![]() ![]() It’s not unusual for them to miss a nuance of meaning, or use wording that’s a little stilted and unnatural, or both these, in this first pass. Professional translators will generally consider their first run through a text as only a draft translation. Allow time for the translator to review his/her work Of course for certain purposes this level of quality might still be fine.ģ. This means work that won’t be immune from the odd mistake and less than ideal wording. However I suspect most will favour quantity over quality. Some translators might well be brilliant and produce consistently high quality at this translation speed. ![]() They would certainly need processes to mitigate the (virtually inevitable) drop-off in quality that comes with translating over an extended period. I’d question how thorough their processes are and how much time they spend on checking for accuracy and improving their wording (see next section below). I’d definitely have my suspicions about anyone saying their translation speed is habitually 4,000 words or more a day. However longer term it is difficult to do. So a translator may well be able to produce a higher volume by working longer hours over a few days without affecting translation quality. However language translation is mentally taxing, and a tired translator often means a less accurate and well-worded text. It is tempting to reduce translation turnaround times by working longer hours. In fact, many full-time freelance translators will only work 5 or 6 hours a day precisely because of this. This is because language translation involves intense mental concentration and is very taxing. There is no doubt that quality is affected with longer hours worked. But translating for extended hours impacts quality Their work often comes in waves and they tend to want to make hay when the sun shines. They would likely expect 2,500 and be pleased with 3,000.įreelance translators though may well produce greater volume per day by working longer hours. Certainly professional translation companies will typically consider a translation speed of 2,000 words a day an absolute minimum from their professional translator employees over time. We consider 300 words an hour and 2,500 a day a realistic expectation for a quality-focused, experienced human translator. And the lower numbers are perhaps a little conservative for most projects. The highest numbers are frankly scary for their implications on translation quality. Some translators even claim to produce 6 to 8 thousand words a day. However, a realistic average speed for a professional translator producing quality translations is 300 words per hour, and a translation output of 2500 words per day.Ī quick web search will reveal wildly different translator speed and output numbers. Translator speeds and output vary enormously – anywhere from 200 to 500 words an hour and 1200 to 4000 words a day.įactors affecting a translator’s speed include their experience, subject familiarity, translation review processes, and whether previous translations can be leveraged. If you can’t select the text, you’ll need to count it manually, or use an OCR program and copy into Word.Ĭount manually or use an OCR program and copy into Word. Use a free word count program, or copy and paste into Word. This won’t include text in inserted graphics. If it isn’t, click on Show all Properties at the bottom of that column. Then get the word count from the status bar in Word, as described above.Ĭlick on File at top left and it should be shown in the right hand column: Note: This word count generally won’t include text in text boxes or inserted graphics.Įither copy and paste the text into Word, or save the file as a text file and open it in Word. If it isn’t, position your mouse over the bar, right click and select Word Count. It should be shown on the Status Bar at the bottom of the document: Here’s how to get the word count from your document: That’s because the amount of text on individual pages, and therefore the time spent translating them, can vary considerably. Note we use the number of words, not pages. That’s because it gives us the most reliable indication of the amount of work involved. How many words need to be translated?Ĭalculations of translation times always start with the word count of the text we’re translating. The time any translation project will take depends on 4 things. The 4 key factors that determine translation turnaround times ![]()
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