Dec. 11th, 2004

alexpgp: (Default)
My client requested that I send whatever I had translated by the end of the day yesterday to the editor, who will work on it over the weekend. Logically, that'll reduce the scope of what needs to be edited when I submit the final document on Monday morning, but logic or no, complying with the request inserts an awkward moment into my work flow.

Like most people, I have developed a method in how I approach my work. When I translate, I generally follow the Red Queen's advice: "Start at the beginning, proceed through the middle, and stop at the end!"

By "generally," I mean with the following variations: In Word documents, I'll skip the Table of Contents if it is a field generated from headings, since updating the field at the end of the job will make the necessary adjustments automagically. I also nearly always skip translating figures -- especially those that require a graphics editor -- until after my first pass through the text, since doing so in the course of dealing with text just interrupts my "flow" of work. Finally, I rarely go back to add final details (insert headers/footers, do a final review, etc.) until after I've finished with everything else.

In submitting a partial translation, then, I am faced with two choices: violate nearly all of my preferred modes of working to submit a "final" partial translation, or work in the manner I find most effective and submit something that more closely approaches a very high quality draft translation, albeit with an untranslated TofC, untranslated figures, and few touches of "polish." (I mean, nothing leaves here without a spell check, right?)

In any event, knowing this particular client would prefer the maximum amount of text to anything else, I sent off nearly 8,000 target words to the editor before retiring last night.

Very well... Galina and I have been invited to Mike and Karen's tonight for dinner. We've promised to bring a salad. I'm looking forward to a pleasant evening.

However, between now and then lies a fertile chunk of time in which to do some translation!

Cheers...
alexpgp: (Default)
No sooner had I posted this morning's entry than I got a call from Drew at the store. Could I please come in and help Galina while he went to get the mail?

Sure! Why not?

As a result, I only got started on my translation work around 12:30 pm.

The idea was to get at least halfway done with what was left, and I'm happy to relate that I was able to get past the halfway point, to the place where I planned to be at the end of the day today, in a lot less time than I expected!

So, I've got just over 2500 source words left for tomorrow, along with all the figures in the document. I've been giving them a stealthy once-over as they slipped by on my screen, and it turns out that most of them will require little or no work, since they are merely photos of various pieces of equipment.

Two hours or so until we are expected as company... time to go freshen up.

Cheers...

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