and highly specialized texts in time-consuming formats [*.csv, *.html, etc.]).

2. Establish working relationships with subject-specialised proofreaders.

3. Mark all difficulties BEFORE you start translating and post them on ProZ.

4. Translate
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1. Never accept a job unseen. Price all jobs considering the expected time needed AND if you would need the service of a proofreader/verifier for the job in question (My fees vary with a factor 3 between “dead simple texts” and highly specialized texts in time-consuming formats [*.csv, *.html, etc.]).

2. Establish working relationships with subject-specialised proofreaders.

3. Mark all difficulties BEFORE you start translating and post them on ProZ.

4. Translate what you can.

5. Collect the answers from ProZ and fill in the gaps.

6. Send to proofreader/verifier, if needed.

7. Write the invoice.

8. Adjust the translation, aided by the proofreader’s/verifier’s constructive suggestions, if applicable.

9. Dispatch translation and invoice TOGETHER.



Best of luck!



Sven.

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Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Local time: 04:18
English to Spanish
+ ...
Great Sven Oct 26, 2001

It is great. It sounds pretty methodotical. I have kept a copy of it in my important files.

 
Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Sven Oct 26, 2001

Dear Sven,



How many times do you proofread (on the average). Do you sometimes wait a day after translating to proofread or do you do it consecutively.

I ask this because I often find myself resolving translation problems a day after I first encounter them without any effort whatsoever, however I might not have been able to solve the same problem within ten minutes of first encountering it if my life depended upon it.

Does this happen to you and do
... See more
Dear Sven,



How many times do you proofread (on the average). Do you sometimes wait a day after translating to proofread or do you do it consecutively.

I ask this because I often find myself resolving translation problems a day after I first encounter them without any effort whatsoever, however I might not have been able to solve the same problem within ten minutes of first encountering it if my life depended upon it.

Does this happen to you and do you sometimes wait a day to proofread?

Any one else?

I do appreciate all and any good advice like this from Sven. Thank you.
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Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Telsforo, Sorry, Can you please clarify your reply Oct 26, 2001

Telsforo,



I\'m sorry but I don\'t really understand your point at all.

You almost make it seem like someone should be embarassed to ask for advice. What then is the forum for. I\'m a bit confused by your answer. First you seem to criticize my question, but you seem to be really impressed by Sven\'s answer (like I am).



I\'d like good advice. It\'s that simple. People with 20 + years of experience willing to share it ... that\'s valuable info
... See more
Telsforo,



I\'m sorry but I don\'t really understand your point at all.

You almost make it seem like someone should be embarassed to ask for advice. What then is the forum for. I\'m a bit confused by your answer. First you seem to criticize my question, but you seem to be really impressed by Sven\'s answer (like I am).



I\'d like good advice. It\'s that simple. People with 20 + years of experience willing to share it ... that\'s valuable information (at least to me it is).



To answer your question. No, I\'m not kidding. I translate for a living and I\'m looking for all the help and good ideas I can get my hands on. I don\'t kid around when it comes to work.



Could you please provide a kind explanation?.



Thank you

Jerry







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Catherine Bolton
Catherine Bolton  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:48
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
proofing Oct 26, 2001

Hi Jerry,

For your question on proofreading, I find that the best translations are the ones that have time to \"breathe\" -- kind of like a bottle of good red wine.

This is fortunately the case when I\'m working on a book, because by the time you get to the end, the first chapter seems \"new\". Unfortunately, we often don\'t get this luxury in our line of business, do we?

In any event, whenever possible even a minimum of distance from your text helps. Otherwise you
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Hi Jerry,

For your question on proofreading, I find that the best translations are the ones that have time to \"breathe\" -- kind of like a bottle of good red wine.

This is fortunately the case when I\'m working on a book, because by the time you get to the end, the first chapter seems \"new\". Unfortunately, we often don\'t get this luxury in our line of business, do we?

In any event, whenever possible even a minimum of distance from your text helps. Otherwise you don\'t notice things like punctuation, flow, repeated words within the paragraph that don\'t sound right.

As to looking up potentially troublesome words in advance, it doesn\'t work for me. Words I think are OK then turn out not to be, and vice-versa. I save my questions for the end and (hopefully) leave myself enough time to deal with them.

Hope this is what you\'re after!

