Another glorious day!
Dec. 11th, 2004 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpMy 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...
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...
