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Counting words manually in faxed document.
Thread poster: shewid
shewid
shewid
Sweden
Local time: 05:04
Swedish to English
Dec 24, 2003

I have translated a short document that I have as a faxed hardcopy. Are there any general rules to follow when counting words manually?
 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:04
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Best Way Dec 25, 2003

The best way way to count words with hardcopy documents is to determine an average number of words per line, then just count lines on pages and multiply.

If the pages are uniform, then you can just do one page and multiply by number of pages. The more uniform the format is, the easier and faster it is to do a count.

If you have a crazy format it can be more time consuming. If the client does not demand a price up front, all the better, then you can charge on the basis o... See more
The best way way to count words with hardcopy documents is to determine an average number of words per line, then just count lines on pages and multiply.

If the pages are uniform, then you can just do one page and multiply by number of pages. The more uniform the format is, the easier and faster it is to do a count.

If you have a crazy format it can be more time consuming. If the client does not demand a price up front, all the better, then you can charge on the basis of words in the final product and get the count off your computer.

In less than ideal cases it can take a little time. ▲ Collapse
 
Vesna Zivcic
Vesna Zivcic  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:04
German to Croatian
+ ...
If you want verifyable results , Dec 25, 2003

the only way is to charge by target text wordcount.
 
Ursula Derx
Ursula Derx  Identity Verified
Austria
Local time: 05:04
Member (2005)
English to German
Give an estimate in advance, charge target count Dec 25, 2003

That's wha I usually do. I count one line and multiply, making sure to include some safety margin. Then I give a maximum price as an estimate in advance and charge the correct target count.
Hope it helps.:)
 
Narasimhan Raghavan
Narasimhan Raghavan  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:34
English to Tamil
+ ...
In memoriam
I second it Dec 26, 2003

If the target text is German, go by the line count and take an average of 10 words per line for the purpose of quoting. In this way you can compensate the unnatural compounding of 2 or 3 words in German texts.
Regards,
N.Raghavan
Vesna Zivcic wrote:

the only way is to charge by target text wordcount.


 
Rocío Boada del Sol (X)
Rocío Boada del Sol (X)
Local time: 05:04
English to Spanish
+ ...
I totally agree Dec 26, 2003

Vesna Zivcic wrote:

the only way is to charge by target text wordcount.


I think it is the best way to charge a faxed document. Otherwise, you will have to expend extra time which won't be paid to you.

Or if it is a large document and the faz quality is good, you can try to scan it and convert it to a word document (for example, you can use Omnipage).
 


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Counting words manually in faxed document.







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