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How many pages on average should a translator be able to translate per day?
Thread poster: luigigasparr (X)
FarkasAndras
FarkasAndras  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:16
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Where did you get that from? Mar 1, 2010

Paula Borges wrote:

In Europe people generally limit themselves to a 1000 words per day


I would say - with some confidence - that a translator's average output for a proper 8-hour shift is a lot more than 1000 words in any European country. In most, it'll probably be well over 2000.


 
Paula Borges
Paula Borges  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:16
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
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Farkas Mar 1, 2010

I thought so too. I was merely repeating what I've been told at University and by some agencies.

 
Pablo Bouvier
Pablo Bouvier  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:16
German to Spanish
+ ...
it depends... of many factors Mar 1, 2010

xxxluigigasparr wrote:

Hi,
Any advice?
Thanks!


[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2010-02-08 14:46 GMT]



Standard size of the page (page in Spain 30 lines *10 words vs. page in Germany 30 lines * 9 words). A usual standard, including revision without CAT tools neither dictation help, is 9 to 10 pages. Some translators makes many more...

Of course, if you are using a CAT tool or a dictation engine like DNS this may be a lot more. However, if you use a revision tool like Errorspy (and with DNS you shoul do) this will need more time again, as CAR should be done very carefully. Some details we do not care off, CAR tools will do and stop...

[Editado a las 2010-03-01 13:00 GMT]


 
Katarina Delic
Katarina Delic  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:16
Member (2008)
English to Serbian
+ ...
It really depends on lots of things... Mar 1, 2010

I translate almost only medical texts. My daily output is 2000 words and that would be 8 hours of constant work.
I recently accepted a project of 8500 words and had 3.5 days to complete the translation. I barely managed and I worked more than 10 hours a day. So, for me, in order to have a normal working day, I cannot go above 2000. Especially when I run into a word that takes a lot to find the meaning of (and there are always such words).
What is also to be taken into account is that
... See more
I translate almost only medical texts. My daily output is 2000 words and that would be 8 hours of constant work.
I recently accepted a project of 8500 words and had 3.5 days to complete the translation. I barely managed and I worked more than 10 hours a day. So, for me, in order to have a normal working day, I cannot go above 2000. Especially when I run into a word that takes a lot to find the meaning of (and there are always such words).
What is also to be taken into account is that it is not the same to translate different texts each day and to have a single text of let's say 20,000 words and translate a portion each day.
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DANIEL LETUCIA MONTHE
 
Monika Elisabeth Sieger
Monika Elisabeth Sieger  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:16
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
It depends on the subject Mar 2, 2010

I am a specialised legal translator and my daily output is about 2500 words. Sometimes more and sometimes less. This depends on the difficulty of the text and the subject.
You have to calculate into your quoting the possible need of research.
And don't forget the time you will need for the accounting, filing and all other administration work!

[Edited at 2010-03-02 12:59 GMT]


 
carlosr71
carlosr71
Local time: 05:16
Spanish to English
I have the same question... Apr 7, 2010

Hi. Today, received my very fist request from an agency to get about 24,000 words translated. The agency did not set a deadline but asked me to set it myself. I thought that I would get a short job to begin with but this "long" job took me by surprise. I made an estimate of about 2,000 words translated per day. However, it will depend on many factors: type of text, interruptions at home, time for meals (I have three meals each day). Besides, I am a freelancer so do not think that I must devote ... See more
Hi. Today, received my very fist request from an agency to get about 24,000 words translated. The agency did not set a deadline but asked me to set it myself. I thought that I would get a short job to begin with but this "long" job took me by surprise. I made an estimate of about 2,000 words translated per day. However, it will depend on many factors: type of text, interruptions at home, time for meals (I have three meals each day). Besides, I am a freelancer so do not think that I must devote my whole time to the agency. Am I wrong?. Any advice for this beginner?. Thank you.

Carlos

[Editado a las 2010-04-07 20:10 GMT]
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Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:16
German to English
Two weeks at the least Apr 8, 2010

carlosr71 wrote:

Hi. Today, received my very fist request from an agency to get about 24,000 words translated. The agency did not set a deadline but asked me to set it myself. I thought that I would get a short job to begin with but this "long" job took me by surprise. I made an estimate of about 2,000 words translated per day. However, it will depend on many factors: type of text, interruptions at home, time for meals (I have three meals each day). Besides, I am a freelancer so do not think that I must devote my whole time to the agency. Am I wrong?. Any advice for this beginner?. Thank you.



