Average daily workload for a freelance translator Thread poster: Alexandre Chetrite
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Hello,
A big translator agency is offering a big volume translation. I don't have the number yet, but it could be 50 000 words or more.
What is the average daily workload in words of a freelance translator usually per skills (beginner/5 years experience/more than 5 years experience)?
Is 2500 words/day an average workload?
The domaine is E-learning/IT.
[Edited at 2022-01-21 15:59 GMT]
| | | | Gerard de Noord 
France
Local time: 10:05
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
This is an easy question to ask, especially for translation agencies, but a very hard question to answer. 50,000 words will take the average translator several weeks but only freelancers without repeat clients could commit their full daily workload to just that one project. If you tell the agency that you can translate 2,500 words/day, they’re likely to give you exactly 1 month to complete 50,000 words.
You’ll be exhausted afterwards, and you might have to disappoint regulars wh... See more This is an easy question to ask, especially for translation agencies, but a very hard question to answer. 50,000 words will take the average translator several weeks but only freelancers without repeat clients could commit their full daily workload to just that one project. If you tell the agency that you can translate 2,500 words/day, they’re likely to give you exactly 1 month to complete 50,000 words.
You’ll be exhausted afterwards, and you might have to disappoint regulars who won’t come back.
Translation agencies offering 50,000 word jobs to translators they don’t know are asking for problems and are causing them.
Cheers,
Gerard ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 04:05
German to English
| Daily output can vary | Jan 21, 2022 |
A number of factors will affect daily output, including familiarity with subject matter, availability of resources, typing/dictation speed or quality of the source text. Targets can also depend on external factors such as family situation, health issues, or infrastructure reliability. I live in what is generally considered a "first world" country, but the local power grid would be an embarrassment in less prosperous nations, so sometimes I can only work a few hours in a day – if any – after ... See more A number of factors will affect daily output, including familiarity with subject matter, availability of resources, typing/dictation speed or quality of the source text. Targets can also depend on external factors such as family situation, health issues, or infrastructure reliability. I live in what is generally considered a "first world" country, but the local power grid would be an embarrassment in less prosperous nations, so sometimes I can only work a few hours in a day – if any – after a mild storm.
I've seen Proz members claim a throughput of 10K words/day. I have never come close to achieving numbers like that. On a good day I can translate 3000+ words of a relatively straightforward instruction manual, but only half that when working on a complex text describing medical research.
If you can sustain at least 2500 words a day on average, you will do as well as many translators, in my opinion. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Daily output | Jan 22, 2022 |
With long jobs, I always set myself a daily comfortable translation quota (no more than 1,500/2,000 words) in order to be able to squeeze smaller jobs from other customers. A huge advantage of big projects is that you become familiar with content quite early and the more familiar you are the faster your translation speed picks up. Usually I don't ask my customers for advance payment. However, if it is a large project from a new client then I’ll ask for 20% upfront, 30% at half of the project, ... See more With long jobs, I always set myself a daily comfortable translation quota (no more than 1,500/2,000 words) in order to be able to squeeze smaller jobs from other customers. A huge advantage of big projects is that you become familiar with content quite early and the more familiar you are the faster your translation speed picks up. Usually I don't ask my customers for advance payment. However, if it is a large project from a new client then I’ll ask for 20% upfront, 30% at half of the project, and 50% upon completion. ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:05
French to English
Don't tell the agency what you can do, only what you are prepared to do.
At one point I worked out that if I didn't have any down time between jobs, I averaged 3,800 words a day.
I never agree to more than 2000 words a day, so that I can fit other stuff in. This will either be other jobs, or life. Be prepared, because it sometimes seems that clients have meetings amongst themselves to decide that the last week of January is the best time for everyone to have an urgent job that can't... See more Don't tell the agency what you can do, only what you are prepared to do.
At one point I worked out that if I didn't have any down time between jobs, I averaged 3,800 words a day.
I never agree to more than 2000 words a day, so that I can fit other stuff in. This will either be other jobs, or life. Be prepared, because it sometimes seems that clients have meetings amongst themselves to decide that the last week of January is the best time for everyone to have an urgent job that can't wait till February. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:05
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Depending on the complexity or otherwise of the text, I would assume roughly 3000/3500 words (translated, polished, checked, and ready for publication) for an 8-hour day and doing no other work. But that's probably not the figure you should give your client. Add some extra time into the calculation so that you have a chance to rest, mess about, cook and eat, go for walks, etc. and of course, do other jobs at the same time.
[Edited at 2022-01-22 10:02 GMT]
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
| It varies wildly | Jan 22, 2022 |
Translation memories and repetitive jobs make it very difficult to estimate.
I've had sub-2,000-word jobs that took all day... but also a personal record of 160k words in ~8 hours (g-d bless bureaucracy!).
For 50k words without prep, familiarity, or translation memories, 3 weeks comfortable / 2 weeks doable would be my estimate.
