# Geoffrey Samuelsson-Brown

Geoffrey Samuelsson-Brown, author of the book A Practical Guide for Translators, describes a typical day and how as a freelance translator he might divide up his time over the month:

> Each day is different since a translator, particularly a freelance, needs to deal with a number of tasks and there is no typical day. I usually get up at around 7 in the morning, shower, have breakfast and get to my desk at around 8 just as my wife is leaving to drive to her office. Like most freelances I have my office at home.

> I work in spells of 50 minutes and take a break even if it is just to walk around the house. I try and take at least half an hour for lunch and try to finish at around 5 unless there is urgent work and then I will perhaps work in the evening for an hour or so. But I do the latter only if a premium payment is offered and I wish to accept the work. If I were to analyse an average working month of 22 possible working days, I would get the following:

> ##

> Task or item to which time is accounted | Time spent on the task
> --- | ---
> Translation including project management, research, draft translation, proofreading and editing, resolving queries and administration | Fifteen and a half days
> Office administration including invoicing, purchasing and correspondence (tax issues and bookkeeping are dealt with by my accountant) | Two days
> External activities such as networking and marketing | One day
> Continuous personal development including – and this is not a joke – watching relevant TV programmes or reading articles on subjects in which you have or wish to improve your expertise. | One day
> Public or other holidays (say 21 days leave and 7 days public holidays) | Two and a half days

> My average monthly output for these fifteen and a half effective days is around 28,000 words. If this is spread out over effective working days of six working hours (8 x 50 minutes in reality), my effective hourly production rate is 300 words an hour. This may not seem a lot but it may be worth considering that to expect to work undisturbed on translation eight hours a day, five days a week, is unrealistic. There may also be times when you are physically or mentally unable to work – how do you take account of such eventualities as a freelance?

(Samuelsson-Brown, 2010, pp. 3–4)

OpenLearn - Translation as a career
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