14

Evaluating Localization Providers: Results from a GALA Community Project
Globalization and Localization Association. Webinar.

21

Simultaneous Interpretation for Virtual Meetings The International Multilingual User Group (IMUG). San Jose, California USA

21-22

International Symposium: Bilingual Videoconferencing in Legal Settings. Criminal Justice Programme of the European Union. Paris, France.

22-23

Translation and Modernism: Twentieth-Century Crises and Traumas. University of Warwick. Coventry, UK.

27

Using Your Languages: Interpreting and Translation. University of Bath. Bath, UK

28

How does Modern Machine Translation Work? Globalization and Localization Association. Webinar

As we mentioned in our previous post, time management is a challenge faced by all freelance translators. Procrastination and distraction are the enemies of efficiency and productivity, but there are a number of ways that results-driven translators can increase productivity and still indulge themselves in checking social media and surfing the web.

One of the most popular is the Pomodoro Technique®, which was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and became the darling of business managers in the 1990s.

The concept is simple: you break down a large task or series of tasks into easily doable timed bursts of 25 minutes of concentrated effort followed with a short break to prevent burnout and boost creativity. Although the inventor developed his system using a mechanical tomato-shaped timer (hence its name “pomodoro”, Italian for “tomato”) and a pencil and paper, modern technology has taken it a step further with a myriad of apps ranging from simple electronic versions of the original concept to highly complex systems that allow the length of work and rest periods to be adjusted, track users’ productivity by task, time and day of the week and even “reward” users as their productivity increases.

Over the next month, we’ll be testing the following three Android apps to find out more about their features and discover whether they are as effective as their reputation says.

Scheduler: Pomodoro Timer

Designed by Yaroslav Shevchuk, this system not only offers all the usual Pomodoro features, it also lets you create a task list, color-code your tasks and reorganize them. Highly customizable, it lets you set times for work and long and short breaks, choose display colors and alarms, offers statistics on work periods and results and displays a list of accomplished tasks. It’s also completely free and without ads.

Tomatina – Pomodor Timer

Produced by libtronics apps, this relatively simple system lets you configure your pomodoros and short and long breaks, offers vibration and sound on events along with statistics about your pomodoros that lets you measure your progress and compare it with past levels of productivity. It’s free of charge.

Pomodoro Challenge Timer

Produced by AXFN, this sytem features a Socialist realism esthetic that reveals the no-coddling attitude behind it: maximum productivity based on working harder, period. It tracks your productivity over days and weeks – including holidays and weekends – and you’ll earn or lose ranks based on your performance (you start out as an “unrepentant slacker”). It doesn’t offer to-do lists, and it doesn’t give you the option to interrupt a pomodoro. The basic version is free of charge.

One of the benefits of working as a freelance translator is that you’re able to set your own schedule, but this can also be a drawback if you tend to procrastinate instead of tackling a job and organizing yourself to get it done by the deadline. In fact, procrastination – far from being the cause of deadline anxiety – is often a response to it. The reason is that challenging tasks (and translation is a challenging task) have both negative (e.g., fear that the project is too challenging) and positive (the sense of reward when you finish the project) psychological aspects. When the negative aspect outweighs the positive, we tend to procrastinate, which increases our anxiety as the deadline draws ever nearer, while we continue to make no progress. Even though no one likes to put a deadline on their creative process, deadlines are not only inevitable, but can actually be a motivating factor.

It’s all a matter of attitude, and that’s where the Pomodoro method comes in. Invented by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s as a personal system to get more studying done, the method came to the attention of business managers in the 1990s. The Pomodoro Technique® is a time management method that helps you transform time into a valuable ally by breaking down a large task or series of tasks into short, timed intervals. You become more productive because you accomplish the tasks that you set for yourself in timed bursts of concentrated effort – which boost productivity – rewarded with short breaks – which prevent burnout and distraction and refresh creativity – while at the same time allowing you to record your increasing productivity over time.

Learning the Pomodoro technique takes only minutes, and using it couldn’t be easier. All you really need is a timer, a pencil and a piece of paper. In fact, the technique’s name of Pomodoro (which means “tomato” in Italian) comes from the fact that the inventor used a tomato-shaped mechanical timer, but any kind of timer will do.

Here’s the method:

1. Choose a task (or series of tasks) to be accomplished.
2. Set the Pomodoro (your timer, and the name of the timed work unit) to 25 minutes.
3. Focus on the task(s) and work without interruption until the Pomodoro rings, then put a check on your piece of paper.
4. Take a short – e.g. – five-minute, break.
5. Every four Pomodoros, take a longer break (e.g., 15 minutes to 25 minutes, or whatever you need to clear your mind and refresh your creativity).

Repeat throughout your workday. It’s important to note that each Pomodoro is an indivisible work unit. This is the key to the system: if you become distracted from your task for whatever reason (a phone call or email and so on), you must either end the Pomodoro then and there or postpone the distraction until the Pomodoro is finished.

It will come as no surprise that, when it comes to the Pomodoro method, “there’s an app for that”. In our next article, we’ll introduce some of the more popular apps that can help any translator to reduce procrastination and burnout, manage distractions, and increase their productivity and sense of accomplishment.