| Páginas sobre el tema: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: How many times a day do you use a dictionary, on average? Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
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John Cutler 
España
Local time: 17:40
español al inglés
+ ...
Mario Chavez wrote:
I've also used Linguee in the past, but its accuracy is 70-90% at best. Not a good choice for very technical documentation, though.
Yes, it's a bit like the Kudoz glossary: you have to sift through the dregs and riff raff answers to find the real nugget of gold.
| | | | Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 16:40
"Too numerous to count"
Years ago, it took me a day and a half to find that term.
Now, Google Search did it in 0.24 seconds. First hit, correct. Second hit, also correct.
Why shouldn't I look up countless words in various offline and online dictionaries a day?
Then I enjoy the fun part of checking both source and target terms in context - just to make absolutely sure, where I may have a smidgin of doubt.
Not everything online has been matched bi... See more "Too numerous to count"
Years ago, it took me a day and a half to find that term.
Now, Google Search did it in 0.24 seconds. First hit, correct. Second hit, also correct.
Why shouldn't I look up countless words in various offline and online dictionaries a day?
Then I enjoy the fun part of checking both source and target terms in context - just to make absolutely sure, where I may have a smidgin of doubt.
Not everything online has been matched bilingually - even in the De-En, Fr-En and Pt-En language pairs. Often the corpora appear separately on the Internet, however, and you still need your brain to join them together, with a bit of help from your subject knowledge. It happened to me just yesterday in a Pt-En text. It will be interesting to see in a week's time whether Linguee.com has found it.
Terms in my native English constantly astound me. There are many instances where an "awkward translation" from 25 years ago has now made its way into English as standard, accepted English terminology.
This kind of thing is happening at a rate faster than any of us can look these words up.
So it behoves us to keeping using dictionaries and other resources as often as we are able.
Edited for typo: Next question: how many typing errors do you make a day (that you notice)?
[Edited at 2013-07-30 11:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 11:40
inglés al español
+ ...
| A nugget of knowledge | Jul 30, 2013 |
Noura Tawil wrote:
I'm in constant search through my dictionaries: Electronic, online, paper.. Sometimes I think of my E-Dictionary as my co-worker. I go to them looking for additional synonyms and inspiration even when I perfectly know the meaning, because I tend to seek perfection in the style of the translation output, perhaps it's due to my "former life" as a story writer for 14 years.
However, the topic and specialty do have an impact on my dictionary 'hits' number.
I admit that this habit holds me back quite a bit when it comes to productivity, but I can't help it, it's like a translator's OCD for me. I'm hoping to gradually ' recover ' over the years when I get more experienced AND practical.
[Edited at 2013-07-30 10:47 GMT]
First, Noura, I hope you are safe and sound in war-torn Syria.
Second, your so-called OCD is beneficial and a good habit, a protection against complacency (“Why should I consult a dictionary when I already know what the word means?“ syndrome).
Productivity is overrated. Some days I do 3000 words in 6-8 hours, and sometimes it's down to 700 words in a single day. I learned not to worry about it because I care too much about the quality of my writing rather than the 'productivity' that some clients want to impose on us.
| | | | Thayenga
Alemania
Local time: 17:40
Miembro 2009
inglés al alemán
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| Others because... | Jul 30, 2013 |
I have absolutely no idea.
There are days when a dictionary seems to be my twin, other days I hardly use one at all. It depends on the field/topic and previously acquired knowledge.
Besides that, on those days when I do have to use a dictionary often, I usually don't have the time neither for counting those times nor for any estimate as vage as it might be.
[Edited at 2013-07-30 12:07 GMT]
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Tatty
Local time: 17:40
español al inglés
+ ...
I always start my day by opening wordreference, proz and linguee and a Google page. I use wordreference and proz only rarely but linguee I use a lot to check things and to explore new options, and I perform a lot of searches too for the same reasons. I definitely agree that you have to be careful with linguee and I only really trust the translations that come from the EU institutions. They translate things different ways too, depending on the sentence.
The true aim of my searches t... See more I always start my day by opening wordreference, proz and linguee and a Google page. I use wordreference and proz only rarely but linguee I use a lot to check things and to explore new options, and I perform a lot of searches too for the same reasons. I definitely agree that you have to be careful with linguee and I only really trust the translations that come from the EU institutions. They translate things different ways too, depending on the sentence.
The true aim of my searches though it not a single term but the best way to phrase my sentences. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Kim Kardashian in translation | Jul 30, 2013 |
Mario Chavez wrote: Julian Holmes wrote:
As many times as I have to. Which is sometimes zero if I am familiar with the subject matter.
@Michael
Agree with you here. Another anonymous hit-and-run poll.
"Time for bed," said Zebedee. zzzzzz ...how many times Kim Kardashian looks at her shoes. What? You don't know who Kim Kardashian is? I'm surprised! She's a world-famous do-nothing female human whose claim to fame is...doing nothing.
