Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
IrinaN
IrinaN
United States
Local time: 07:59
English to Russian
+ ...
Sanity check required Aug 2, 2020

Each time I thought I've seen it all...

Average reading speed in the US is 300 words/minute. Say, 300 words = 1 page. 300 pages times 1 minute of mindless reading, just separating the words laid out on paper = 300 min or 5 hours non-stop without losing pace. Offer them this math:-).

Not to mention that you seem to be a high-end and very experienced legal translator without a single technical specialism or even working technical field; at least not advertised. Why do th
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Each time I thought I've seen it all...

Average reading speed in the US is 300 words/minute. Say, 300 words = 1 page. 300 pages times 1 minute of mindless reading, just separating the words laid out on paper = 300 min or 5 hours non-stop without losing pace. Offer them this math:-).

Not to mention that you seem to be a high-end and very experienced legal translator without a single technical specialism or even working technical field; at least not advertised. Why do they want you to do the job? Because they know that you are meticulous and can write smoothly? That tells a lot about their practices... Or, maybe, you do not want to advertise any for reasons that are none of my business. Being a technical translator without an engineering degree myself, I can believe that you are fully capable of producing certain technical translations but to accept final responsibility for every word and term in a 300-pager of complicated and barely stitched together technical text is a suicide. In 8 hours... I can't use the language needed to describe my state of mind after reading your story.

If you are up to it anyway, I would say you'll need to tell the agency to secure at least 10 additional business days with the end client, and tell the agency that you will do your best to finish earlier without any promises, or remind them to take their meds.
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Barbara Carrara
 


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