Poll: How do you approach a large single file to be translated over several days or weeks?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Aug 11, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you approach a large single file to be translated over several days or weeks?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:52
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Aug 11, 2018

Time permitting, first of all I read the whole lot and underline what needs to be researched or seems unclear, after that I work out how many pages I have to translate every day in order to meet the deadline, leaving a comfortable margin to a final proofreading and time for jobs from my other customers, I split it accordingly and translate that number of pages every day. I either check every portion at the end of the day or the whole lot at the very end, depending how large the file is.
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Time permitting, first of all I read the whole lot and underline what needs to be researched or seems unclear, after that I work out how many pages I have to translate every day in order to meet the deadline, leaving a comfortable margin to a final proofreading and time for jobs from my other customers, I split it accordingly and translate that number of pages every day. I either check every portion at the end of the day or the whole lot at the very end, depending how large the file is.

P.S. I get all happy (what a childish behavior!) every time I’m able to translate more than I thought I could…
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Laura Nagle (X)
Ritu Bhanot
Peter van der Hoek
 
B D Finch
B D Finch  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:52
French to English
+ ...
It depends Aug 11, 2018

To some extent, it depends on the complexity and subject matter of the document. However, if it was a job that would take weeks, the first step would be to split it into sections to make it more manageable for my CAT tool. I would already have scanned (in the quick reading sense) the file when deciding whether to accept it, so I'd probably already have a good idea of where to split it. Also, I might want to deliver and receive payment in stages and, if the job was for a new client, to deliver an... See more
To some extent, it depends on the complexity and subject matter of the document. However, if it was a job that would take weeks, the first step would be to split it into sections to make it more manageable for my CAT tool. I would already have scanned (in the quick reading sense) the file when deciding whether to accept it, so I'd probably already have a good idea of where to split it. Also, I might want to deliver and receive payment in stages and, if the job was for a new client, to deliver and receive cleared payment for a first section of a value of no more than €350 before making any further deliveries.

Staged delivery also has advantages for the client, who has the reassurance of seeing the quality of the translation and can give feedback to be taken into account for the translation of the remaining sections.

In the case of a text that used specialised terminology and required research into technical subject matter, I'd read through the whole document marking what needed to be researched. I'd then find suitable reference material and do the research, or at least that for a couple of sections, ahead of the translation.

For a non-specialised translation, I would just get on with translating the split document and look up anything I needed to as I went along.
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Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 10:52
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Skim the whole text and then divide it into portions Aug 11, 2018

I seriously prefer smaller texts - it is simply a matter of temperament.

Many of my small texts are in fact sections of something bigger, so consistency is important. When I get a large text all at once, I try to find the problems if any - and often the answers to questions in the early sections turn up later on.
Otherwise I want to start looking for answers or let the client know if there are actually going to be any problems.

I decide on terminology as far as po
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I seriously prefer smaller texts - it is simply a matter of temperament.

Many of my small texts are in fact sections of something bigger, so consistency is important. When I get a large text all at once, I try to find the problems if any - and often the answers to questions in the early sections turn up later on.
Otherwise I want to start looking for answers or let the client know if there are actually going to be any problems.

I decide on terminology as far as possible in advance - I don't know how many times I have proofread texts where the terminology was inconsistent. I have to confess I have wasted quite a lot of time myself, on 'search and replace' exercises, trying to clarify distinctions consistently.

I think this sort of thing is going to be an important difference between human translators and machine translation. Machines jump in and rattle through the text. Humans can form a picture of the whole and distinguish between different contexts.
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Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 10:52
English to German
Translate it all and then check Aug 11, 2018

... because sometimes I learn something later in the text, or change my mind on a terminology decision, that I need on earlier pages and can implement throughout before the final check.

