做了翻譯十多年,好多人問過我這個問題。說實在的,早期可能大概會計算一下,後來經驗比較多之後就不大在意了。業界一般認為譯者每日翻譯字數應該以兩千字為極限。或許有譯者緊守這個字數,以免超出極限之後的翻譯質素滑落。

這一個限制有其道理,但我也已經過了這個階段。接案比較忙的時候,白天處理英譯中字幕、中譯英文件,晚間將中文漫畫或小說翻譯成英文,亦是可能。曾經試過半夜兩點依然譯著小說,頭腦像是準備進入淺眠階段,第二天檢查前一夜我譯出來的英文,其實錯誤很少,所以後續的校對也順利。

比起字數,我比較在意的是一天之內處理不同類型的文件翻譯,這個工作安排效率比較好。從早到晚若只是處理同一類文件,確實比較倦怠。若早上到午夜都有案子要處理,確保自己保持水準比較重要,而不是一直在意自己是否已經超出了字數極限。

More than ten years working as a translator, many asked me about this question. Frankly speaking, I had a rough calculation when I was still a newbie in the industry. I don’t care much about word count as I gained more experience. A general opinion in translation industry is that a translator should not translate more than 2,000 words a day. Some translators might follow this word-count limit very tightly to avoid deteriorating standard when they exceed the limit.

This limit could have its rationale. I have, however, surpassed this stage. When I have more on my plate, I could be working on English to Chinese subtitles and Chinese to English documents during the day. At night, I might be translating Chinese fictions or comics into English. I was once translating fiction at 2am and my brain was as if going through light sleep stage. I checked my work the next day and I found very few mistakes in my translated English version. Which saved me a lot of editing trouble.

Compared to word count, I care more about working on different documents everyday for better efficiency. It is quite tiring if I work on the same type of documents throughout the day.

It is crucial to ensure that I maintain a good standard if I need to work from morning until midnight. Exceeding word-count limit has slid off into oblivion.