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Poll: How many words have you translated in your career?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
gayd (X)
gayd (X)
method May 6, 2021

it's easy to estimate. You divide your total revenue by your average price per word

[Modifié le 2021-05-06 15:05 GMT]


Christopher Schröder
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 14:00
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
< is a character. May 6, 2021

Tom in London wrote:

To put it in Wittgensteinian terms: is this < a word? How do you know?

[Edited at 2021-05-06 13:49 GMT]


< is a character. Can’t believe some people find it so hard to define a word or number of words in translation context. We have to rely on analytics/counting tools such as CAT as we certainly won’t be counting them manually. These tools have their own ways to define a word. You don’t have to ask me how I know < is a character, as it’s been defined as such by computer science. If I use a computer to translate, I can’t create my own definitions of a word, right?

[Edited at 2021-05-06 15:51 GMT]


Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Laureana Pavon
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Maciej Bogucki
Maciej Bogucki
Poland
Local time: 14:00
English to Polish
+ ...
Beats me May 6, 2021

Tom in London wrote:

Q: How many words have you translated in your career?
A: That must surely qualitfy as the dumbest poll question ever. Equivalent to asking "how many breaths have you taken since you were born?"


And yet it tends to be asked by recruiters for translation agencies and the like. I don't keep track of it at all, so my immediate reaction when I see it is always, "how the blazes should I know?"


Liena Vijupe
Philip Lees
P.L.F. Persio
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
María José Domínguez Camba
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Is it really that complicated? May 6, 2021

Responding to Christine’s questions:

How do you define a word?
How about in the usual way? A collection of letters with a space either side. How else? Just because the French might use seven words for one German word doesn’t make any of them non-words.

How many words is a word?
Er, one?

You get fewer words if you translate from English into German, so which language do you count?
You’re translating the English, not the German, so it
... See more
Responding to Christine’s questions:

How do you define a word?
How about in the usual way? A collection of letters with a space either side. How else? Just because the French might use seven words for one German word doesn’t make any of them non-words.

How many words is a word?
Er, one?

You get fewer words if you translate from English into German, so which language do you count?
You’re translating the English, not the German, so it has to be the English.

Each language will have features that affect the word count.
Yes, but a translator will still have translated a certain number of words in that language.

And then there is all the sport of "Trados discounts". Regardless of how you charge for them, how many times do you count repeats that a CAT tool can in principle translate for you?
How about you just count the ones you bill (in my case that would be all of them)?

Even if you don't use a CAT, how many times do you count standard phrases like 'Yours sincerely' - or 'best regards'
Every time. Did you only charge for them the first time they occurred in your career?!

While I accept that a Dane back-translating my entire output would probably have to bash out around a million fewer words (albeit longer ones), it’s not that big a difference at the end of the day. And if a million of the words I’ve translated have been “the”, so what?

Why are translators so averse to a little estimating and extrapolating? Is it a words vs numbers thing?
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:00
Dutch to English
+ ...
Trados matches May 6, 2021

Chris T wrote:

And then there is all the sport of "Trados discounts". Regardless of how you charge for them, how many times do you count repeats that a CAT tool can in principle translate for you?
How about you just count the ones you bill (in my case that would be all of them)?

Even if you don't use a CAT, how many times do you count standard phrases like 'Yours sincerely' - or 'best regards'
Every time. Did you only charge for them the first time they occurred in your career?!

While I accept that a Dane back-translating my entire output would probably have to bash out around a million fewer words (albeit longer ones), it’s not that big a difference at the end of the day. And if a million of the words I’ve translated have been “the”, so what?

Why are translators so averse to a little estimating and extrapolating? Is it a words vs numbers thing?


So, if a client sends you a 10,000 word job but 8,000 words are 100% matches from their termbase would you claim to have translated 10,000 words?


Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 14:00
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
I don't sell translation by the kilo - I charge for time and effort May 6, 2021

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.


Liena Vijupe
Rachel Waddington
Jean Dimitriadis
Philip Lees
Michele Fauble
Daryo
Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Extrapolation May 6, 2021

Rachel Waddington wrote:
So, if a client sends you a 10,000 word job but 8,000 words are 100% matches from their termbase would you claim to have translated 10,000 words?

No, I would count that as 2,000 words. Not that I would ever be in that position.

