Poll: To what extent does your translation productivity depend on your typing speed? Лице кое објавува дискусија: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "To what extent does your translation productivity depend on your typing speed?".
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| | | | Alex Lichanow
Германија
Local time: 17:27
англиски на германски
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I type fast with a rather small error/typo quota. I have never thought about how much this influences my overall productivity. Obviously, I would be less productive if I typed more slowly.
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I’ve always been more focused on quality than on speed, but as I have been translating full-time for over 40 years, I suppose my speed has increased over the years for having to type (almost) every day. I never learned to type "properly", but I type fast. I learned to type the hard way, by myself, on an old-fashioned, heavy, slow and very noisy typewriter in the 1960s. I don't use all my fingers to type. Anyway, clients don't care about the number of fingers I use…
| | | | Zea_Mays 
Италија
Local time: 17:27
англиски на германски
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| I'd say around 40% | May 29, 2025 |
paired with the right equipment (flat keyboard + touchpad from Apple).
When I damaged my old touchpad a few months ago and had to use a mouse while waiting for the new one, I experienced a sharp productivity decrease.
I type pretty fast with touch typing (using all fingers).
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IrinaN (X)
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 10:27
англиски на руски
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Zea_Mays wrote:
When I damaged my old touchpad a few months ago and had to use a mouse while waiting for the new one, I experienced a sharp productivity decrease.
I type pretty fast with touch typing (using all fingers).
Without a mouse my productivity and overall speed and desire to browse the net for whatever purposes would decrease by 85% or so. I'd rather set the laptop aside and do something else. I use little travel size mouse, twice smaller than standard, and use it even on the lower right corner of my laptop when I feel like lying on the couch with it or have very little room, say, on the airplane. No mouse - no fun, terrible irritation instead, work or no work.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Италија
Local time: 17:27
англиски на германски
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| Magic Trackpad | May 29, 2025 |
IrinaN wrote:
Zea_Mays wrote:
When I damaged my old touchpad a few months ago and had to use a mouse while waiting for the new one, I experienced a sharp productivity decrease.
I type pretty fast with touch typing (using all fingers).
Without a mouse my productivity and overall speed and desire to browse the net for whatever purposes would decrease by 85% or so. I'd rather set the laptop aside and do something else. I use little travel size mouse, twice smaller than standard, and use it even on the lower right corner of my laptop when I feel like lying on the couch with it or have very little room, say, on the airplane. No mouse - no fun, terrible irritation instead, work or no work.
I agree when we're speaking of laptop touchpads, but Apple's Magic Trackpad is in a class of its own - little gestures to do everything, including switching between visited web pages, rotating images, zooming, switching to the progam list and much more. I've been looking for an equivalent for Windows for a while for my backup Win machine, but just found a quite less usable one, and Apple's one is not compatible.
https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MXK93Z/A/magic-trackpad-usb‑c-white-multi-touch-surface
| | | | Mario Chávez
Соединети Американски Држави
Local time: 11:27
англиски на шпански
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I would have preferred a question like What is your typing speed? because this poll's inane question, probably written after a happy hour, doesn't cut it as an intelligent or interesting one.
Maybe it's time to retire the poll feature.
MC
| | | | | No great extent | May 29, 2025 |
I am a poor typist, and usualy have to go back and correct a lot of typos. However, I sometines rewrite the whole sentence whil I am about it, so some of my revision goes on at the same time.
In general, I can type as fast as I can think, if I can work without interruptions. For that reason I often read the text and start translating before I type anything, and stop where necessary to look up terminology or check the client's glossary etc.
Then, when I start typing, I have alr... See more I am a poor typist, and usualy have to go back and correct a lot of typos. However, I sometines rewrite the whole sentence whil I am about it, so some of my revision goes on at the same time.
In general, I can type as fast as I can think, if I can work without interruptions. For that reason I often read the text and start translating before I type anything, and stop where necessary to look up terminology or check the client's glossary etc.
Then, when I start typing, I have already subconsciously rephrased some of the first ideas.
I like to ´do it right first time´ as far as apossible, although I may change quite a lot before I have finished the final check.
Edited to add that the above is a typical example of my partially uncorrected typing!
[Edited at 2025-05-30 08:56 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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As technology has been present during almost my whole life, typing is not a problem for me. I think my translation productivity might depend on how much time I spend searching for very specific terminology or the difficulty of the text.
| | | | | I do not know! | May 29, 2025 |
I am not sure because I normally use audio to speech converter when open my Google Docs. On the other hand, when I use a CAT tool, I just press a button to get the automated translation texts (I check them, indeed).
