Via my network of spies...

I've heard that one of my clients has changed its payment policy, at least on an interim basis. Now, instead of paying on target word count, they are paying on source word count.

If this is the case, it does not bode well for folks translating into English, as your typical Russian text will expand its word count somewhere between 15% and 30%, depending on various factors, so switching to payment on source word count (without, apparently, changing the rate per word) is equivalent to taking a 15% to 30% pay cut for one's work.

Interestingly enough, English going into Russian also expands somewhat, as a rule, which makes for an interesting mind puzzle: what happens if you go back and forth a few times? Does the size of the text keep expanding?

I think probably not.

As an example, take the English figure caption "Gas composition versus pressure." You can't simply replace words to get something that sounds right in Russian. Instead, you end up with the rendering "Зависимость компонентного состава газа от давления" (literally: "Dependence of gas composition on pressure"). The Russian is 50% "bigger" than the English (in terms of number of words).

Now if you give the Russian to a less-experienced Russian-English translator, you might get something like, "Dependence of gas component composition on pressure," which increases the word count another 17%. Another likely alternative is "Dependence of gas composition on pressure," which does not increase the word count, but is still wordy.

This is not the best explanation, as it only presents one sentence, but it should get across a germ of what I'm talking about. (Hmmm, perhaps a more exhaustive analysis would make an interesting ATA presentation?)

The edits are done. I'll probably spend the afternoon at the store.

Cheers...

Focusing the mind...

Samuel Johnson is reported to have said, "The prospect of one's public hanging tends to marvelously focus the mind." I might add, so does the prospect of leaving on a business trip in less than 48 hours. As my assignment starts Sunday night, I thought it'd be better to make sure I'm there Saturday night rather than risk showing up for my first night's work.

Huntür spent most of the afternoon at the house and arrived with Galina just as I noted an email in my inbox with 6 more pages from the editing job. I somehow managed to finish the work while Huntür ran in and out of my room, and then we all sat down to some corned beef leftovers for lunch, topped off with some butterscotch pudding (love that instant stuff!).

Galina is not feeling so well at the moment, between something stretched in her back from earlier today and a queasy stomache from not too long after coming home. I hope she feels better tomorrow morning.

The "big stones" in my jar are probably the remaining part of the translation due Monday (~3600 source) and packing for the trip. A more detailed to-do list will have to be compiled tomorrow morning first thing (or perhaps second, as I intend to drop by the ham breakfast).

Cheers...