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Poll: How many books do you read a month?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Apr 15, 2006

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How many books do you read a month?".

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629


 
Balasubramaniam L.
Balasubramaniam L.  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 13:55
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Depends on mood and situation Apr 15, 2006

Currently I manage to read just one book a month, or even none. I am particularly hard-pressed for time now, and have begun wishing that there were 36 hours in a day.

But there have been better times when I used to chain-read books, several in a week, mostly pulp fiction, but some serious stuff too.

I also have this curious habit of reading several books simultaneously, and would pick up one according to my mood. So there would be many half-finsihed books lying around m
... See more
Currently I manage to read just one book a month, or even none. I am particularly hard-pressed for time now, and have begun wishing that there were 36 hours in a day.

But there have been better times when I used to chain-read books, several in a week, mostly pulp fiction, but some serious stuff too.

I also have this curious habit of reading several books simultaneously, and would pick up one according to my mood. So there would be many half-finsihed books lying around my house at any time.

I read books in several languages, viz., Hindi, English, Gujarati and Malayalam. Again, it is mood that determines which language I choose at any moment of time.

Currently I am reading "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin Sharma, which in normal times I should have finished in a day, but given my present tme constraints I have not progressed beyond the second chapter, even though it is more than a couple of weeks since I started it.
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Ivana de Sousa Santos
Ivana de Sousa Santos  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:25
French to Portuguese
+ ...
Just wondering... Apr 15, 2006

Wasn't this poll already discussed?

I've got an idea of having answered to that some months ago...


 
David Brown
David Brown  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:25
Spanish to English
Books Apr 15, 2006

[quote]Ivana de Sousa Santos wrote:

Wasn't this poll already discussed?

I've got an idea of having answered to that some months ago

Yes we had this one quite recently


 
Serkan Doğan
Serkan Doğan  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 11:25
Turkish to English
+ ...
Oh, my books! Apr 15, 2006

Well, I was reading about one book in a day during my period of education. I can say, I spared more time for books than the lessons. (I realized now, it should be vice versa, but still failure of my younger ages). I purchased thousands of books till my graduation. I have donated hundreds of them. Number of books in my library did not much increase following my separation from university. I currently read, or let's say try to read, one book in a week at present. However, I read more e-books throu... See more
Well, I was reading about one book in a day during my period of education. I can say, I spared more time for books than the lessons. (I realized now, it should be vice versa, but still failure of my younger ages). I purchased thousands of books till my graduation. I have donated hundreds of them. Number of books in my library did not much increase following my separation from university. I currently read, or let's say try to read, one book in a week at present. However, I read more e-books through computer. But, translation is like reading different books on various matters. Does not it awesome enough?.

[Edited at 2006-04-16 18:52]
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Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:25
Spanish to English
+ ...
Does this apply to the references we use when translating? Apr 15, 2006

A longish history book for young readers can have some 6-7 basic references accompanying (baseline figure).

 
Trastec
Trastec
Canada
Local time: 04:25
English to French
+ ...
Books Apr 15, 2006

This is a good topic.
Reading books with translation business. It means almost the same thing to me because especially for literal translators you tend to read more books .
A book I can finish in two- three days is from the famous author "Danielle Steel"
Happy Easter to all.
Trastec


 
klghemil ghseil
klghemil ghseil
Equatorial Guinea
Local time: 09:25
None? Apr 15, 2006

Those people who answered none have, if this is true, no business making monex from translation or other language services, and should remove themselves to a more appropriate career, such as road sweeping, sport, or marketing.

 
Irene N
Irene N
United States
Local time: 03:25
English to Russian
+ ...
Wow! Just like that? Apr 15, 2006

Jennifer Hackney wrote:

Those people who answered none have, if this is true, no business making monex from translation or other language services.