I don't usually read my texts beforehand because I'm extremely specialized, so 99% of my texts are surprise free and also suspense free. I guess if I translated whodunnits, I would sneak a look at the last page first to see who the murderer was (it was the gardener, there is a German song about that)
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... because sometimes I learn something later in the text, or change my mind on a terminology decision, that I need on earlier pages and can implement throughout before the final check.

I don't usually read my texts beforehand because I'm extremely specialized, so 99% of my texts are surprise free and also suspense free. I guess if I translated whodunnits, I would sneak a look at the last page first to see who the murderer was (it was the gardener, there is a German song about that), but in trying to sell software architectures or Agile development to people, we all know how it is going to end, don't we.
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Peter Shortall
Mario Freitas
Peter van der Hoek
 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:52
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Aug 11, 2018

I proceed with the translation, and if as I proceed I discover that I ought to change the translation of a given term, then I write it down on a sheet of paper. At the end, I make all of the changes I have noted, research terms that I have flagged, do a general check, then a spellcheck, and then deliver.

I have found this to be the most efficient way to proceed. Carefully reading the whole document first might be ideal, but it takes a lot more time, and the fees and rates that I ear
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I proceed with the translation, and if as I proceed I discover that I ought to change the translation of a given term, then I write it down on a sheet of paper. At the end, I make all of the changes I have noted, research terms that I have flagged, do a general check, then a spellcheck, and then deliver.

I have found this to be the most efficient way to proceed. Carefully reading the whole document first might be ideal, but it takes a lot more time, and the fees and rates that I earn simply do not justify the extra time.

[Edited at 2018-08-11 15:05 GMT]
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Catherine Brix
 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 03:52
Dutch to English
+ ...
Day by day Aug 11, 2018

I skim the whole text and make a rough estimate of how many pages I need to do per day. On the second day, before I begin, I read over what I translated the previous day and make any necessary changes and I do that every following day. That way, not only have I proofread each piece once already but it also improves consistency as I go along. I always use the spell and grammar check 'as you type'. At the end I do a final proofreading of the whole document and I use PerfectIt to finalize the text... See more
I skim the whole text and make a rough estimate of how many pages I need to do per day. On the second day, before I begin, I read over what I translated the previous day and make any necessary changes and I do that every following day. That way, not only have I proofread each piece once already but it also improves consistency as I go along. I always use the spell and grammar check 'as you type'. At the end I do a final proofreading of the whole document and I use PerfectIt to finalize the text. If there is time, I leave it sitting overnight before I do those last two steps but sometimes the time zone difference between me and the client does not allow it - I often end up with less time than the client intended.Collapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:52
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Text assessment Aug 12, 2018

I always take a good look at the text, which does not imply going over the entire text whatsoever. You can always read random paragraphs trhoughout the document and check if it's all feasible and "within your reach". That's more than enough. Then you calculate how long you need and provide the quote. I always calculate 3000 words per business day, and usually deliver in advance with this daily volume.

Jennifer Forbes
 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:52
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Finalize a piece of it every day Aug 13, 2018

The first thing I do is mark my calendar with word count totals for each day. That keeps me on my toes. I allow extra days for proofreading at the end, and I try to proofread at least twice.

While working on the text, I re-read each translated paragraph at least once and try to make sure it's in final form. If I can't solve everything to my satisfaction, I will mark the difficult parts for further attention - but within the day or the next day or so. I don't wait to the end. In oth
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The first thing I do is mark my calendar with word count totals for each day. That keeps me on my toes. I allow extra days for proofreading at the end, and I try to proofread at least twice.

While working on the text, I re-read each translated paragraph at least once and try to make sure it's in final form. If I can't solve everything to my satisfaction, I will mark the difficult parts for further attention - but within the day or the next day or so. I don't wait to the end. In other words, I don't move forward unless my text is in what I consider to be final form.

I don't read it through first. I find that I deal with challenges much better when they come up in running text, rather than trying to anticipate them or pick out certain technical words to look up ahead of time. Context is everything!
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Poll: How do you approach a large single file to be translated over several days or weeks?






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