Poll: How do you calculate your productivity as a linguist? Autor vlákna: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you calculate your productivity as a linguist?".
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| | | | | I don't formally measure it | Nov 25, 2025 |
I’ve always been more focused on quality than on productivity, but as I have been translating full-time for over 40 years, I suppose my productivity has increased over the years, especially regarding those customers who have been with me for a long time, but I’ll spend as much time as I see fit on every translation until I’m satisfied (and hopefully the client is too).
| | | | | It should not be sold by the kilo | Nov 25, 2025 |
OK, we need to earn a living, so maybe how much you earn in a month is a critical figure.
In my case, that does not reflect whether I have spent hours researching terminology and checking a medical text, maximum 1000 words, or whether I have had a tourist catalogue with 50% repetitions from last year in Trados, and zipped through ten times that length in a couple of days, even rewriting sections to make them sound interesting for a repeat visit and actually disguise the fact that it... See more OK, we need to earn a living, so maybe how much you earn in a month is a critical figure.
In my case, that does not reflect whether I have spent hours researching terminology and checking a medical text, maximum 1000 words, or whether I have had a tourist catalogue with 50% repetitions from last year in Trados, and zipped through ten times that length in a couple of days, even rewriting sections to make them sound interesting for a repeat visit and actually disguise the fact that it´s the same place with the same attractions, activities and menus as last year.
I may have had any of a dozen other types of job or, these days, some proofreading/editing or not much at all.
There are lots of parameters that can be measured, and even more that cannot.
Other linguists teach - you can perhaps put figures on the number of students or pupils, and the grades they get if they take exams, but no one can measure the usefulness and/or enjoyment the students will get later in life from their languages, or perhaps their personal contact with the teacher, inextricably mixed in.
Forget productivity! How can you earn a living? Is your linguistic work worth the effort, and how can you get satisfied clients to come back for more? ▲ Collapse
| | | | | As a linguist or as a translator? | Nov 25, 2025 |
All translators work with languages, but not all are linguists.
All linguists study language, but most are not translators.
Even ChatGPT knows there's a difference.
[Edited at 2025-11-25 09:52 GMT]
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| By facturation | Nov 25, 2025 |
Ideally productivity should reflect in the numbers at the end of the month, at least in my understanding of a business.
| | | | | Depends on each case, but by the hour is my favorite. | Nov 25, 2025 |
I have changed by the hour, words and projects. But, the most important measure is by the hour for me because it is the best way to realize how many hours you have to work to make a living as a language service provider, which it could include to do MTPE, translation, proofreading, content writing, language training, and subtitling, among others.
| | | | Zea_Mays 
Itálie
Local time: 13:56
angličtina -> němčina
+ ...
| neilmac
Španělsko
Local time: 13:56
španělština -> angličtina
+ ...
I usually charge either by the hour or per word. I don't usually "calculate my productivity".
Whether a translator is a linguist is kind of moot, although I'd say it's a sort of linguist, since we work with languages. Then again, it's not a debate I'm interested in pursuing.
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Feb £7000
Apr May Jul Aug £300
That’s all I need to know about my productivity this year.
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