| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: What do you do when an assignment bores you? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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I’d just run it through GT and crack open a beer.
But my customers know better than to insult me with uninteresting work. They send me only the finest gems for fear of losing me.
| | | | TonyTK
German to English
+ ...
Ice Scream wrote:
I’d just run it through GT and crack open a beer.
But my customers know better than to insult me with uninteresting work. They send me only the finest gems for fear of losing me.
Sometimes it's not the job but your frame of mind or your energy levels (lack of sleep etc.).
My best tool for keeping things ticking over is 20 minutes of total concentration - which is generally always possible no matter what you feel like - followed by 20 minutes of downtime, which in my case might entail a trip to the fridge, possibly 1 1/2 press-ups, then a couple of articles on BBC or Spiegel as well as the very occasional cigarette.
| | | | Kevin Fulton 
United States
Local time: 16:19
German to English
| Relatively few jobs are inherently interesting | Nov 21, 2022 |
As a technical translator, I haven't had many jobs that I've found intellectually challenging or even interesting. The vast majority have been of the "Tighten screw using torque of X Nm, then send to scrap" type. Even 30 years later I still recall a deathly boring 20-page maintenance schedule for a hydroelectric plant – this was before I started using a CAT tool in the late 1990s. It paid insanely well for the amount of thought it required. But as mentioned above, the compensation offsets the ... See more As a technical translator, I haven't had many jobs that I've found intellectually challenging or even interesting. The vast majority have been of the "Tighten screw using torque of X Nm, then send to scrap" type. Even 30 years later I still recall a deathly boring 20-page maintenance schedule for a hydroelectric plant – this was before I started using a CAT tool in the late 1990s. It paid insanely well for the amount of thought it required. But as mentioned above, the compensation offsets the boredom factor, so I give such jobs my best shot and take frequent breaks.
[Edited at 2022-11-22 02:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | William Hepner
United States
Local time: 16:19
Member (2022)
Spanish to English
| I'm almost never bored | Nov 22, 2022 |
I chose to work as a translator because, among other things (and I don't think I'm alone here), I enjoy language and words (and wordplay) immensely. Owing to that preference, which I think is to some degree inborn, I have an extremely high tolerance for material that many others would find boring. As long as I can find a state of concentration in which I'm swimming in words, then I'm satisfied enough and probably not bored.
It does happen on occasion, of course, and this doesn't me... See more I chose to work as a translator because, among other things (and I don't think I'm alone here), I enjoy language and words (and wordplay) immensely. Owing to that preference, which I think is to some degree inborn, I have an extremely high tolerance for material that many others would find boring. As long as I can find a state of concentration in which I'm swimming in words, then I'm satisfied enough and probably not bored.
It does happen on occasion, of course, and this doesn't mean that I don't find some material more interesting and other material less. It simply means that I have some endurance, and I'm always trying to build more of it. ▲ Collapse
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Hayley Wakenshaw
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:19
Member (2018)
Dutch to English
| Translation is never boring for me | Nov 23, 2022 |
I'd rather be translating than doing just about anything else. It gets in the way of the other things I'm supposed to be doing sometimes!
However, I do segment grading sometimes, and that can be quite boring. It's painstaking work that requires a lot of concentration and rereading. The only way to deal with it is to take frequent breaks, give myself rewards every time I complete x% of the job, and get it done as soon as possible!
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:19
Serbian to English
+ ...
| The only one assignment | Nov 28, 2022 |
that was hopelessly and terminally boring was given to me when I was in full-time employment.
As there was no deadline attached (as in "do it whenever you find time"), I simply "misplaced" it, and it turned out that that particular job was so important that no one ever noticed.
Apart from that one "exception that confirms the rule", I never found any translation I've done "boring".
| | | | | I complete it at a faster pace. | Apr 20 |
I don't think I've ever found an assignment boring, to be honest. They might be challenging or even thrilling at times, but regardless, I simply tackle them head-on. After all, it's part of my job.
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