12 000 words a day Thread poster: Peter Motte
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Peter Motte 
Belgium
Local time: 17:20
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Some potential client, hererafter called the PC, asked me to do 10 000 to 12 000 words per day PEMT or the same amount for similar jobs.
Is that actually remotely possible? That is almost 50 pages a day.
Not to mention that I won't be full time working for them, as I'm a freelancer, and have to make sure that other clients, hereafter called OC's, also will have to be served.
| | | | WolfgangS
France
Local time: 17:20
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
Peter Motte wrote:
Some potential client, hererafter called the PC, asked me to do 10 000 to 12 000 words per day PEMT or the same amount for similar jobs.
Is that actually remotely possible? That is almost 50 pages a day.
Not to mention that I won't be full time working for them, as I'm a freelancer, and have to make sure that other clients, hereafter called OC's, also will have to be served.
...the answer is in the question ...
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 17:20
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Peter Motte wrote:
Some potential client, hererafter called the PC, asked me to do 10 000 to 12 000 words per day PEMT or the same amount for similar jobs.
It depends on the subject material and how good the machine translation is. Last month I had a job where I did 12 000 words PEMT in 5 hours, and I'm convinced that my translation was good. But it really, really, really depends. I've also had PEMT where I barely scratched 500 words per hour.
I gather from your comment that the client wants to determine your rate based on this speed.
Many clients now pay an hourly rate for PEMT and not a word rate, and they do that based on various analyses of the text. So, if they tell you that the analysis says that the text is worth 850 words per hour, this means that if you told the agency your hourly rate is EUR 50, you'll end up getting paid EUR 5.8 for 100 words of PEMT. I think the problem for many translators is that they don't have a very high hourly rate (i.e. their hourly rate is not a true reflection of how much they usually earn per hour, if they charge per word).
| | | | Zea_Mays
Italy
Local time: 17:20
English to German
+ ...
| 12 000 words/day is not average for MTPE | Feb 10, 2024 |
It can be done depending on the subject and the MT output quality.
A reasonable average is rather 5000-7000 words/day when working with good MT output.
Just consider that the PROOFREADING average is 1000 words per hour for good quality translations, and full MTPE takes generally longer than proofreading.
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 17:20
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for the input.
The problem is I have no idea about the subjects nor the quality of the texts.
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Post-editing MT (good or bad output) is a process that I find to be tiresome, so I never do it more than 4/5 hours in a row, which means that 12,000 words per day is unachievable for me. I don’t think I ever did more than 7,000 words. Anyway, I never accept a job without having a good look at it first and I have rejected a lot of MTPEs…
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 17:20
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Peter Motte wrote:
Some potential client, hererafter called the PC, asked me to do 10 000 to 12 000 words per day PEMT or the same amount for similar jobs.
Is that actually remotely possible?
Since your PC asks this on a per-day basis, we are talking about an average. In that case I would say it's absolutely impossible. Theoretically 10 000 words might be just doable, but even then you would be talking about an extremely exhausting (and very long) day and the MT output would have to be consistently good without sections where it is not. I haven't experienced those conditions yet.
If you want a working life that doesn't wear you out completely, I wouldn't go higher than 6000 MTPE words a day. Remember that if you aim at 6000 words a day while the MT output turns out to be mediocre, you won't have a comfortable day at all. It will be exhausting and long.
This is my experience. Some people may disagree, but my business goal and main selling point is delivering the same quality every single day, regardless of using MT or not.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 17:20
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Hard to imagine | Feb 10, 2024 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
It depends on the subject material and how good the machine translation is. Last month I had a job where I did 12 000 words PEMT in 5 hours, and I'm convinced that my translation was good.
That would be 2400 words an hour. In my book there aren't any circumstances imaginable in which this is doable while delivering a quality translation. It's even absurd, knowing that I need about an hour to simply read 3000 words at a normal pace.
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Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 17:20
German to Swedish
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Peter Motte wrote:
The problem is I have no idea about the subjects nor the quality of the texts.
Then you shouldn't bid on it.
And not much point in speculating about X words per day.
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 17:20
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
If you are extremely lucky, then the MT text might make some sense - regardless of the field. Surely you can "just read" some 12,000 words in one day. However, MTs have proven to be rather scrambled, oftentimes requiring a complete new translation or extensive rewriting.
Let me guess, they're willing to pay you a cent or two per word? I, for one, would simply ignore the task or maybe try to make the customer see that s/he should be a little more realistic.... of course in a very pol... See more If you are extremely lucky, then the MT text might make some sense - regardless of the field. Surely you can "just read" some 12,000 words in one day. However, MTs have proven to be rather scrambled, oftentimes requiring a complete new translation or extensive rewriting.
Let me guess, they're willing to pay you a cent or two per word? I, for one, would simply ignore the task or maybe try to make the customer see that s/he should be a little more realistic.... of course in a very polite and professional manner.
[Edited at 2024-02-10 17:00 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 17:20
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Several MTPE clients | Feb 10, 2024 |
Some MTPE clients kept offering MTPE (even though I said I don’t do them). Almost as if they were trying to push it onto me.
Then there was a turn.
They started coming to me saying how “clients complained about quality” and how much I charge for translation from scratch. Then we continued with normal translation.
What happened here, why did the clients complain? Because of the $0.01 peanut MT proofreaders who fly through text at the speed of 12k words... See more Some MTPE clients kept offering MTPE (even though I said I don’t do them). Almost as if they were trying to push it onto me.
Then there was a turn.
They started coming to me saying how “clients complained about quality” and how much I charge for translation from scratch. Then we continued with normal translation.
What happened here, why did the clients complain? Because of the $0.01 peanut MT proofreaders who fly through text at the speed of 12k words/day. That’s right ladies and gentlmen, flying and reading are not the same. And reading and critical reading are not the same either. Let’s leave the flying to pilots.
[Edited at 2024-02-10 16:05 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | So, is quality not dead after all? | Feb 10, 2024 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
They started coming to me saying how “clients complained about quality” and how much I charge for translation from scratch. Then we continued with normal translation
Then there must also be hope. As for the speed mentioned above, well, it's impossible to achieve unless the customer is happy with garbage results: you do as many find and replaces as you can to correct mistranslations you're able to spot and deliver slightly cleaner garbage while taking no responsibility. Also, it's disrespectful to ask a pro to work at such a speed. I'm sure the customer just doesn't understand how our work is done (since I don't know anyone from that company,
I won't be questioning their intellectual abilities). Remember someone from a country I'd better not mention writing about being able to translate 15k per day from scratch (9k if it's many days' work). I'd really love to see their outputs and to be able to evaluate them. I'm quite fast btw, whether I'm translating or reviewing, and still I'll never accept such jobs
[Редактировалось 2024-02-10 18:23 GMT]
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Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 17:20
German to English
+ ...
| 12k per day, 7 days in a row... | Feb 10, 2024 |
...and your mind feels like a squeezed sponge. ^^
NOT recommended is my answer.
Of course, a 12k task on any given day is a different story... That may be doable. But not over a longer period. That is a recipe for stroke...
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