How about workload of 60+ hours a week night shifts for the last 3 weeks interpreting for the International Space Station/Soyuz flight without days off (one person called in sick), and 21000 words for the previous 2 weeks? Tomorrow I leave for a 2-week assignment for military including work on the weekend with my eyes still hurting and my head spinning. Maybe one book will fit there during a second week. Same day I come back I start 1 more week of night shifts (ISS lives by GMT and the crew wakes up at 2 am Houston time) and after that I'll be going on a week vacation to Mexico without a single book - I'll be sleeping and eating and drinking strawberry daiquiries and margaritas starting from 10 am and swimming and dancing and ... That makes it a possibility of a total of 2 months without a single new book, only a few pages now and then from the old favorites - pre-sleep habit. Please let NASA management know that I shall be stripped of my certifications and removed from the job immediately.

Seriously, I"m catching up on my reading mostly with daytime interpretation work. It happens sometimes:-):-):-) But not the books where Peggy finally marries Billy 463 pages later:-) Who cares...

Maybe the overfree ones should be taken care of in a suggested manner? Just kidding:-)

Irene

[Edited at 2006-04-16 00:25]


 
Sandra C.
Sandra C.
France
Local time: 09:25
English to French
+ ...
Yep, already done... Apr 15, 2006

I answered this same poll a while back...

 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 04:25
Spanish to English
+ ...
Several books at a time Apr 15, 2006

Balasubramaniam wrote:


I also have this curious habit of reading several books simultaneously, and would pick up one according to my mood. So there would be many half-finsihed books lying around my house at any time.



"Curious" habit??? Sounds perfectly normal to me!


Jane


 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:25
Spanish to English
+ ...
None--Part II Apr 15, 2006

I think that what Jennifer meant was that if a translator *typically* does not read any books, then they are in the wrong career.

I would in fact agree with this statement. If someone is working with words, then they need to be regularly reading words as well.

Obviously, if one is experiencing an especially heavy workload, there will be little time for reading. However this will usually be only a temporary state of affairs.

[Edited at 2006-04-15 14:53]


 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 04:25
Spanish to English
+ ...
Worth repeating Apr 15, 2006

Ivana de Sousa Santos wrote:

Wasn't this poll already discussed?

I've got an idea of having answered to that some months ago...


I think so too, and David and Sandra agree. However, I don't see anything wrong with repeating a poll, especially if no one has come up with something new. Inevitably, each repeated poll will come up with many responses from "new" people who missed it the previous time around. And there's always new discussion to read.

Proz Staff: Just before changing this one, could you post a comparison between the results of this one and the previous one?


 
Irene N
Irene N
United States
Local time: 03:25
English to Russian
+ ...
I thought of that too Apr 15, 2006

Robert Forstag wrote:

I think that what Jennifer meant was that if a translator *typically* does not read any books, then they are in the wrong career.



Yet, is there really such thing at all as a non-reading translator? I believe that "none" answers came from people who like me didn't have time in a last month or two. And they also had to comment not to make themselves look like idiots:-) What's the point of that part of the poll otherwise, "none" as in "infinite none" would be one hell of an assumption:-) It would be more logical to ask "annual average", for example. To me "none" over the month would only prove that a fellow translator was up to here in work (or a newborn in a family:-). So I'd hurry up with congratulations, which both occasions rightfully deserve:-)

Time to pack now, not read:-)


 
Jalapeno
Jalapeno
Local time: 09:25
English to German
Poll Apr 15, 2006



Yet, is there really such thing at all as a non-reading translator? I believe that "none" answers came from people who like me didn't have time in a last month or two. And they also had to comment not to make themselves look like idiots:-) What's the point of that part of the poll otherwise, "none" as in "infinite none" would be one hell of an assumption:-) It would be more logical to ask "annual average", for example. To me "none" over the month would only prove that a fellow translator was up to here in work (or a newborn in a family:-). So I'd hurry up with congratulations, which both occasions rightfully deserve:-)

Time to pack now, not read:-)


Well, the poll says "How many books do you read a month?", not "How many books did you read last month?".

To me, the poll is phrased in a way that makes it clear that my answer will be the average number of books I read in a month.

[Edited at 2006-04-15 17:59]


 
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Poll: How many books do you read a month?






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