You know, I haven't actually translated exactly 10,000 words every single week for 50 weeks a year for 28 years. It's only a guesstimate.

I could add it up exactly from my records but I can't be arsed.

It seems so petty to be debating such a simple question.


Sundar Gopalakrishnan
 
Liena Vijupe
Liena Vijupe  Identity Verified
Latvia
Local time: 15:00
Member (2014)
French to Latvian
+ ...
words May 6, 2021

Counting words is easy, but it's only useful for billing purposes.

I often work with marketing/copywriting content where the entire project consists of just a few words or lines. So, I sometimes translate only 5 words in one hour (which includes providing several alternatives and explaining my reasoning for each of them), but what purpose does this information serve other than making me sound extremely unproductive?

Most of my work already comes with a price estimate an
... See more
Counting words is easy, but it's only useful for billing purposes.

I often work with marketing/copywriting content where the entire project consists of just a few words or lines. So, I sometimes translate only 5 words in one hour (which includes providing several alternatives and explaining my reasoning for each of them), but what purpose does this information serve other than making me sound extremely unproductive?

Most of my work already comes with a price estimate and I basically just evaluate whether it's worth it in terms of time and effort instead of (re)counting the words etc.
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Christine Andersen
Daryo
María José Domínguez Camba
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 14:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
No idea May 6, 2021

Once I've done a job and billed for it, I consider it done and dusted, then forget about it and move on to the next one... I suppose I could go back and work out how many words I've translated since the start of the month, quarter, year, or decade, or whatever, but I also do a lot of proofing/revision work, so ... what's the point?

Today a client sent me the "response to reviewers" about an article I translated a month or two ago. I only had to translate the responses, so couldn't j
... See more
Once I've done a job and billed for it, I consider it done and dusted, then forget about it and move on to the next one... I suppose I could go back and work out how many words I've translated since the start of the month, quarter, year, or decade, or whatever, but I also do a lot of proofing/revision work, so ... what's the point?

Today a client sent me the "response to reviewers" about an article I translated a month or two ago. I only had to translate the responses, so couldn't just run a wordcount, as half of the document is already in English, so now I have to tot up all the chunks I translated and count the words, which is more than enough work for this fine evening...

[Edited at 2021-05-06 17:46 GMT]

[Edited at 2021-05-06 17:47 GMT]
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Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:00
Dutch to English
+ ...
Um ... May 6, 2021

Chris T wrote:

It seems so petty to be debating such a simple question.


Why are you then?


P.L.F. Persio
Christopher Schröder
Tom in London
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Lol May 6, 2021

Rachel Waddington wrote:

Chris T wrote:

It seems so petty to be debating such a simple question.


Why are you then?


Fair point!


P.L.F. Persio
Rachel Waddington
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
Don't Really Know... May 6, 2021

..., but since most of my projects, including book translations, have been rather lengthy, I would say in the millions.

 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 15:00
Greek to English
Don't know May 7, 2021

Chris T wrote:
I could add it up exactly from my records but I can't be arsed.


This is my answer, too. I can't even be arsed enough to make an estimate.


Mervyn Henderson (X)
Liena Vijupe
María José Domínguez Camba
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:00
Spanish to English
+ ...
CBA May 7, 2021

I'm with the CBA crowd, Chris T (as he's known now) and Philip L. I just couldn't be bottomed, me.

There's a certain kind of glory in notching things up in a profession:

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? xxxxxxxxxxxx
... See more
I'm with the CBA crowd, Chris T (as he's known now) and Philip L. I just couldn't be bottomed, me.

There's a certain kind of glory in notching things up in a profession:

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
So, how many people did you kill, Ted Bundy? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

etc. etc. etc.

...

We're kind of at the bottom of the league:

So, how many streets have you swept, Mr Streetsweeper?
So, how many forms have you processed, Mr Civil Servant?
So, how many words have you translated, Mr Translator?

Not so scintillating, is it?
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Liena Vijupe
Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
Matthias Brombach
Zibow Retailleau
Rachel Waddington
Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 14:00
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
I only wonder ... May 7, 2021

Mervyn Henderson wrote:
We're kind of at the bottom of the league:

... who has posted the highest amount of words here in the proz forums so far.

[Bearbeitet am 2021-05-07 07:08 GMT]


Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
Zibow Retailleau
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
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Poll: How many words have you translated in your career?






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