Sped up Thread poster: Peter Motte
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Peter Motte 
Belgium
Local time: 13:22
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
I thought I didn't have a lot to do today, but after I did the calculations, I noticed that my working speed is much higher than when I started as a translator. I did in three hours what I did in almost eight hours when I started.
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WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:22
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
| A well known phenomenon among translators | Apr 17 |
Peter Motte wrote:
I thought I didn't have a lot to do today, but after I did the calculations, I noticed that my working speed is much higher than when I started as a translator. I did in three hours what I did in almost eight hours when I started.
Especially when you consider that I started with an electric (!) Olivetti typewriter without erasing tape, only Tippex available at the time, and carbon paper between the original and the copy. Ancient times!
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 13:22
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Wolfgang Schoene wrote:
Especially when you consider that I started with an electric (!) Olivetti typewriter without erasing tape, only Tippex available at the time, and carbon paper between the original and the copy. Ancient times!
But the point is: I started with a pc. The speed gain is not because of the computer, or at least only partially.
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WolfgangS
France
Local time: 13:22
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
Peter Motte wrote:
Wolfgang Schoene wrote:
Especially when you consider that I started with an electric (!) Olivetti typewriter without erasing tape, only Tippex available at the time, and carbon paper between the original and the copy. Ancient times!
But the point is: I started with a pc. The speed gain is not because of the computer, or at least only partially.
You gained about 60% of time, we typewriter-cum-Tippex-users gained about 95% of time.
[Edited at 2024-04-17 14:19 GMT]
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 13:22
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
It's not only the automation. I became faster myself.
E.g.: I don't use speech recognition. I have it, but I rarely use it.
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Peter Motte wrote:
It's not only the automation. I became faster myself.
E.g.: I don't use speech recognition. I have it, but I rarely use it.
It would be strange if we didn’t get quicker with experience.
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 13:22
French to English
I'm so much quicker than when I started!
I no longer spend hours agonising over tough expressions. I've mostly already had to translate them before. Even if I need to translate an expression I've never heard of (a vanishingly rare occurence nowadays), I can just pop it in Linguee to see if there's anything usable. There's so much more information, in increasingly palatable form, on Internet. Of course I can and do still go down rabbit holes while seeking information, but I'll usual... See more I'm so much quicker than when I started!
I no longer spend hours agonising over tough expressions. I've mostly already had to translate them before. Even if I need to translate an expression I've never heard of (a vanishingly rare occurence nowadays), I can just pop it in Linguee to see if there's anything usable. There's so much more information, in increasingly palatable form, on Internet. Of course I can and do still go down rabbit holes while seeking information, but I'll usually just leave a tab open to read later, and open a new tab to search for the next thing, so I don't waste time when the deadline is looming.
I do take more time on texts for museums and artists, because the language is always very convoluted. I like to take my time polishing the text until it is as beautiful as in French. But I do that for my own pleasure, I don't care if I'm not as productive, because I enjoy it so very much. ▲ Collapse
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Just like Wolfgang I started translating with an Olivetti typewriter and Tippex. By then, I had to make a first version by hand followed by a second clean version before typing it. Let’s say that usually a plain one-page translation would take me at least one hour. Today, it took me less than 10 minutes to translate and proofread effortlessly a plain one-page text.
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