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Poll: On average, how long can you keep your concentration before you need a pause?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Dec 2, 2023

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "On average, how long can you keep your concentration before you need a pause?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 00:58
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Dec 2, 2023

On average? It really depends on several factors: how much sleep did I have the night before? How interesting the particular piece of work is? Is it rather complex or quite easy? Am I familiar with the subject matter? How long have I been working before? How many interruptions did I get? How close is the deadline? A cup of espresso coffee once in a while takes only a minute or two. Sometimes my focus is on the deadline rather than on a break!

P.L.F. Persio
Lingua 5B
Thayenga
Kevin Clayton, PhD
Philippe Etienne
Christopher Schröder
Kamal Idkaidek
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:58
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I was.... Dec 2, 2023

poll question "On average, how long can you keep your concentration before you need a pause?".


I was going to answer that question but I ....

Lingua 5B
P.L.F. Persio
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Alex Lichanow
Philippe Etienne
Christopher Schröder
Sebastian Witte
 
Aliya Furrukh
Aliya Furrukh
Pakistan
Local time: 04:58
English to Urdu
Depand what you are working on Dec 2, 2023

The duration for which you can concentrate before needing a break varies from person to person and depends on multiple factors such as individual focus, task complexity, environment, and personal stamina.
Mostly on the topic you are working on, sometime you don't want to come out from your emotional writing flow. and sometime you need break to regather your thoughts.
Regards,
Aliya

[Edited at 2023-12-02 12:47 GMT]
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:58
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Heh Dec 2, 2023

Tom in London wrote:

poll question "On average, how long can you keep your concentration before you need a pause?".


I was going to answer that question but I ....


Somebody rang the doorbell?

This question can’t be answered generically, I don’t think freelancer’s focus is linear, just like our projects aren’t. Can’t be measured like potato.

I like the Teresa’s list, following that.

P.L.F. Persio
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Hard to gauge Dec 2, 2023

An hour on average? Anything between 5 minutes and three hours depending on the work in question.

Lingua 5B wrote:
Can’t be measured like potato.
Out of interest, how would you measure potato?

Liena Vijupe
Angie Garbarino
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:58
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Spud Dec 2, 2023

Like this

844420026

Dan Lucas
Liviu-Lee Roth
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
leimarina
leimarina  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:58
English to Russian
+ ...
2 hours Dec 2, 2023

I wouls say that after two hours of work I would definitely need a pause.
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:58
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Not so much Dec 2, 2023

leimarina wrote:

I wouls say that after two hours of work I would definitely need a pause.


I tend to work very intensely and with such focus that I forget everything else. But there always comes a point where I can sense that my brain isn't working any more. I've no idea how long it takes me to get to that point but when I'm working on a particularly challenging translation it could be as little as an hour.

But I don't pause; I just do something else for a while, and then come back to work.

One thing I have discovered over the years: even though translating involves sitting down and no physical effort, the mental and intellectual effort of juggling all the different things you have to do as a translator can be very tiring.




[Edited at 2023-12-03 10:06 GMT]

Christopher Schröder
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
P.L.F. Persio
Jocelin Meunier
Muriel Vasconcellos
 


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Poll: On average, how long can you keep your concentration before you need a pause?






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