If something - like a sudden flurry of stupendously repetitive text - doesn't descend from the wings, things are going to get pretty tight for one translator of my acquaintance.
The initial word count of an item offered by a company I hadn't heard of for a couple or three years was 32,000-some-odd words, due ASAP. However, there was something smelly about the document. After digging a little, it turned out to be a unique exemplar of its type, a word processing document containing a number of tables that had been compiled completely without the Word table feature.
One of the staff a the company and I got to thinking how this could have happened, and the only explanation that makes sense (especially since the output is in Courier New) is that the file is largely the text output of an older computer program.
In any event, the word count has stabilized around 11,500 source words, many of them numbers and things that don't expand, plus I keep running into things that "compact" well.
During initial stabs at the file, much time was taken with learning to format the tables that resulted after the original tables were hammered and flayed with a text editor to make it easier to work with in Word. If memory serves, I only had about 800 words well and truly completed by 6 pm, and now, 5 hours later, I'm pushing 4400 words complete.
If I get a good night's rest and hit the file early tomorrow, say, at 6 am, I ought to be able to get about 5 good hours under my belt before the old man hounds me out of the house, lest I miss my 8 pm flight (I know I've mentioned my dad's penchant for wanting to be well and truly on time for stuff like that). I plan to attack another job that I accepted during the time I'm at the airport and on the plane (at least, that's the time I've budgeted for it).
All I can say is: I better not get sick or anything.
Cheers...
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