| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Can you QC 3000 words in an hour? Thread poster: Christine Andersen
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dianaft wrote:
had a request to proofread 96 individual files containing one sentence each within an hour. When I explained that I might manage to download, open, close, zip and return 96 individual files if I don't bother looking at them... they decided to skip that step after all.
Hah! Thanks for the laugh!
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I'm curious:
Can some people seriously do bilingual revising that is extremely thorough (no omissions, mistakes or obvious factual/ terminological errors) and also makes a substantial contribution to the general quality (clarity and style) of the final text three times as fast as they can translate?
If the standard rate for EN 15038 revisions were 2/3 of the standard rate for translations, then I think that the equation would add up, but as it is, the process dictated by the n... See more I'm curious:
Can some people seriously do bilingual revising that is extremely thorough (no omissions, mistakes or obvious factual/ terminological errors) and also makes a substantial contribution to the general quality (clarity and style) of the final text three times as fast as they can translate?
If the standard rate for EN 15038 revisions were 2/3 of the standard rate for translations, then I think that the equation would add up, but as it is, the process dictated by the norm seems like it almost inevitably has to lead to abuse or futility. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 18:41
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Bernhard Sulzer wrote: dianaft wrote:
had a request to proofread 96 individual files containing one sentence each within an hour. When I explained that I might manage to download, open, close, zip and return 96 individual files if I don't bother looking at them... they decided to skip that step after all. Hah! Thanks for the laugh!
 I actually doubt I could do that. Just imagine: performing all those boring actions - moving the cursor, highlighting file names, clicking the mouse button - time and time again, without any intellectual thought processes being involved. I'd go mental.
| | | | JaneD
Sweden
Local time: 19:41
Member (2009)
Swedish to English
+ ...
| Not possible | Mar 19, 2015 |
I'm a pretty quick proofreader, but I've got to say that even I'd have a problem doing all these steps *properly* in an hour. Doing all this as well as a bilingual check is just not possible.
A proper bilingual check of 3000 words (which makes me feel sick too, Sheila!) would probably take 1-1.5 hours in itself because you've got to read both "sides" of the document and think about whether the translation is really correct and complete or not.
THEN you'd do all the othe... See more I'm a pretty quick proofreader, but I've got to say that even I'd have a problem doing all these steps *properly* in an hour. Doing all this as well as a bilingual check is just not possible.
A proper bilingual check of 3000 words (which makes me feel sick too, Sheila!) would probably take 1-1.5 hours in itself because you've got to read both "sides" of the document and think about whether the translation is really correct and complete or not.
THEN you'd do all the other stuff, probably with a separate pass through the document for each task.
That's assuming that you're conscientious, of course. If you weren't really doing a bilingual check but instead just reading the target text to see if there was anything obviously bizarre and correcting the formatting/grammatical errors as you went you might be able to do it in an hour, but even then I think you'd be pushing it. ▲ Collapse
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Neptunia
Local time: 19:41
Italian to English
| sounds horrible | Mar 20, 2015 |
I think you are right that just the administrative details and getting set up to do the work would already burn up more time than they have allotted for the project. As far as their horrifying checklist, I'm sure at times we have all spent way more than 15 minutes checking a single proper name. I'm thinking of how hard it can be to verify a slightly mangled make and model of a scientific instrument for instance or imagine an index with foreign names that follow different rules of alphabetization... See more I think you are right that just the administrative details and getting set up to do the work would already burn up more time than they have allotted for the project. As far as their horrifying checklist, I'm sure at times we have all spent way more than 15 minutes checking a single proper name. I'm thinking of how hard it can be to verify a slightly mangled make and model of a scientific instrument for instance or imagine an index with foreign names that follow different rules of alphabetization. I shudder to think how much time it might take to review charts or graphs where the word count is tiny but the problems could be complex. What about academic footnotes citing manuscript sources? ha! It is simply not the kind of work that can be done well with a pre-determined time frame, especially a meager one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I don't think... | Mar 21, 2015 |
I don't think a quality check of 3,000 words in one hour is possible at all.
Consider this: you are trying to search for mistakes on the target text that are not always obvious. If you rush too much and miss them, doesn't that defeat the point of a quality check?
| | | | Elisabeth Maurland
United States
Local time: 12:41
Member (2013)
English to Norwegian
+ ...
| I bill for the time spent | Apr 22, 2015 |
The instructions seem familiar, and the estimated time too, but they also ask that you bill them for time spent. I do, and I haven't had any argument yet, even if I spend and bill for twice the estimated time.
I have said that I have a minimum of half an hour, although they keep asking for smaller jobs, and I have to admit I sometimes do them anyway, even though the time spent invoicing is more than the job itself. Hoping for bigger jobs soon...
Recently I got an estimated 2 minute ... See more The instructions seem familiar, and the estimated time too, but they also ask that you bill them for time spent. I do, and I haven't had any argument yet, even if I spend and bill for twice the estimated time.
I have said that I have a minimum of half an hour, although they keep asking for smaller jobs, and I have to admit I sometimes do them anyway, even though the time spent invoicing is more than the job itself. Hoping for bigger jobs soon...
Recently I got an estimated 2 minute job... It took longer to read the instructions, so I did the check (which took about a minute), and I won't bother to bill them for it. That will not become a habit!
Reading this thread reminds me to stick to my guns and continue to follow my own rules. ▲ Collapse
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