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Word's word counting function can be used to get an estimation of the total number of words, characters or lines in a text.
In order to count the number of words with Word in a particular sentence or paragraph of a text:
- Select the piece of text to be counted
- Choose the Word Count command from the Tools menu in the menu bar
- A dialog box will open and show you the total page number of the current document, the number of words in the selected piece of text, the number of characters with and without spaces, the number of lines and the number of Asian and non-Asian words
- At the end of the dialog box there is an option to add the words in the foot notes and end notes
If, on the contrary, you wish to count the total number of words in an open document, again go to Tools | Word Count without selecting a piece of text before.
Why is this information important for translators and translation teachers?
The Word's counting function of Word could be of particular interest to translators who usually get paid according to the total of words, characters or lines – either source or target – they have to deal with.
Though it is also important to keep in mind that today there are more efficient word count, character count and line count software on the market which are specially designed for translators - e.g. PractiCount (among other shareware or freeware).