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Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Telesforo Fernandez (X)
Local time: 04:18
English to Spanish
+ ...
I never meant offense Oct 26, 2001

hello colleague,

I never meant to offend you. I ahve seen your profile and I find that you are good and experienced translator. So I felt a bit odd when you asked those questions. I thought that you were joking. But I did give you my suggestions, very earnestly.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Quote:


On 2001-10-26 05:35, Jerry wrote:

Telsforo,



I\'m sorry but I don\'t really underst... See more
hello colleague,

I never meant to offend you. I ahve seen your profile and I find that you are good and experienced translator. So I felt a bit odd when you asked those questions. I thought that you were joking. But I did give you my suggestions, very earnestly.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Quote:


On 2001-10-26 05:35, Jerry wrote:

Telsforo,



I\'m sorry but I don\'t really understand your point at all.

You almost make it seem like someone should be embarassed to ask for advice. What then is the forum for. I\'m a bit confused by your answer. First you seem to criticize my question, but you seem to be really impressed by Sven\'s answer (like I am).



I\'d like good advice. It\'s that simple. People with 20 + years of experience willing to share it ... that\'s valuable information (at least to me it is).



To answer your question. No, I\'m not kidding. I translate for a living and I\'m looking for all the help and good ideas I can get my hands on. I don\'t kid around when it comes to work.



Could you please provide a kind explanation?.



Thank you

Jerry









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Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Telosforo - No problem Oct 26, 2001

It is difficult to understand people are trying to say on the net. I really didn\'t know how to react. But after such a kind reply, I\'m much happier. Thanks.

I guess you thought that things should be obvious, but for example, at the last ProZ meeting in Tuscany, I heard about the importance of two column checking, I tried it out and in fact, it does save me a lot of time and headache when checking. The simple casual remark from a more experienced translator has increased both pro
... See more
It is difficult to understand people are trying to say on the net. I really didn\'t know how to react. But after such a kind reply, I\'m much happier. Thanks.

I guess you thought that things should be obvious, but for example, at the last ProZ meeting in Tuscany, I heard about the importance of two column checking, I tried it out and in fact, it does save me a lot of time and headache when checking. The simple casual remark from a more experienced translator has increased both proofing speed and accuracy.



What Cathy say’s confirms my hunch about proofing, I think I’ll try to distance proofing sessions as far apart as possible, (without risking not meeting the deadline).



I’m looking for someone to say, since I started doing XXX I started saving Y minutes or hours a day.



I like translation work, if someone’s paying money to translate something from one language to another, then it\'s either very interesting or very important (challenging new technologies, discoveries, methods etc.). I like that, but it seems that the more important the work is, the more of a rush my customers are in. Any advice is welcome because this can be a very stressful job.



[ This Message was edited by: on 2001-10-26 08:18 ]
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Catherine Bolton
Catherine Bolton  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:48
Italian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
two-column checking Oct 26, 2001

With all the conferences in Tuscany, I must have missed that one. Do you mean like a Deja Vu setup? Or do you create a two-column table?

Can you please explain how you do it?

Thanks!

Catherine


 
Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Two column checking Oct 26, 2001

From the main menu of DV I pick File, Export Two columns ...



I then make some changes on the screen, and afterwards, I print the page out. (Sometimes it’s not necessary but I usually print them out anyway)



I have two columns on the same page, as in DV, but this time printed on a word document.



I make changes in word and re-import them into DV. I\'m note changes that might effect the TDB and sometimes make corrections in DV that
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From the main menu of DV I pick File, Export Two columns ...



I then make some changes on the screen, and afterwards, I print the page out. (Sometimes it’s not necessary but I usually print them out anyway)



I have two columns on the same page, as in DV, but this time printed on a word document.



I make changes in word and re-import them into DV. I\'m note changes that might effect the TDB and sometimes make corrections in DV that effect the lexicon or the TDB, but those that concern the MDB are not necessary. I do perform a terminological compatibility check of my options just incase I missed something (Shift F7).



This way I save a lot of time in proofing as compared to printing both things out as originals because the target and the source are side to side. I don’t have to bother with desperate searching and hunting for individual phrased in two different texts on two different pages. Sometime the Italian is on the top of the page and the English on the bottom and then try to compare them and look for omissions or errors. It’s also possible to mismatch the source and target if phrases are similar. (It happened before with terrible results) After re-importing the work back into DV and make checks for terminological consistency with the various DV options, I export into the original format and proof directly without reference to the source.



Does any one else have any suggestions or improvements on my technique.









