Translation, understood as the rendering of professional language services, is a highly specialized activity that requires the involvement of committed human teams who focus on producing high quality localized material. It is for this reason that translation agencies and freelance translators pay close attention to every aspect of production processes. On the one hand, they are responsible for finding translators who have a specific skill set that enables them to undertake projects related to certain industrial and commercial areas. Ensuring that the human teams are familiar with the topics they translate or that they know how to properly document themselves always gives agencies and freelancers who reassign projects peace of mind. We discuss this topic in the article titled The advantages of outsourcing translation projects. On the other hand, they have to make sure that the production chain operates correctly and effectively. To do this, a workflow must be designed from the moment order requests are received to the time of delivery, although it is a good idea to also include some considerations about client follow-up after said delivery. Therefore, this workflow involves different types of professionals (such as those who perform tasks related to project management, translation, review, quality control, etc.). In this regard, we have created greater awareness of the importance of paying attention to each of these aspects and, as such, we have dedicated a space to them on our blog. To find out more, we suggest you read the following articles: The importance of editing services, Quality standards and Evaluating translation projects.
What do all these factors have in common? The fact that they are essentially provided by a translation agency’s human resources or by a freelancer. Regardless of whether computer-assisted translation tools or management programs are used in the processes, a professional is in fact always working behind the screen to ensure the optimal result of all assignments. Nevertheless, translation, like many jobs, is an activity that requires significant cognitive effort and great commitment. For this reason, translators are not immune to suffering from fatigue, distractions, stress or similar conditions that may affect the final quality of the work delivered. What can we do to tackle this reality and improve our individual performance? In today’s article, we offer several tips.
One of the key factors to improve our performance is to learn proper time management. As we have explained on occasion, the translation industry is very dynamic and timelines are especially competitive, since clients usually have pressing needs and we often have to organize ourselves correctly to manage all of our ongoing orders with a certain harmony. To do this, we have to plan our time intentionally and get rid of everything that distracts us. This last point, for example, has become more important in the era of widespread teleworking. Since the pandemic, translators (if they didn’t do so already) traded their offices for private homes and, as expected, their workspace moved closer to their leisure space, thus entailing a greater risk of distraction compared to the office. Therefore, we should try to choose a quiet and orderly workspace where we can concentrate and, if possible, one that has fewer entertainment devices (TVs, consoles, etc.) and fewer people passing through. In this same section, we can include recommendations related to eliminating distractions on the computer screen, such as not opening tabs to social networks or closing tabs as soon as we no longer need them, so that we don’t saturate the search engine and create a feeling of chaos. Here it is important for us to reasonably maintain our focus.
This brings us to the second point, which is that, paradoxically, it is impossible to maintain one’s focus constantly. That’s why part of the process of improving performance involves taking breaks every so often, in order to reactivate our minds and resume tasks with renewed energy. The length of the break is not pre-defined, but we generally recommend taking a break every hour and a half, resting your eyes and blocking everything out for about 5 minutes, and then resuming the activity. Of course, this factor is subject to many variations, since each person’s ability to concentrate is different and, moreover, it changes depending on the day. For example, some translators (usually freelancers, since they are not required to work during regular office hours) decide to work in the afternoon when it’s easier for them to focus.
On the topic of taking breaks, many resources mention the need for a digital timeout, that is, allowing ourselves to stop thinking about work for certain periods of time. Otherwise, this prolonged exposure can cause the individual to feel fatigue or stress and, in the long run, worsen their performance.
On the other hand, we must always be aware of what we should do and by when. Therefore, we highly recommend using agendas or checklists to write down pending tasks and take note as we complete them. This helps us to know in advance what we should do during the work day and how to stay motivated as we achieve our goals.
In short, to improve individual performance, we must take care of our emotional health, eliminate distracting factors or those that prevent us from normally completing our tasks, organize and divide tasks logically by establishing priorities, and always keep in mind that the more we take care of our workspace, the better our results will be.
Image reference:
https://www.eni.com/en-IT/digital-transformation/machine-learning-investments.html
