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Poll: What is the largest number of words you have translated in a single day? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is the largest number of words you have translated in a single day?".
This poll was originally submitted by Madalena Ribeiro
View the poll here
A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more ... See more This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is the largest number of words you have translated in a single day?".
This poll was originally submitted by Madalena Ribeiro
View the poll here
A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629 ▲ Collapse
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| Voted for 5-6k | Dec 8, 2008 |
I did that twice and I hope I don't have to do that ever again.
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| once-off seems possible | Dec 8, 2008 |
If you've been in the business a long time it's possible that you received a document with a lot of repetition or possibly so easy that you can do it quick enough to pass 6,000. I'm not surprised that a lot of people have gone past 6,000 at least once, but it's definitely not the norm (I've only gone past 6,000 twice but should this really count if most of that was actually just pressing Alt+down in Wordfast?)
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Amy Duncan (X) 
Brazil
Local time: 01:33
Portuguese to English
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I once did a late night marathon of more than 7,000 words with no cat tool. I was cross-eyed by the time I finished!
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Lubain Masum
United States
Local time: 00:33
Member (2006)
English to Bengali
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| 6000 words in a single day (without CAT tool)! | Dec 8, 2008 |
You people are great! Perhaps you work at least 20 hours without a break for food or nature's call. You have the divine energy like Michael Phelps! The downside of this accomplishment (if it really is!) is that you raise the expectations of the clients and then they press every other 'normal' translator to do the same. I do not wish to translate 6000+ words in a day in any circumstances.
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Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 01:33
Portuguese to English
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Lubain Masum wrote:
You people are great! Perhaps you work at least 20 hours without a break for food or nature's call. You have the divine energy like Michael Phelps! The downside of this accomplishment (if it really is!) is that you raise the expectations of the clients and then they press every other 'normal' translator to do the same. I do not wish to translate 6000+ words in a day in any circumstances.
I only did it once. I'll never do it again, I promise!
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| Yes once, ended up without eyes, without arms, without thinking | Dec 8, 2008 |
It happened to me once, I saw the log saying 1200 words and was ok about the deadline, 3 days, but what! On the last day I realized it was 7 thousand words and I HAD TO DELIVER THAT UNTIL 4 P.M.
Ended up the job feeling I had no eyes and no arms any longer. Fortunately that was my first and last time. From that day on, logs are carefully looked at and deadlines meticulously agreed upon.
Francis
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Kristina Kolic
Croatia
Local time: 06:33
English to Croatian
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SITE LOCALIZER | 7500 words a day with no CAT tool | Dec 8, 2008 |
Lubain Masum wrote:
The downside of this accomplishment (if it really is!) is that you raise the expectations of the clients and then they press every other 'normal' translator to do the same.
I also receive such challenging assignments from time to time. As a matter of fact, I just completed one in the last three days and I feel exhausted, but after a good night's sleep everything will get back to normal (hopefully). And yes, you can do it provided that you dedicate a lot more time than the normal working hours to this particular translation job and that it deals with your field of specialty (this goes without saying), which means that the need for research will really be minimal. And it also means (at least for me) that my better half will be in charge of the kitchen - lucky me!
For me, it is a personal choice. I am dedicated to my clients and I am there for them (whenever possible) when they need me, I always use my best endeavors to meet their requirements. HOWEVER, my clients are well aware of the fact that such a service has a price, which is twice the normal rate. Therefore, I do not think that I am raising the expectations of the clients by doing so, because a majority of them would definitely prefer to avoid a rush job rate
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Sara Senft
United States
Local time: 00:33
Spanish to English
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| I generally don't translate | Dec 8, 2008 |
I'm gradually shifting my work focus towards interpreting, so I generally don't translate. That said, I'm not sure of what my words-per-day record would be. I do know that it would be smaller--maybe around 3000.
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| freak of nature | Dec 8, 2008 |
I'm hesitant to say this, but I usually translate 4-6,000 words on an unhurried workday (using WordFast). I think I must be a freak of nature. I have recently overcommitment myself a little and found myself doing about 10,000 words/day on several recent occasions (these have not been very complicated texts, admittedly). My typing speed is pretty high (90-100 wpm when I'm rolling) and I'm a very quick proofreader, which probably helps a bit. But I think part of it is having a gift for a sort of G... See more I'm hesitant to say this, but I usually translate 4-6,000 words on an unhurried workday (using WordFast). I think I must be a freak of nature. I have recently overcommitment myself a little and found myself doing about 10,000 words/day on several recent occasions (these have not been very complicated texts, admittedly). My typing speed is pretty high (90-100 wpm when I'm rolling) and I'm a very quick proofreader, which probably helps a bit. But I think part of it is having a gift for a sort of Gestalt comprehension of language and meaning. When I was in primary school, my scores on reading comprehension tests were off the charts.
People keep sending more work to me, so I don't *think* I'm turning out crap work, either.
On the other hand, I would make a lousy interpreter--my processing of auditory information is slightly deficient due to the nature of the different brain tasks involved. ▲ Collapse
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| Nothing unusual | Dec 8, 2008 |
Kathryn Litherland wrote:
I'm hesitant to say this, but I usually translate 4-6,000 words on an unhurried workday (using WordFast).
4,500 words a day is my 'comfort zone' - i.e. what I feel unrushed doing during a normal working day, with regular breaks. The thought of 6,000 words for the following day doesn't intimidate me, but I don't make a habit of it.
In my case, I:
a) use Trados (to my own advantage);
b) use speech recognition (which for me is far quicker than typing);
c) stick to what I know the best (i.e. law); and
d) screen my projects carefully before accepting them.
Everyone's output and accuracy differs - the important thing is to know your own limits.
[Edited at 2008-12-08 17:26 GMT]
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| Words per minute? | Dec 8, 2008 |
Lawyer-Linguist wrote:
b) use speech recognition (which for me is far quicker than typing);
If you don't mind my asking - how much quicker? Do you know how many words a minute (approximately, of course) you usually achieve using speech recognition?
Tina
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Laura Tridico
United States
Local time: 00:33
French to English
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| 9000 - just once... | Dec 8, 2008 |
And that was the most by a long shot.
There was a misunderstanding on a deadline (not mine, thank goodness), and what I thought was a longer-term project had to be finished the next day. 12 hours later, it was... luckily it was just responses to a survey (so pretty easy work) and not something technical.
I'm pretty efficient (3,000-4,000 a day, depending on the subject) but this was over the top!
Laura
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Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 00:33
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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| Depends on the language combination | Dec 8, 2008 |
I think that language combination has a lot to do with speed. Translating Spanish > English or French > Italian is a lot faster than translating English > Japanese or Arabic > English. When you translate to/from languages from two different language families, translation will take longer because you have to do more thinking and re-work the language structure.
For really easy Spanish text (most often a back translation), I can reach speeds of 10,000 words in a 10-hour day, but I dou... See more I think that language combination has a lot to do with speed. Translating Spanish > English or French > Italian is a lot faster than translating English > Japanese or Arabic > English. When you translate to/from languages from two different language families, translation will take longer because you have to do more thinking and re-work the language structure.
For really easy Spanish text (most often a back translation), I can reach speeds of 10,000 words in a 10-hour day, but I doubt such speeds would be possible from Chinese to English, etc.
[Edited at 2008-12-08 23:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Brandis (X)
Local time: 06:33
English to German
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| That was very long ago.. | Dec 8, 2008 |
Hi! Even in 2003 as I was new at proz.com I did a couple of jobs ranging about 10000 words. But that can be very mind damaging, so slowed back to 3000 words since then.. BR Brandis
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