First, NEVER take a rush job as a first job from anyone. You're just setting yourself up for abuse in the future.

A personal estimate of 2K words/day is not unrealistic --i f you have experience in the particular subject. If you don't have much experience or familiarity with the subject, then 1000-1500 words/day might be appropriate.

Don't create unrealistic expectations on the part of your client. There may be times when you can produce 3-4 thousand words/day, but sometimes you might only translate 1000 words/day. If you err, do it on the conservative side.


 
Vertimai-co-uk
Vertimai-co-uk
Local time: 09:16
English to Lithuanian
+ ...
40000 words in... 3 days... Nov 20, 2012

I've just been asked to provide a quote for the translation of some legal texts - contracts, forms, etc.. The total amount of text was approx. 40000 words. I told the client I would be able to do that in 30 working days (as could probably finish that quicker but I did not want to book all my time for the next few weeks just for this order). The client came back to me saying he needed the work done in... 3 days... Should I suggest... See more
I've just been asked to provide a quote for the translation of some legal texts - contracts, forms, etc.. The total amount of text was approx. 40000 words. I told the client I would be able to do that in 30 working days (as could probably finish that quicker but I did not want to book all my time for the next few weeks just for this order). The client came back to me saying he needed the work done in... 3 days... Should I suggest Google translator?))Collapse


 
Carlos Ilich
Carlos Ilich
Mexico
Local time: 02:16
English to Spanish
+ ...
Using SDL Trados May 31, 2017

I've recently been translating a catalogue of around 170 safety data sheets for a fishing products company and, as I kept working on SDS from the same company, I realized that, from scratch, I was able to translate around 3 documents for a grand total of almost 10,000 words (working from 7 am to 5 pm (minus a 2 hour break)), then on the following days the number of words per day decreased but the number of SDS translated increased (thanks Trados), not to take away any merits from the CAT Tool, b... See more
I've recently been translating a catalogue of around 170 safety data sheets for a fishing products company and, as I kept working on SDS from the same company, I realized that, from scratch, I was able to translate around 3 documents for a grand total of almost 10,000 words (working from 7 am to 5 pm (minus a 2 hour break)), then on the following days the number of words per day decreased but the number of SDS translated increased (thanks Trados), not to take away any merits from the CAT Tool, but I do consider that 10,000 words was a bit much for a single 8 hour schedule, granted, the translations were rather simple (straight forward) and all the documents had pretty much the same information with variations regarding safety procedures and such.

My average translation count (sans proofreading) per 8 hours varies from 4,000 to 6,000 for literary translations (done as a hobby) and 3,000-4000 for scientific translations (from commissions to practice).
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Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:16
English to Spanish
+ ...
Many right answers Jun 4, 2017

The topic —how many words, pages, lines of text, etc.— crops up every now and then among seasoned translators, translation educators and, of course, students of translation. The topic is not trivial and deserves such ebullient discussion.

I've translated about 5,000 words in a day, but I ended up very stressed. Those are peak performance numbers: 5,000 or up to 10,000 words a day translated by one person. As one colleague just said, there is no reason to doubt such claims but I
... See more
The topic —how many words, pages, lines of text, etc.— crops up every now and then among seasoned translators, translation educators and, of course, students of translation. The topic is not trivial and deserves such ebullient discussion.

I've translated about 5,000 words in a day, but I ended up very stressed. Those are peak performance numbers: 5,000 or up to 10,000 words a day translated by one person. As one colleague just said, there is no reason to doubt such claims but I have an alternate idea: aren't those claims more marketing than real, average output?

Based on what I've read from many of you, however, there is a larger question looming on us: why are there clients who insist on having a large volume of texts translated in very few days, or in an unrealistic timeframe? Are they being stubborn, overly optimistic, uninformed?

I would turn these questions to our cherished translators associations: What are you, translators association, doing to reach out to these clients and educate them?

Since different translators have varying experience levels and outputs, to have a client hear 50 different scenarios from 50 different vendors is impractical. Having our translators associations take on this PR task is the logical step. But I don't see it happening.
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Laura Kita Kejuo
 
Antony Rudakevich
Antony Rudakevich
Belarus
Local time: 12:16
English to Russian
+ ...
Think about quality of your translation. Jul 9, 2017

Ordinary quantity is 10 pages a day. But if you are comletly begginer it can be too much for you. Because your translation has to be of high quality also.

 
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How many pages on average should a translator be able to translate per day?







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