Translation speed: what is achievable and what is a good average?
You hear the craziest stories about the volume of words a translator can translate per day, from 3,000 to even 6,000 words. Why is there such a big difference and how can you boost your translation speed?
The difficulty and style of the text
Many translators say that working within their field of expertise is fast, because they are familiar with the terminology. There is certainly something to it, but your specialisation has to be very restrictive, a kind of niche market, so to speak.
As a technical translator, my range of translations is so broad that I will never use this as an argument for a high translation speed: I couldn’t reach 1,500 words a day in the translation I once did of a calculation note about wind loads for a timber construction.
And even within my main specialisation — fire safety — speed varies a lot for another reason: the author’s writing style. One author may have a straightforward style, while another may write in such nebulous French that you have to read each sentence three times before you can begin to interpret it.
And it can be even worse: if the source text lacks consistency and coherence, in addition to translating the text, you also need to rewrite it, which is very time consuming. It takes a lot more time than translating.
Just think of a very boring book that you have to read.
The volume of the translation project
In my opinion, the size of the translation project also plays a part. If I spend a whole day translating half-page press releases, my translation speed is not nearly as fast as if I had a “manageable” project of 2,500 words on my plate.
And a large project over several days or weeks also slows down the pace for me. While such a large project does allow you to reach a cruising speed because you become familiar with the terminology, in my case, it also creates a feeling of rut after some time, with the ensuing concentration problems.
But this may vary from one translator to the next. If you like to work on a book translation for several months, for example, then you probably won’t be bothered by this.
Tools that increase your productivity
The difficulty and style will lower your productivity, but there are also tools to boost your speed again:
CAT tools
Using a CAT tool can be a huge help provided you have a good grasp of its features.
The keyboard shortcuts, for example: not having to constantly move your hand to the mouse is a great time saver. The Muse feature in memoQ[O1] is also very useful. It works like a machine translation program but based on your translations.
If you’re working with Trados, AutoSuggestDictionary combined with Trados NMT 2.0 will really boost your translation speed. Trados claims that you can translate 20% more in the same time. I can’t say for sure whether that is the case, but it certainly saves you typing.
DeepL Pro
In addition, there is also DeepL Pro (not to mention the fact that I have my doubts about DeepL Pro’s credibility regarding confidentiality, but it’s up to you to decide whether you can use it for your customer or not).
I personally find that, in memoQ, DeepL Pro works much more like I understand machine translation, while in Trados it is clearly set up as a tool.
In both CAT tools, however, depending on your source text and language combinations, it can boost your translation speed. Please note that I am intentionally using the word “can”. It may just as easily backfire by giving you a lot more proofreading work to do.
Dragon Naturally Speaking: speaking is faster than typing
Dragon Naturally Speaking, also called Little Dragon among translators, is perhaps the biggest ‘speed devil’. Dictating your translation in memoQ with Dragon is twice or even six times (!) faster. Provided, however, that there are not too many formatting codes in the text.
The same is true in Trados, even if it doesn’t feel that way due to the cumbersome way of correcting (for more on this, read Dragon Naturally Speaking and CAT tools).
But Little Dragon also works very fast in Word. So, even if you don’t have a CAT tool, this is a very useful investment that pays for itself very quickly.
Partly pre-translated sentences and machine translations
Sometimes, translation agencies will give you a pre-translated file based on the existing translation memories; or you get a text that has been run through DeepL Pro or another MT program beforehand.
In the former case, this can save you time if the quality is good, but you get paid less for your work, therefore cancelling the advantage; in the latter case, i.e. machine translations, there is no time gain, since you now have to either erase everything or correct everything, and you often get an even lower rate.
Your ability to focus and mental and physical condition
No two days are the same. Sure, a cold or the flu can impair your ability to concentrate, but even if I’m in tip-top shape, I can’t translate 3,000 words or more for days at a time. One day I may achieve 4,000 words — or even 5,000 with Dragon –, but I usually feel the mental fallout the next day.
Despite all the tools, translating at a fast pace requires a lot of concentration and brain power.
Translation: just the tip of the iceberg
A translator does more than just translate.
You’ll be answering requests for quotations and other messages in your mailbox, for example. And that affects your concentration. After answering e-mails, it always takes me a while to get going again.
Moreover, something unexpected will also land in your mailbox without fail, messing up your entire schedule — and in my case also my ability to focus:
- an urgent translation,
- a customer or a colleague that you need to help with something,
- a complex quotation.
How many hours in your day?
Your definition of a working day is another contributing factor, of course. Some colleagues work late into the night, while others, like me, stop working at the end of ‘relatively’ normal office hours.
Again, a lot depends on your mental stamina. If you have no problem burning the midnight oil, then you will indeed translate more words in a day.
That is why the number of words in a day often gives a distorted picture. It is actually better to talk about a number of words per hour.
What also matters is your typing speed — do you type blindly with ten or two fingers and how often do you need to correct — and also your reading speed. Two things that you can train quite easily and that can save you a lot of time without any financial investment.
Conclusion:
For large projects, I aim to translate 2,500 words a day. If I reach 3,000 words or more, that’s a bonus for the next day. If I don’t achieve the target, I know that I either have to work longer that day or shift up a gear the next day.
Worth considering:
If you increase your productivity — i.e. more words in a day within the same time — you have two options:
- either you stop earlier and earn more per hour
- or you take more projects and earn more.
Both options are good. Personally, I prefer to have more free time.
IIf you’ve let this thought sink in for a while and are dreaming about the things you, like me, could do with that additional free time, or the extra money if you chose option 2, would you consider reducing your rate per word proportionally to the volume, as some translation agencies require, with the risk of not achieving the assumed productivity and therefore having to earn less money for your efforts?
I hope not.
Tip: The training provided by the Canadian institute Magistrad is an absolute must: Augmenter son efficacité dans les tâches entourant l’acte de traduire. Check out the course overview to find out when this three-part course of three hours each will be delivered.
