Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3]
Poll: How many words have you translated in your career?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 11:47
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Christine May 7, 2021

Christine Andersen wrote:
How many words is a word?


Okay... let's rephrase the question: how many times have you hit the space bar and gotten paid for doing it? (-:


 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:47
Member (2016)
English to German
... May 7, 2021

Samuel Murray wrote:

Christine Andersen wrote:
How many words is a word?


Okay... let's rephrase the question: how many times have you hit the space bar and gotten paid for doing it? (-:


Interesting thought … I guesstimate I have translated about 15 million words, so I must have hit the space bar 15 million times -- UNPAID!


P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
Matthias Brombach
 
Frits Ens
Frits Ens
Netherlands
Local time: 11:47
Member (2006)
English to Dutch
+ ...
about +17 million words May 7, 2021

how many keyboards have you worn out during the process?

P.L.F. Persio
 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:47
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
wow May 8, 2021

Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:

I've counted them...


18 millions here.


 
Renata Fernandes
Renata Fernandes
Brazil
Local time: 07:47
English to Portuguese
Woah May 8, 2021

Angie Garbarino wrote:

Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:

I've counted them...


18 millions here.


I guess one million


 
Daryo
Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:47
Serbian to English
+ ...
And add to this May 8, 2021

Christine Andersen wrote:

Daniel Frisano wrote:

If you don't know how many words you translate, or can't even define what a word is, how do you bill? By square centimeter?


In principle I charge by the amount of effort a job requires. "I translate the meaning, not just the words."
Some words require more effort than others, so charging the same for them all like grains of rice does not make sense. Even with rice the price varies according to type and quality!

My rates vary, depending on how much research and checking is involved, and I used to charge by the half-hour for formatting. (Now I generally refuse to do it!)

I charge by the hour for proofreading, and I charge more for some subject areas than others. I do count words and repeats in each job for billing purposes, but that is just a rule of thumb.
IMHO it is meaningless to try to add up how many words - by any definition - I have translated over more than twenty years.


Entirely agree with this approach.

And would add that this is not the dumbest but the "wrongest" question ever asked!

The underlying logic is a pernicious assumption that translating is like bricklaying - just count bricks. It's the same kind of logic that's completely ignoring the key point "to translate the meaning, not just the words." and is trying to turn translators into no more than cogs in some latter-day revival of Taylorism applied to translation (instead of on mass producing Ford T).

What is focusing on that kind of quantification supposed to show or to prove?

I have seen supposed "beginners" doing a far better job in their first 10.000 words than "seasoned translators" with probably at least hundreds of thousands of words of output behind them.


Jean Dimitriadis
María José Domínguez Camba
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:47
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I have no idea May 8, 2021

In 1964 (57 years ago), I was a staff editor and started moonlighting as a freelance translator. I continued moonlighting until I became a full-fledged staff translator, a position that I held for 14 years. The work was always intended for publication in books, reports, and documents for international use, so the style was supposed to be good and it had to be error-free. In other words, it couldn't be rushed; a daily average of 2,000 words was expected and sometimes exceeded. Since 1994 I have b... See more
In 1964 (57 years ago), I was a staff editor and started moonlighting as a freelance translator. I continued moonlighting until I became a full-fledged staff translator, a position that I held for 14 years. The work was always intended for publication in books, reports, and documents for international use, so the style was supposed to be good and it had to be error-free. In other words, it couldn't be rushed; a daily average of 2,000 words was expected and sometimes exceeded. Since 1994 I have been a full-time freelance translator (26 years). I sometimes do editing, but I'd say about 90% of my work is translating. I've rarely had a dry spell. How would you calculate all that? [Edited at 2021-05-08 22:11 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-05-08 22:14 GMT]
Collapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:47
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
20 million in 2019 May 10, 2021

I reached the 20 million count in September 2019. However, I had no accurate statistics until 2002. So, from 1986 to 2002, the numbers are estimates.
From 2008 to 2013, I worked in-house for engineering companies, and most of the documents were not included directly in my personal statistics, so these are estimates as well, but below the actual number.
Finally, I never added "words" for interpretation jobs, so this number could very well have reached 20 million way before 2019.
... See more
I reached the 20 million count in September 2019. However, I had no accurate statistics until 2002. So, from 1986 to 2002, the numbers are estimates.
From 2008 to 2013, I worked in-house for engineering companies, and most of the documents were not included directly in my personal statistics, so these are estimates as well, but below the actual number.
Finally, I never added "words" for interpretation jobs, so this number could very well have reached 20 million way before 2019.
But these are mere statistics of the past. The only ones that really matter is those related to the past five years, at the most.
Collapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:47
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Are you organized? Do you care for stats? May 10, 2021

Mervyn Henderson wrote:
So, how many goals have you scored, Messi? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So, how many records have you sold, Julio Iglesias? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So, how many films have you been in, Robert de Niro? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So, how much money have you made, Bill Gates? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
/quote]

I bet you all these people know that answer very well.
It's funny that people who don't care about statistics and don't keep track of their numbers think that those who do are the wrong ones

[Edited at 2021-05-10 12:13 GMT]


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3]


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Jared Tabor[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Poll: How many words have you translated in your career?






Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »