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Poll: What internet speed do you NEED to be efficient as a translator?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Apr 12, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What internet speed do you NEED to be efficient as a translator?".

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Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 02:11
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Other Apr 12, 2018

The fastest available.
Sometimes I have to download projects that include 500 MB or larger files as reference materials. The last thing I need is my computer slowing down because a download (or upload) is taking up resources.

Frankly speaking, though, 'internet speed' really has nothing to do with me being an 'efficient translator.' Computer processing speed does.

Edited to add verb in first sentence. This happens as a result of thinking at warp speed day in day o
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The fastest available.
Sometimes I have to download projects that include 500 MB or larger files as reference materials. The last thing I need is my computer slowing down because a download (or upload) is taking up resources.

Frankly speaking, though, 'internet speed' really has nothing to do with me being an 'efficient translator.' Computer processing speed does.

Edited to add verb in first sentence. This happens as a result of thinking at warp speed day in day out.

[Edited at 2018-04-12 12:50 GMT]
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Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:11
Member (2006)
German to English
Fast Apr 12, 2018

Julian Holmes wrote:

The fastest available.
Sometimes I have to projects that include 500 MB or larger in files as reference materials. The last thing I need is my computer slowing down because a download (or upload) is taking up resources.

Frankly speaking, though, 'internet speed' really has nothing to do with me being an 'efficient translator.' Computer processing speed does.


Same here

And this applies mostly for Across projects that can take ages!

[Edited at 2018-04-12 20:34 GMT]


 
Osama Elalwany
Osama Elalwany  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 19:11
English to Arabic
+ ...
about 10 Apr 12, 2018

I use it 2 mbps in Egypt and It is very efficient. I know that it us not a big speed comparing to the other countries or speeds. But it is quite enough for me...

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 17:11
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Fast Apr 12, 2018

Is there a possible connection (pun intended) between efficiency as a translator and Internet speed? Though I think the Internet is the greatest thing that ever happened in my life as a professional translator and Internet speed is absolutely essential for my work today, the fact is that I have been working as translator since well before the Internet age…

 
Anna Herbst
Anna Herbst  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 04:11
English to Swedish
+ ...

MODERATOR
SITE LOCALIZER
Need? Apr 12, 2018

I am in Australia, and in a heavily wooded mountain area just outside Melbourne, where the only internet option is the first version of ADSL. Just checked, and my download speed is just under 1mb per second. I rarely get higher speed, but it can get lower, and I get by. Of course it would be nice to have a faster connection, but do I NEED that for translations? I don't think so.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 18:11
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
As long as you can receive and deliver the files... Apr 12, 2018

I sometimes wonder if all our modern digitalisation is a mixed blessing.

Instead of settling down to translate in a flow, it is all too easy to search here, there and everywhere for things you really know.

Fed by the dream of machine translation, do we stop thinking for ourselves? Somewhere, sometime, it may have been said and translated before - is there a suggestion somewhere in the cloud? on DeepL, MyMemory... whatever.

I still translate best when I go
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I sometimes wonder if all our modern digitalisation is a mixed blessing.

Instead of settling down to translate in a flow, it is all too easy to search here, there and everywhere for things you really know.

Fed by the dream of machine translation, do we stop thinking for ourselves? Somewhere, sometime, it may have been said and translated before - is there a suggestion somewhere in the cloud? on DeepL, MyMemory... whatever.

I still translate best when I go through the text quickly and look for problems and check the terminology, then run straight through the text with as few interruptions as possible, effectively offline.

A fast connection is definitely an advantage at the first phase, but I check in paper dictionaries or references, and I still have many of them in hard copy, because they do not exist online.

I don't always like it if I am on the move and can't get online, but with a connection a couple of times a day and the right dictionaries, and I can still work quite efficiently.




[Edited at 2018-04-12 10:39 GMT]
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Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
I cope fine with 6MB Apr 12, 2018

I can't see a need for superfast broadband unless you've got teenage boys in the house.

 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 14:11
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
How much horsepower does a taxicab need to be efficient in congested traffic? Apr 12, 2018

The analogy is valid, check it out!

My connection is 60 MBPS via cable (actually it's 60 MBPS for download and 3 MBPS for upload).

I split it... half goes directly to my computer via hard wire (I'm the only one who stays here all day working with it); the other half goes to a WiFi router for the entire household, during peak hours serving 5 smartphones, 4 computers, and 2 TV boxes. Sometimes we have visitors; the high spot was when we had 5 additional notebooks, plus 5
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The analogy is valid, check it out!

My connection is 60 MBPS via cable (actually it's 60 MBPS for download and 3 MBPS for upload).

I split it... half goes directly to my computer via hard wire (I'm the only one who stays here all day working with it); the other half goes to a WiFi router for the entire household, during peak hours serving 5 smartphones, 4 computers, and 2 TV boxes. Sometimes we have visitors; the high spot was when we had 5 additional notebooks, plus 5 additional smartphones hung to that WiFi, and everybody was happy with the speed... if compared to all other places where they had used WiFi.

The problem is on the other end. For instance, I got myself a PAID DropBox account. For some easy-to-guess reason, they limit BOTH the upload and download speeds to miserable 250 KBPS (yes, KILO, i.e. 0.25 MBPS). I gave up on their cloud, external hard drives are much faster for my needs.

This means that, for one passenger, a taxicab with a 1-liter engine will do the same job as another one with a 5-liter V8 engine in congested urban traffic. The latter will certainly make a difference when the job involves taking a family of 5 with all their luggage to the out-of-town airport.

Evidence of that came up when my cable connection went down, and I simply had to upload a file immediately. I jerry-rigged a WiFi connection via my 4G cell phone, and had no reason to complain about the speed. I just tested it... considering the weak signal I get in my office, the speed I get is 1.6 MBPS both ways (up/down)!

So there isn't much to gain from a 3-digit connection speed if all you have online is one computer transferring data to/from another one, if you have no control on the demand/availability in either one.
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DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
~20MPS cable + several backups Apr 12, 2018

There're several lines, including a 3G/MIFI, and nearby hotspots (some 2+MB/s).

VPN only, of course!

[Edited at 2018-04-12 12:31 GMT]


 
Victor Lage de Araujo MD IFCAP MSc
Victor Lage de Araujo MD IFCAP MSc
Brazil
Local time: 14:11
Member (2018)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
10 MBPS is more than enough Apr 12, 2018

10 Mbps is more than enough if you are going to translate text only ( cryptographed or not). Yo will need more if you are simultaneously doing other activities (such as video or audio streaming). If you are telecomferencing with a collaborator, you will need about 300 Mbps. If you allow your computer to do some background work such as backing up in the cloud, you might need about 250 Mbps for that activity too. Anyway, if you have a very low internet speed you can always go offline for the trans... See more
10 Mbps is more than enough if you are going to translate text only ( cryptographed or not). Yo will need more if you are simultaneously doing other activities (such as video or audio streaming). If you are telecomferencing with a collaborator, you will need about 300 Mbps. If you allow your computer to do some background work such as backing up in the cloud, you might need about 250 Mbps for that activity too. Anyway, if you have a very low internet speed you can always go offline for the translation and do your research on a tablet (or configure your browser to go to the less intense websites designed for tablets).

I dedocate myself exclusively to the job and usually do not allow my computer to do background tasks since it slows processing (let it do the backup at night) so thar there is no actually "down" limit.
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Ivan Czar
Ivan Czar  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 18:11
English to Hungarian
+ ...
High speed required for streaming videos Apr 12, 2018

I translate subtitles and buffering videos takes time. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to work offline as they cannot send me the videos due to NDA.

 
José Henrique Lamensdorf
José Henrique Lamensdorf  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 14:11
English to Portuguese
+ ...
In memoriam
Hope they have fast servers Apr 12, 2018

Ivan Czar wrote:

High speed required for streaming videos

I translate subtitles and buffering videos takes time. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to work offline as they cannot send me the videos due to NDA.


Yes, but if their servers are slow, your higher connection speed won't help.

A client wanted me to work on their Memsource online.
I tried it during the weekend, and the speed was okay.
When I started working there for real on Monday, their server was so overloaded that every segment took about 8 seconds to cross the Atlantic, and clear it to the next one.
In all the 45 years I've been in this trade, it was my first and only late delivery ever (last year). I delivered my first job for them 2½ hours late, explained the reason, and they didn't complain. Now I work offline on Memsource for them.


 
Vesa Korhonen
Vesa Korhonen  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 19:11
English to Finnish
+ ...
No difference! Apr 13, 2018

Chris S wrote:

I can't see a need for superfast broadband unless you've got teenage boys in the house.


I haven't noticed any significant difference between teenage boys between 13 and 18 and teenage girls between 14 and 51 years...

(Meaning, my wife uses as much bandwidth as any of our childern.)


 
Nilton Junior
Nilton Junior  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 17:11
Member (2009)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Apr 13, 2018

I like having high speeds because it fills my heart with joy when I download a huge game in no more than a few minutes, but I don't NEED (as per question) this kind of speed for work.

Before getting married, I lived in an area that only had slow and very unreliable ADSL service with terrible upload speeds. On the bright side, to avoid being misled by my ISP whenever I had a complaint, I delved into reading up on DSL and other types of connection. The knowledge I acquired proved usef
... See more
I like having high speeds because it fills my heart with joy when I download a huge game in no more than a few minutes, but I don't NEED (as per question) this kind of speed for work.

Before getting married, I lived in an area that only had slow and very unreliable ADSL service with terrible upload speeds. On the bright side, to avoid being misled by my ISP whenever I had a complaint, I delved into reading up on DSL and other types of connection. The knowledge I acquired proved useful when I got married and moved to a new place, because I needed to convince other ISPs to offer their services in my building.

After a lot of back-and-forth with the ISPs, I had three different connections: 100/10 Mbps (cable), 50/5 Mbps (ADSL 2+) and 70/35 Mbps (VDSL). I even had a load balacing router (this one in case anyone is interested: https://www.tp-link.com/br/products/details/cat-4910_TL-R480T%20.html) that could either spread my bandwidth usage across all connections or combine them for faster downloads. Even though these services were generally reliable, I remember having two of them down for half a day at one point.

I have now moved to Portugal and I am happy I didn't have to go through all hoops and loops to get a 1000/200 Mbps connection. It is rock-solid since day 1 and my 4G is super reliable at home. Now I can just sit back, relax and enjoy.
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Poll: What internet speed do you NEED to be efficient as a translator?






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