Job Discussion Forums

pamqueques · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Buenso Aires

For those of you that are also doing translation work, I was wondering if you think it is acceptable/good to earn 1000 pesos a month to translate approximately 2500 words a day(55,000 a month) from Spanish to English? To me it seems a little low, so I'd like to know what any one else thinks.
gracias,
pam

Alex42 · Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 77 Location: Salta, Argentina

It does seem a little low, but on the other hand it�s a massive job, so if it�s keeping you employed for more than a month it has to be a pretty good job!

A lot would also depend on how difficult it is. If it�s easy to medium, then I�d say it�s a good rate.

veggieboy · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 32 Location: Buenos Aires

If it's anything other than three-word declarative sentences, it's too low.

pamqueques · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Buenso Aires

So what is an average rate to translate (usually fairly easy material) from Spanish to English? I'm thinking at least 3 cents/word would be o.k.

veggieboy · Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 32 Location: Buenos Aires

Three cents of a U.S. dollar or three centavos? From what I've seen and done, anywhere from 7 to 10 centavos is the bottom rate for such a thing -- really much closer to the 10 side. And that's without tacking anything on for complexity, the fact you're a native speaker, etc.

Obviously, they're probably going to balk at paying you 5,500 pesos a month. And because you're dealing in quantity, there's room for a discount. If there's a lot of repetition in the text(s) that has to be taken into account, too.

But 1000 pesos/month would amount to doing it for less than 20% of market rates.