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte
Германија
Local time: 17:27
Член (2002)
германски на англиски
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| It depends on thinking speed or researching speed, not typing speed | May 29, 2025 |
Much more complex sub-topics of sub-topics are being given out for translation these days.Research in rare sub-fields of sub-fields (mostly scientific, or otherwise technical) is often required - for the average word rates of 25 years ago. By way of comparison, research depth of that kind was not a requirement 25 years ago.
The other major hold-up these days is formatting work, since the agencies no longer do it, but pass it on to the translators, especially when that is also exceed... See more Much more complex sub-topics of sub-topics are being given out for translation these days.Research in rare sub-fields of sub-fields (mostly scientific, or otherwise technical) is often required - for the average word rates of 25 years ago. By way of comparison, research depth of that kind was not a requirement 25 years ago.
The other major hold-up these days is formatting work, since the agencies no longer do it, but pass it on to the translators, especially when that is also exceedingly complex. That requirement is then often accompanied by a statement that the target text has to be a most exact replica of the source text (never mind that that is not possible, due to different word or sentence lengths in the two languages, or explanations that need to be added to the target text by way of supplementation). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Carla Selyer
Local time: 17:27
Член (2006)
португалски на англиски
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| Good typing supports translation productivity but is not the cause of that productivity | May 29, 2025 |
I dropped out of typing club at school but look at me now! I think my productivity is really high because I translate as I type and it's become second nature. I think being good at typing supports my talent, which is translation (and also transcription). Ultimate productivity in translation, I would say, is the fruit of talent supported by a good knowledge of typing, and not the other way round.
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Samuel Murray
Холандија
Local time: 17:27
Член (2006)
англиски на африканс
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| Unfamiliar keyboard | May 29, 2025 |
My translation speed drops significantly when I'm forced to work on an unfamiliar keyboard. But other things like font size also affects my translation speed. Predictability of cursor keys is another big thing -- in different text editors, what the cursor does and where it ends up when you press Ctrl+left or Ctrl+right differ, and this has a surprising effect on translation speed. My translation speed tanks when I'm forced to work on a Linux machine because dead keys and the cursor behave di... See more My translation speed drops significantly when I'm forced to work on an unfamiliar keyboard. But other things like font size also affects my translation speed. Predictability of cursor keys is another big thing -- in different text editors, what the cursor does and where it ends up when you press Ctrl+left or Ctrl+right differ, and this has a surprising effect on translation speed. My translation speed tanks when I'm forced to work on a Linux machine because dead keys and the cursor behave differently from Windows. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Белгија
Local time: 17:27
Член (2020)
француски на холандски
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| Typing speed | May 30, 2025 |
I honestly can't see how typing speed couldn't be an very important factor in one's productivity. I've learnt it the proper way in high school on an old-fashioned mechanical typewriter and then a few years later during my translation studies once more on a computer. Over the years I've become super fast at typing with a very small error margin. In conventional translation this speeds up things considerably.
Over the years I've read on these pages about translators that are hardly ca... See more I honestly can't see how typing speed couldn't be an very important factor in one's productivity. I've learnt it the proper way in high school on an old-fashioned mechanical typewriter and then a few years later during my translation studies once more on a computer. Over the years I've become super fast at typing with a very small error margin. In conventional translation this speeds up things considerably.
Over the years I've read on these pages about translators that are hardly capable of typing and even use transcription software. To me that's unimaginable. And sure, I have no problem believing that using only a couple of fingers doesn't have to mean that one can't become fast doing it. But there's not the slightest of chances that it will be faster than someone using all his fingers.
Yes, research is also an important factor, but that's just a different disicpline. They are both extremely important. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Manual dexterity affects typing, but not translation | May 30, 2025 |
I was taught to type properly way back in the last century - at least a couple of instructors tried very hard, and I put in a fair effort. To no avail, however.
Earlier on I had given up playing the piano - my fingers simply will not go where they are supposed to, and there is no delete key on musical instruments, so it sounds terrible. 
Auto-correct and creative use of Multiterm and other functions - and the delete... See more I was taught to type properly way back in the last century - at least a couple of instructors tried very hard, and I put in a fair effort. To no avail, however.
Earlier on I had given up playing the piano - my fingers simply will not go where they are supposed to, and there is no delete key on musical instruments, so it sounds terrible.
Auto-correct and creative use of Multiterm and other functions - and the delete key on a computer - enable me to get reasonable results from typing.
Back in the days of typewriters, it was better if I wrote by hand - I have neat, legible handwriting, and that was often accepted back then, especially if only one copy was needed!
Carbon copies were a pain, but my father had a Gesetner duplicator, which could turn out up to a thousand copies from a stencil - typed or hand-written with a stylus - and he used that for his students. He did not have a typewriter with Greek or Marathi alphabets, so he too wrote mostly by hand.
It was a different world! ▲ Collapse
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