Poll: What is the longest break you have taken from work?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jul 21, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is the longest break you have taken from work?".

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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:29
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Maybe 2 weeks? Jul 21, 2019

Since I've been translating for over 50 years, it's difficult to come up with a specific answer. Obviously, I've taken vacations during that time, but never more than 2 weeks. I had some health challenges in 2003. In 2012 I wrote a book, and I studied landscape design for 7 years, but I still kept translating. I've rarely had patches when I didn't have assignments.

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:29
French to English
A few weeks Jul 21, 2019

I can't remember the exact number of days.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 11:29
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
2 weeks max (long, long ago) Jul 21, 2019

I used to take 2 weeks’ vacation during the summer and at Christmas time when my children were still at home, but they are long gone and we haven’t spent vacations together for some time (trying to get 9 people agreeing on the same date and place is an almost impossible task…). I enjoy having a few days off here and there between jobs, rather than very few long vacations (to be honest, having long vacations absolutely bore me, even when I was a young lass). It all adds up probably to more ... See more
I used to take 2 weeks’ vacation during the summer and at Christmas time when my children were still at home, but they are long gone and we haven’t spent vacations together for some time (trying to get 9 people agreeing on the same date and place is an almost impossible task…). I enjoy having a few days off here and there between jobs, rather than very few long vacations (to be honest, having long vacations absolutely bore me, even when I was a young lass). It all adds up probably to more than 4/5 weeks a year, but I’m not counting!Collapse


Muriel Vasconcellos
Angie Garbarino
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:29
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Jul 21, 2019

Last summer I went snorkelling in the Maldives for 10 days and didn't even look at my emails. That was my first real break/holiday in years.
This year, I'm staying at my daughter's place and looking after her cat while she is on vacation in Canada. However, I'm still working, despite the ageing moggy meowing at me persistently for attention...

[Edited at 2019-07-21 10:01 GMT]


 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:29
Italian to English
Four years Jul 21, 2019

I stopped working for four years to get my nursing degree. Not sure it counts, because my intention was to actually become a nurse. That didn't work out for various reasons, so I came back to translation. I do have some regrets, but am enjoying the specialist knowledge my degree has given me, and am happy not to have to do night shifts!

Angie Garbarino
 
JaneTranslates
JaneTranslates  Identity Verified
Puerto Rico
Local time: 07:29
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other: two weeks Jul 21, 2019

I've taken a couple of road trips with my daughter, each about two weeks, during which time I may have communicated with clients (a little) but I did no actual translating. That's the longest I've been away since 1996. I suppose I could have marked "a few weeks," but that, to me, implies a period of at least three weeks.

So far, "two weeks" appears to be a pretty popular answer.

I don't understand why anyone would mark "one hour." Don't you sleep?

--Jane... See more
I've taken a couple of road trips with my daughter, each about two weeks, during which time I may have communicated with clients (a little) but I did no actual translating. That's the longest I've been away since 1996. I suppose I could have marked "a few weeks," but that, to me, implies a period of at least three weeks.

So far, "two weeks" appears to be a pretty popular answer.

I don't understand why anyone would mark "one hour." Don't you sleep?

--Jane

[Edited at 2019-07-21 22:17 GMT]
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Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 08:29
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other (11 years or 1 week?) Jul 22, 2019

This is a question that will always have several possible answers for veteran translators, above all those who have worked in other areas.
I started translating in 1986, but I was hired as a branch manager for a beverage distributor from 1991 to 2002, in a small town where English was as common as ETs. I spent these 11 years working in that area, with no chance for translating. Internet didn't exist, by the way.
So should I consider 11 years as the big break?
Then I moved back
... See more
This is a question that will always have several possible answers for veteran translators, above all those who have worked in other areas.
I started translating in 1986, but I was hired as a branch manager for a beverage distributor from 1991 to 2002, in a small town where English was as common as ETs. I spent these 11 years working in that area, with no chance for translating. Internet didn't exist, by the way.
So should I consider 11 years as the big break?
Then I moved back to my town, and continued working as a business manager, which was my main profession, but doing translations as an "extra". From 2002 to 2012, that was the status, so I have no idea how many breaks I took during that period or how long they lasted.
Finally, in 2013, I became a full-time translator.
From that time on, the longest break I ever had was one week long.
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Poll: What is the longest break you have taken from work?






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