Poll: My average output in words per day at the moment is Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "My average output in words per day at the moment is".
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| | | | Lieven Malaise 
Bélgica
Local time: 03:55
Membro (2020)
Francês para Holandês
+ ...
| About 3800 words | Sep 4, 2025 |
Based on 365 days minus weekends, holidays and days off, with MTPE, editing and proofreading converted to conventional translation words, my average daily output in the year 2024 was about 3800 conventional translation words.
The reality of my daily working life is of course more diffuse, with days with a much higher or much lower output, with sometimes work during the weekends etc.
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At the moment, my today’s output is 0 as I haven’t started working yet (got up very late today).
I have never bothered to calculate my actual output, but on average what I can get done in a day it’s between 2,500 and 3,000 words (no CAT tools), though occasionally I have translated much more than that: it all depends on the subject matter and on the language pair. I must also say that some days if I do more than ... See more At the moment, my today’s output is 0 as I haven’t started working yet (got up very late today).
I have never bothered to calculate my actual output, but on average what I can get done in a day it’s between 2,500 and 3,000 words (no CAT tools), though occasionally I have translated much more than that: it all depends on the subject matter and on the language pair. I must also say that some days if I do more than that my brain starts to shut down, my fingers get tangled up and I make silly mistakes, so I prefer to try to pace myself.
At the moment, as I am working on a large project, I set myself a daily translation quota (2,000 words), leaving room for other customers, and I work until my quota is met. I'm my own boss and occasionally I work way, way, way more hours than I did when I was working as staff translator, but that’s my choice and I always find ways to compensate myself…
[Edited at 2025-09-04 11:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | How do you manage to convert all the other activities into a piecework rate for number of words? | Sep 4, 2025 |
Presuming that most translators handle a job from start to finish, how do you calculate a "number of words" if you start by scanning an illegible file, producing an OCR salad from a .jpg that somebody scanned in a warped or wavy manner on a phone, slowly typing up the mess at 800% magnification, or, indeed, how do you even calculate a "number of words" across the tasks of pre-formatting (as just described), translating, researching, editing, reviewing, finalising and post-formatting? What is the... See more Presuming that most translators handle a job from start to finish, how do you calculate a "number of words" if you start by scanning an illegible file, producing an OCR salad from a .jpg that somebody scanned in a warped or wavy manner on a phone, slowly typing up the mess at 800% magnification, or, indeed, how do you even calculate a "number of words" across the tasks of pre-formatting (as just described), translating, researching, editing, reviewing, finalising and post-formatting? What is the yardstick for converting all that lot into a "number of words"? Just interested to know, that's all. ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise
Bélgica
Local time: 03:55
Membro (2020)
Francês para Holandês
+ ...
| Other activities | Sep 4, 2025 |
Astrid Elke Witte wrote:
Presuming that most translators handle a job from start to finish, how do you calculate a "number of words" if you start by scanning an illegible file, producing an OCR salad from a .jpg that somebody scanned in a warped or wavy manner on a phone, slowly typing up the mess at 800% magnification, or, indeed, how do you even calculate a "number of words" across the tasks of pre-formatting (as just described), translating, researching, editing, reviewing, finalising and post-formatting? What is the yardstick for converting all that lot into a "number of words"? Just interested to know, that's all.
If you work for translation agencies there are almost no other activities. Just CAT tool files that need proper translation and proper tag positioning.
As far as crappy source texts are concerned: if the quality is too bad, it's simply return to sender or a significant rate increase to cover for the extra work.
Translation, editing, researching and reviewing are obviously incorporated into the word rate.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Itália
Local time: 03:55
Inglês para Alemão
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| convertion using your average hourly output | Sep 5, 2025 |
Astrid Elke Witte wrote:
What is the yardstick for converting all that lot into a "number of words"? Just interested to know, that's all.
My approach would be: Multiplying the total time worked by my average hourly translation output, dividing the total time worked by the number of working days in hours (the standard workday is 6-8 hours on average), and then dividing the potentially translated words by the number of working days.
So, let's assume you translate 250 words per hour on average. If you worked 30 hours on various tasks, this would result in potential 7500 translated words in total. Then, depending on how many hours you work per day, the result would be 1500 words per day with 6 hours per day, and 2000 words with 8 hours per day.
Total time worked: 30 hours
Your hourly output: 250 w/h
Theoretically translated words: 30 h x 250 w/h = 7500 w
Average daily words for a 6-hour day: 30 h : 6 = 5 days = 7500 w : 5 = 1500 w/day
Average daily words for an 8-hour day: 30 h : 8 = 3.75 days = 7500 w : 3.75 = 2000 w/day
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