Ha! Doing nothing is good when the lady in question has probably earnt more money in all her different business areas (model, film star, boutique owner, fashion designer, etc. etc.) in a year than we poor translators would earn in our entire lifetimes, so less of the "do nothing female", if you please! She seems to be a lot more intelligent than we are PS, I just checked Forbes and she has already earnt 10 MILLION dollars this year alone!!!
regarding dictionaries and useless polls. why answer one if you think it is pointless? I always find it interesting to hear other translator views.
my paper dictionaries only come out when it is a full moon, otherwise I make extensive use of the internet resources and usually have around 10-20 tabs open on one of my monitors - the other is used for the actual translation.
[Edited at 2013-07-30 12:44 GMT]
| | | | | It is a very interesting poll -- which makes it possible for people | Jul 30, 2013 |
to see how many words on average translators have to check in various dictionaries. It is somewhat surprising that some translators have to check even more than 100 words a day. It must be hard to have to check so many words.
Do you trust most of the dictionaries you use, because I don't. I basically only trust monolingual dictionaries such as Oxford, Webster and a few others.
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I am constantly using dictionaries, either to look up unfamiliar terms or - perhaps even more so - to confirm or add to what I already know. I don't do "near enough"!
Steve K.
@ Mario - 70-90% accuracy for Linguee? I doubt if 20% of the translations on there are anything more than wild guesses, or to be more kind, literal constructions. To be taken with a tablespoon full of salt...
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As many times as I have to. It depends on the subject.
| | | | Graeme Walle (X)
Finlandia
Local time: 18:40
finlandés al inglés
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Michael Harris wrote:
???? If I start counting that as well, ....
I do not normally like saying this, but this must be the most useless Polls yet, and we have had some real competitors in the past! And also by someone invisible!
Agree. Varies much.
| | | | Yaotl Altan
México
Local time: 09:40
Miembro 2006
inglés al español
+ ...
As a matter of fact, I think there has never been a day during my translator life without the use of dictionaries and my 10000 words glossary.
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 21:10
Miembro 2006
inglés al hindi
+ ...
LOCALIZADOR DEL SITIO | Paper or online? | Jul 30, 2013 |
Everything depends on this. If you mean paper dictionary, my answer would be rarely, but if you include online dictionaries too, then my answer would be more than 20 times a day, but this would depend on the level of difficulty of the text I am translating.
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John Fossey
Canadá
Local time: 11:40
Miembro 2008
francés al inglés
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As my daughter would tell me, the question is making me stupid...
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There's a good deal of texts I translate without looking anything up, but sometimes I know what something means and I could recall the meaning in a minute or two, but I do it the easier way and just look up. In some other cases, I need a synonym or a context-appropriate or industry-appropriate word, and in situation like that I would look it up for confirmation and to avoid presumptions. Presumptions, assumptions and other -sumptions are not a friend of good translation.
Similarly, ... See more There's a good deal of texts I translate without looking anything up, but sometimes I know what something means and I could recall the meaning in a minute or two, but I do it the easier way and just look up. In some other cases, I need a synonym or a context-appropriate or industry-appropriate word, and in situation like that I would look it up for confirmation and to avoid presumptions. Presumptions, assumptions and other -sumptions are not a friend of good translation.
Similarly, I sometimes use Google to track the relative frequency of alternative phrasings or to trace contextual usage, not only when translating into a foreign language. We might call this style reference via Google, but I'd still mention it in a dictionary discussion like the one we're having here. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 11:40
inglés al español
+ ...
| Us poor translators | Jul 30, 2013 |
heathermccrae wrote: Mario Chavez wrote: Julian Holmes wrote:
As many times as I have to. Which is sometimes zero if I am familiar with the subject matter.
@Michael
Agree with you here. Another anonymous hit-and-run poll.
"Time for bed," said Zebedee. zzzzzz ...how many times Kim Kardashian looks at her shoes. What? You don't know who Kim Kardashian is? I'm surprised! She's a world-famous do-nothing female human whose claim to fame is...doing nothing. Ha! Doing nothing is good when the lady in question has probably earnt more money in all her different business areas (model, film star, boutique owner, fashion designer, etc. etc.) in a year than we poor translators would earn in our entire lifetimes, so less of the "do nothing female", if you please! She seems to be a lot more intelligent than we are PS, I just checked Forbes and she has already earnt 10 MILLION dollars this year alone!!! regarding dictionaries and useless polls. why answer one if you think it is pointless? I always find it interesting to hear other translator views. my paper dictionaries only come out when it is a full moon, otherwise I make extensive use of the internet resources and usually have around 10-20 tabs open on one of my monitors - the other is used for the actual translation. [Edited at 2013-07-30 12:44 GMT]
I pity the translator (or anyone, for that matter) who compares his/her earnings to someone with no distinguishing talents and who's riding the reality TV money train. People like Kardashian make money simply because they've managed to be famous at being famous or notorious.
Want proof? In the April 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan, Kim Kardashian penned an article titled “The money, the man, the baby...Get what you want.”
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