When you ask a translator for a quote, you might get a price that you don’t understand. You also might be wondering why translators ask you about the number of words in the document, why file format matters, and what a minimum charge really is.
Let’s take a closer look at what you are paying for when it comes to translation.
What’s in a price?
It would seem obvious that when it comes to buying translation, you are paying strictly for the act of translating a text into another language. Well, this is not always the case.
Translation projects involve many tasks such as project management or proofreading – both are usually included in the quoted price.
Freelance translators manage their projects by themselves, so you’re also paying for their time to make a quote, exchange emails with you, prepare the document for translation, then translate it, edit and proofread the final draft, then there is the delivery of the translation, Q&A process, issuing invoices, bookkeeping, etc. If you buy from translation agencies, you’ll pay for project management that would be done by their staff.
Some translators, when making a quote, may take into consideration their high qualifications and experience. This is also true for other professions when you pay an expert not only for the job itself but also for knowing how to do it.
Per word / per line / per page
Translation costs vary from country to country and from language to language. The most common method in the UK and US is counting the number of words in the source (original) document and multiplying it by the rate for each word. In Germany, you will be charged per line which consists of 55 characters including spaces. Whereas in Poland and Bulgaria, for example, translators will give you a quote based on the number of pages, where a page includes 1800 characters with spaces.
Why are the pricing methods different? Because word count can vary from language to language. Depending on the language pair and the direction of translation, the translated text will come out as shorter or longer than the original.
I asked a few professional translators who work in different language pairs and all of them had a clear idea of how the discrepancies in the word count affect their fees. They agreed that a universal method of calculating the translation cost would be simply unfair.
Christopher Sullivan said that charging a client per word for German to English translations would be unfeasible – words such as ‘rechtsschutzversichterugsgesellschaft’ take almost half a line, and its English equivalent are several words long.
For the same reason, Margarida Cabral Bernardo charges her clients per line. She said that because of differences in the word count, some years ago “it was common sense among translators to charge between 10 and 15% more when translating into Latin based languages, i.e. Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French”.
Perhaps by the hour?
Pricing based on word count, although widely used and transparent, are not appropriate for more creative translation projects. These mostly include slogans, adverts and marketing messages that require transcreation rather than translation and they take up much more time and effort to be rendered in another language. This is why for transcreation projects you might be charged per hour rather than per word. Make sure this is agreed beforehand.
What is a minimum charge?
Minimum charge (also called minimum fee) is a fixed charge for very small projects, i.e. up to 150-300 words. The upper limit of small project word count differs from translator to translator.
The minimum charge covers the administrative work involved in the project. For example, you ask a translator to translate a 50-word email. The job itself is worth a few pounds or euros but the process of making a quote, the following email exchange, invoicing, etc. take time.
So if all these tasks altogether would only take an hour, the translator would earn just a few pounds for a 1-hour service.
Very often, the minimum charge is used only for one-off projects. Regular clients, especially if they are invoiced monthly, would usually pay the actual price for the job itself.
Additional charges
If you need the translation urgently or if you require additional services you might pay a little bit more.
Many translators charge an additional 25% – 50% if a translation needs to be done overnight or over the weekend.
You might also expect to pay up to 30% more for some PDF files or other non-editable files that are not supported by translation software. Most translators use special software that allows them to translate segment by segment – this guarantees efficiency, consistency and lack of omissions.
Some translators offer desktop publishing as an additional service but charge for it accordingly. They would either do it by themselves or outsource to a graphic designer.
Transparency first
With the differences between pricing methods, wide variety of projects and possible additional services that may be required, it is important for translators to make their quotes transparent and to keep their clients properly informed about the actual cost of translation.
I hope that this short guide will make it easier to understand the translation costs and help you make the right choices.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, email me at info@transliteria.co.uk