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Monika Coulson
Monika Coulson  Identity Verified
Local time: 16:48
Member (2001)
English to Albanian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Proofreading Oct 26, 2001

If I have translated a short material, I wait a day (of course if there is enough time), then I proofread it. I just finished yesterday translating a book that is due on Nov 15, so I have enough time to proofread it (hopefully). I am planning to read it throughout three times. First time to simply proofread the original with the translation (thanks to TRADOS this is not difficult to do) and to make a final version of all the question marked sentences. Second to read it and check for all grammar... See more
If I have translated a short material, I wait a day (of course if there is enough time), then I proofread it. I just finished yesterday translating a book that is due on Nov 15, so I have enough time to proofread it (hopefully). I am planning to read it throughout three times. First time to simply proofread the original with the translation (thanks to TRADOS this is not difficult to do) and to make a final version of all the question marked sentences. Second to read it and check for all grammar mistakes and misspelling (no automatic spell check for Albanian language yet) and third time to read it and see if everything that is translated, sounds fine in my language. Of course the third time is more enjoyable then the previous ones.

Monika
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Jerold Stamp
Jerold Stamp  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 23:48
Member (2002)
Italian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Monika Oct 26, 2001

For short material, you say one day is a good amount of time. I\'m going to make an effort to organize my work with a one day rest between translating and proofing whenever possible.

 
Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X)
Werner George Patels, M.A., C.Tran.(ATIO) (X)
Local time: 18:48
German to English
+ ...
Proofreading, etc. - Know your limits Oct 26, 2001

I agree with some of the comments made here regarding the timing of the proofreading process. Personally, I try to proofread (ie, check on the flow, spelling, punctuation, etc.) while I am translating (saves more time later on): this way you can catch the most egregious typos, unfortunate wording, etc. must faster.



Once the translation is done, I let it sit on my hard drive for 12-24 hours (if there is enough time). I usually have 12-24 hours because I tend to finish my proj
... See more
I agree with some of the comments made here regarding the timing of the proofreading process. Personally, I try to proofread (ie, check on the flow, spelling, punctuation, etc.) while I am translating (saves more time later on): this way you can catch the most egregious typos, unfortunate wording, etc. must faster.



Once the translation is done, I let it sit on my hard drive for 12-24 hours (if there is enough time). I usually have 12-24 hours because I tend to finish my projects way ahead of deadlines. Then, I start the final proofreading process, without referring to the source text all the time. For me, the final process is about checking the target language by itself, thus completely freeing myself of the source language (N.B.: at that point, I won\'t have to check for any sentences or lines missed because that was already covered under the \"parallel proofreading\" I carried out while translating the text).



I think the secret lies in giving yourself enough time so that you can actually put the translation aside for 12-24 hours (and have sufficient time for \"parallel proofreading\").



Everyone has a different style, but I would never accept rush jobs (ie, more than 3,000 words within 24 hours): the problem of time management is only a problem for those that bite off more than they can chew.



No one knows your limits better than yourself: time and pace yourself and try to determine your own \"comfort limit\" in terms of word count, etc. (mind you, that limit will be different for different types of documents: you may find that a marketing brochure will take you less time than some contract or vice-versa). Once you have determined your personal comfort limit, never exceed it - and don\'t be tempted by some lucrative offer from a client to tackle more than you can.



Some friendly advice from a certified (certifiable?????) translator with several years of trial and error.
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Sven Petersson
Sven Petersson  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 23:48
English to Swedish
+ ...
Oct 27, 2001

Concerning proofreading.



Dear Jerold,



I don’t understand your question.



I don’t proofread my own translations. If I feel confident that I have succeeded to translate the text into the language of the intended audience I submit it. If I don’t feel confident I solicit the help of a proofreader.



Examples from recently completed translations:



A. Text on angioplasty to be published in a scie
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Concerning proofreading.



Dear Jerold,



I don’t understand your question.



I don’t proofread my own translations. If I feel confident that I have succeeded to translate the text into the language of the intended audience I submit it. If I don’t feel confident I solicit the help of a proofreader.



Examples from recently completed translations:



A. Text on angioplasty to be published in a scientific journal. I master the subject and the required style, so I submitted the translation without proofreading.

B. Text on the manufacturing of candy to be sent to candy manufacturers as a promotion for a candy-wrapping machine. I neither master the subject (I am diabetic) nor the required style, so I solicited the service of a proofreader who did. She corrected the translation of a few candy-terms and improved the style drastically.



Both customers were happy. Per hour I earned substantially more on A than B!



I proofread for other translators:



- Into British English and Swedish only.

- On the subjects of Medical Equipment, IT and Natural History only.



Does the above answer your question?



Best regards,



Sven.

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