[Edited at 2022-01-22 11:50 GMT]
| | | | | Be cautious in what you offer | Jan 22, 2022 |
I recall a ProZ discussion where people were comparing their hourly translating speeds. This ranged from 150 source words/hour (slow/extremely tricky text) to 1000 words/hour (someone possibly boasting?). Personally I don't think that such high speeds can be kept up day by day.
I also read somewhere that translators employed by the Council of Europe (not freelancers) were expected to do 2500 words a day on average. This may sound rather low but perhaps not if everything else they do... See more I recall a ProZ discussion where people were comparing their hourly translating speeds. This ranged from 150 source words/hour (slow/extremely tricky text) to 1000 words/hour (someone possibly boasting?). Personally I don't think that such high speeds can be kept up day by day.
I also read somewhere that translators employed by the Council of Europe (not freelancers) were expected to do 2500 words a day on average. This may sound rather low but perhaps not if everything else they do in their working day is also taken into account (meetings, research, admin, breaks)?
Of course if you can get away with just machine translation or the text is kind of repetitive you can achieve a higher speed.
Productivity over a long period is not comparable to short bursts of effort, so I agree with the other posters that it is wiser to say that you can do fewer words per hour than you actually can in order to be able to handle emergencies such as illness. ▲ Collapse
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| It also depends a lot on your language | Jan 23, 2022 |
You are probably counting source language words...
Many years ago, I agreed with an agency on a rate of DKK 0.72 per word if they counted target language = English words, and DKK 0.85 for source language words = Danish. That was before we used Trados regularly, and exchange rates have gone up and down since, so they are no indication of suitable rates for today, but the ratio is important.
That was at a time when it was still necessary in many cases to count source word... See more You are probably counting source language words...
Many years ago, I agreed with an agency on a rate of DKK 0.72 per word if they counted target language = English words, and DKK 0.85 for source language words = Danish. That was before we used Trados regularly, and exchange rates have gone up and down since, so they are no indication of suitable rates for today, but the ratio is important.
That was at a time when it was still necessary in many cases to count source words manually, but they could always count target words digitally.
The agency had spent a lot of time and effort trying to calculate their rates, so they charged end-clients roughly the same fee for a given job, regardless of whether they counted source or target words. And then they suggested rates to translators which, as a beginner, I accepted - they were absolutely reasonable back then, but I would not accept them now.
I find 2000 words a day from Scandinavian languages is hard work, and barely sustainable. In some areas, if the translator is familiar with the subject and and/or CAT is helpful, it may be possible to do more, but I never promise more.
Whatever your languages, you need a strategy, depending on what kind of job and subject area you are dealing with - how will you handle terminology and cope with consistency, for instance? Working out that kind of thing takes time too, and you will need to set aside some days or plan time for checking and proofreading on a large scale.
You may be able to translate 400-500 words in an hour, but you cannot just multiply that by the number of hours you work to get the number of words you can deliver in a week!
[Edited at 2022-01-23 12:02 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | 50,000 words? | Jan 23, 2022 |
And in IT? What exactly does IT mean for that job? Did you check the files, its information density and therefore, what do they consist of: mostly of tables, figures, headlines, continuous text, foils of a presentation program, etc.? And what about the net word count calculated against any databases (TM / TB), if any provided? What research effort do you assume? Are you comfortable with the contents? And then: what volume discount do they require and are you still satisfied with the price then? ... See more And in IT? What exactly does IT mean for that job? Did you check the files, its information density and therefore, what do they consist of: mostly of tables, figures, headlines, continuous text, foils of a presentation program, etc.? And what about the net word count calculated against any databases (TM / TB), if any provided? What research effort do you assume? Are you comfortable with the contents? And then: what volume discount do they require and are you still satisfied with the price then? With your 11 years of experience you easily should manage to answer these questions by yourself, don't you?
[Bearbeitet am 2022-01-23 12:50 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 04:05
Japanese to English
+ ...
| daily workload | Jan 25, 2022 |
5,000 words, Japanese to English
| | | | Daniel Frisano
Italy
Local time: 10:05
Member (2008)
English to Italian
+ ...
| 2.5-3k average, 10k+ peak | Jan 25, 2022 |
2500 to 3000 words/day is probably a good estimation of the average daily wordcount across all levels of experience.
That said, with the right mindset, and in your field of specialization, it's entirely possible to do 4-5k before lunch, and 10-12k or even more in a full, long working day if pressed for time.
And I mean new words, no MT at all, proofreading included.
No need to settle for the average, notwithstanding all the self-proclaimed "experts" swearin... See more 2500 to 3000 words/day is probably a good estimation of the average daily wordcount across all levels of experience.
That said, with the right mindset, and in your field of specialization, it's entirely possible to do 4-5k before lunch, and 10-12k or even more in a full, long working day if pressed for time.
And I mean new words, no MT at all, proofreading included.
No need to settle for the average, notwithstanding all the self-proclaimed "experts" swearing that it's impossible to produce more than 3k a day. It may be impossible for THEM, but not necessarily for YOU. ▲ Collapse
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