About Translation

Translation Skills: 65 word per minute.

We all know that a professional translator must be a fast typewriter and make sure to deliver work's task within the set timeline. The standards of fast typewriting go for sixty five words per minute, when reading text to type it down. Could a professional text translator, translate and type 65 words per minutes? Do translators set time when translating? Would setting time for translation speed become a requirement for a professional translator?

When I just type, I read the letters before words; most of the time I don't recognize what I am typing. When I translate and type at the same time, I read words and sentences, then give the meaning in the target language. I stop most of the time to correct spelling, grammar and bring some phrases ahead; I use my ten fingers and without looking at the keyboard. It is the process of memorizing the keyboard keys, and the connection between my ten fingers, and the keyboard's letters. My eyes are only focused on the screen where letters appear fast to line up my translated text. So yes, sometimes and if the text is simple and there is no terminology to "google" about, it brings the sixties word set at the right time.

I was never taught to translate an original text directly, without reading it once or twice, even three times. I was also taught to analyze the text and find the main or strong sentence and start from there. The most important advice was to let ambiguity alone, and translate it into the target language without changing its "meaning". Literal translation was limited to scientific and informational, or technical texts, and the more you translate, the faster you become, never mentioning the Trados's software and memory where terms and phrases become a ready-made and sort of a pre-paid choice to put in.   

In consecutive translation, we are trained not to stop. 'Keep on talking', told my seniors. It was almost typing a stream of thoughts heard in another language, into the target one. So obviously, it's all about visualizing the typing process, I guess.

 Getting fast in translating texts to reach sixty word per minute will definitely, depend on the text itself, and the translator. If the translator reached up high to the level of memorizing all word's meaning, then, his mind will work exactly as a professional fast typewriter, and achieve as much translation as possible.