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Poll: How do you get through huge and very boring projects? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you get through huge and very boring projects?".
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I’m not easily bored (being bored is a teenager thing, isn’t it? I must say though that some pages of dense legalese might have that effect on me for a minute or two)! I'm coming up on 40 years of full-time translating and I'm not bored yet, quite the contrary! Of course, sometimes I have to do stuff I don’t enjoy doing (administrative work) and some projects are more interesting than others, but overall the good bits far outweigh the “bad” ones! When I have a huge project, I always es... See more I’m not easily bored (being bored is a teenager thing, isn’t it? I must say though that some pages of dense legalese might have that effect on me for a minute or two)! I'm coming up on 40 years of full-time translating and I'm not bored yet, quite the contrary! Of course, sometimes I have to do stuff I don’t enjoy doing (administrative work) and some projects are more interesting than others, but overall the good bits far outweigh the “bad” ones! When I have a huge project, I always establish a quota to do every day and I have kind of a childish feeling when I happen to exceed my quota. Anyway, I never accept a project without having a good look at it… ▲ Collapse
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| Set a very generous deadline ... | Mar 16 |
... so I can do more interesting work and leisure activities in between.
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Hot come there's no option like "I don't have huge and very boring projects"? I'd pick that one
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Most of my work is "boring" to other people and a lot of the jobs I take are large. It's never bothered me. It's work, and I find satisfaction in doing it well, even if it doesn't sound very exciting when you tell someone else what you've been doing.
At the moment I'm working on a huge spreadsheet of train computer errors and I'm quite absorbed in it.
I do more creative things in my leisure time though - for example singing in a choir and dancing in a morris side.
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Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 15:48
Member
English to Turkish
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:
being bored is a teenager thing, isn’t it?
You've just made me realize that I'm a middle-aged teenager! I find most of the things I translate boring and I don't really like this job to be honest... Thankfully, I don't get huge projects in my language pair or turn down those coming from certain parts of the world that pay around 3 cents per word.
I dedicate this song to Jo Macdonald if he's lurking on these forums..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37fbs-BFGWY
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 14:48
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
The only projects that I experience as boring are spare part lists, like the 15000 words one I'm currently doing. I almost tripled my conventional translation rate for it. Not because it's boring, but simply because it's the only way to make it profitable.
Apart from that not a single translation subject is boring. I might not be really interested in the subjet itself, but I'm always interested in and enjoying translating it. I would even think it's strange to enjoy the source text ... See more The only projects that I experience as boring are spare part lists, like the 15000 words one I'm currently doing. I almost tripled my conventional translation rate for it. Not because it's boring, but simply because it's the only way to make it profitable.
Apart from that not a single translation subject is boring. I might not be really interested in the subjet itself, but I'm always interested in and enjoying translating it. I would even think it's strange to enjoy the source text while translating, because it would be a distraction from your translation work. ▲ Collapse
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I think about the money that will be in my account in a month's time.
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| None of the above! | Mar 16 |
I just think hey ! In about a month, I get 800 Euros in my account!
That's what keeps it interesting...that Klinking Klanking sound!
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Turn them down
Because boredom is not just a teenage thing
I’ve spent years getting to a place where I only do stuff I enjoy
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:48
Serbian to English
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| Simple and simpler | Mar 16 |
I found very few translation jobs "boring".
When being employed, if that happened, the solution was simple - pass it to someone else, forget it in the bottom of the drawer ... or if nothing else helps, even occasionally just do it.
As independent translator, even simpler: just say no.
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IrinaN
United States
Local time: 07:48
English to Russian
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| I guess we need to define "huge" | Mar 16 |
Marlene Blanshay wrote:
I just think hey ! In about a month, I get 800 Euros in my account!
That's what keeps it interesting...that Klinking Klanking sound!
It starts with at least 50 000 words in my book, and I would have never accepted it. Translation projects I used to work on lasted for years and the workflow was steady but my favorite separate documents or chunks have always been between 2 and up to 15 thousand words. I always loved to see the light at the end of the tunnel at least by the end of the week.
Anything that could not be finished in one week without any CATs felt like a drag.
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 14:48
Member (2020)
English to German
+ ...
In my opinion, a project is a project is a project. I do not approach particularly large and/or boring ones in any particular way, even though I must admit that I tend to procrastinate more when a job is not interesting for me. Music is on all the time and I simply work off my daily quota.
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 14:48
French to English
These polls need to have several options. I mean, how many of you go without regular food drink and exercise while working on a huge, boring project?
Personally, I haven't worked on a huge, boring project for ages. My strategy is to always tell clients when I've enjoyed translating their text, and I find that as a result, they tend to send me more of the same, so I rarely get offered boring stuff.
If I do find myself in a position where I need the money and have the t... See more These polls need to have several options. I mean, how many of you go without regular food drink and exercise while working on a huge, boring project?
Personally, I haven't worked on a huge, boring project for ages. My strategy is to always tell clients when I've enjoyed translating their text, and I find that as a result, they tend to send me more of the same, so I rarely get offered boring stuff.
If I do find myself in a position where I need the money and have the time and skills, I get through it by setting myself a daily quota that will get the job done. I then get a kick out of getting ahead, and if ever I get behind, well the stress means I produce more adrenaline. I might be stressed but I don't have time to be bored!
I will also schedule treats: I'll save a video to watch or slot in an art exhibition, once I've managed to get ahead to the point that I can easily afford to take some time off.
And yes, I remind myself of the money. ▲ Collapse
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| With discipline and pleasure in working with language | Mar 18 |
With discipline and pleasure in working with language.
I also try to constantly improve my efficiency and the quality of my translations by automating as many routine tasks as possible so that I can focus on the text.
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