| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | How do you define urgent/overtime work? Thread poster: Viktoria Gimbe
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Viktoria Gimbe 
Canada
Local time: 13:00
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | More than 4,000 words per day | Feb 15, 2009 |
Well, Tomás, in a matter you know well, it is probably feasible to produce more than 4,000 words per day, but from my viewpoint, the text would have to be either very easy (not much terminology and not much creativity involved) or you would really have to not only intimately know the subject matter but also have most of the terms neatly stored in your brain. I can imagine this being the case with medical translators who are specialized in a particular sub-field of medicine or legal translators ... See more Well, Tomás, in a matter you know well, it is probably feasible to produce more than 4,000 words per day, but from my viewpoint, the text would have to be either very easy (not much terminology and not much creativity involved) or you would really have to not only intimately know the subject matter but also have most of the terms neatly stored in your brain. I can imagine this being the case with medical translators who are specialized in a particular sub-field of medicine or legal translators who are specialized in a particular sub-field of law. Even at that, such translators would probably have considerable experience both in translation and in the subject matter, and have a very high IQ (which, as many of us here know, isn't a measure of intelligence but a measure of one's ability to retain, store and connect information).
So, let's rephrase what I said earlier. I doubt that a person who can produce more than 4,000 words per day can produce high quality translations unless the text is very easy or unless they have some kind of help (dictation software, etc.), save for a few exceptions. ▲ Collapse
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Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
So, let's rephrase what I said earlier. I doubt that a person who can produce more than 4,000 words per day can produce high quality translations unless the text is very easy or unless they have some kind of help (dictation software, etc.), save for a few exceptions.
OK! I'm OK with the sentence as a whole.
| | | | Bentext
Germany
Local time: 19:00
Member (2003)
English to German
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| Subjective conception of quality | Feb 16, 2009 |
Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
I doubt that a person who can produce more than 4,000 words per day can produce high quality translations...
I agree with you - my experience as a PM and proofreader has shown that translators promising 4000 words per day of high quality have usually a rather subjective conception of quality.
| | | | Viktoria Gimbe
Canada
Local time: 13:00
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | What's in a words-per-hour ratio? | Feb 16, 2009 |
I also wonder how people define their words-per-day or words-per-hour ratio. When I say that I can translate 2,000 words per day, that means I can take a 2,000-word document and do everything start to finish within a day. That includes reviewing, proofreading, research, esthetic editing (when you export a TTX file to Word, you often have to edit things in it to be ready for printing - numbers in tables are my pet peeve). However, I sometimes get the impression that some people only mean translat... See more I also wonder how people define their words-per-day or words-per-hour ratio. When I say that I can translate 2,000 words per day, that means I can take a 2,000-word document and do everything start to finish within a day. That includes reviewing, proofreading, research, esthetic editing (when you export a TTX file to Word, you often have to edit things in it to be ready for printing - numbers in tables are my pet peeve). However, I sometimes get the impression that some people only mean translation excluding any other task.
Of course, I can go much farther than 2,000 words per day. But then, I don't have the time to review, proof, etc. For a 20,000-word document, for example, even if I am able to translate, say, 4,000 words per day, I will still need more than five days, because it does take a day or two to also review, proofread and edit a translation of this volume. Not to mention situations where image localization and other such tedious tasks are involved. ▲ Collapse
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Judy Jenner
United States
Local time: 19:00
English to German
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| Have straightforward rush rates | Feb 17, 2009 |
Interesting thread. Of course, there's always potential opportunity cost when one accepts large projects like the 100-plus page manual described above. Most of our projects are mid-size (1500 to 3000 words), and we are all about price transparency: our website clearly states that our rush rates are 100% additional above standard rates. This applies to weekend work and 24-hour turnaround. We are firm on this, and all our clients perceive this as fair as well: quick turnaround is and should be pri... See more Interesting thread. Of course, there's always potential opportunity cost when one accepts large projects like the 100-plus page manual described above. Most of our projects are mid-size (1500 to 3000 words), and we are all about price transparency: our website clearly states that our rush rates are 100% additional above standard rates. This applies to weekend work and 24-hour turnaround. We are firm on this, and all our clients perceive this as fair as well: quick turnaround is and should be priced differently, in my humble opinion. If the requested turnaround is quicker than what we have quoted, we usually chat with the client about the options available to them (receiving it a few days later at regular cost vs. earlier at rush rates). ▲ Collapse
| | | | galinacollet
Austria
Local time: 19:00
German to English
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| Charge what you're willing to work for | Feb 27, 2009 |
I first got into translation because I needed more money (I then changed to full time because of many other advantages). I should also probably mention that I only work with direct (often very large) clients, albeit with numerous, often pretty autonomous, departments. Of course I have guideline rates for these companies, but I still quote individually on every project just for clarity's sake and try to base it to some extent on how long it will take for me to do a good job. Once I really didn't ... See more I first got into translation because I needed more money (I then changed to full time because of many other advantages). I should also probably mention that I only work with direct (often very large) clients, albeit with numerous, often pretty autonomous, departments. Of course I have guideline rates for these companies, but I still quote individually on every project just for clarity's sake and try to base it to some extent on how long it will take for me to do a good job. Once I really didn't want to do the job (the enquiry came at 4pm on Friday for Monday 8am and I had weekend plans), so I quoted 3 times my normal rate. I assumed they would turn to someone else, but they accepted and were grateful that I could do it on such short notice. I didn't feel cheated about losing my weekend and they were happy.
I just figure that the main advantage to being a freelancer in this business is that you can define individually what you're willing to work for. Yucky pdfs or cms systems, urgent translations, technical horrors - offer a price and a deadline based on your productivity/commitments etc and then take pleasure in doing it! ▲ Collapse
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