Job Discussion Forums

[mejms]

For those of you who translate, how much do you charge? Particularly to companies for contracts, reports, and manuals?

I've always thought between $200 and $250 per complete page.

[Guy Courchesne]

Whenever I've done document translation - which is not very often - I've always charged 200 pesos a page. I dislike this type of work so I don't do it often.

[mejms]

I've done shorter documents, but this time round it's two documents with 54 complete pages, small font. They want it for Friday. I don't mind the translating, but it's very time consuming and I'm already busy. I was initially going to charge $200 a page too because $250 a page for that many pages is a lot of money. Even so, at $200, you're talking $10,000. It's a lot of money for a translation. It's also a lot of work.

[TeresaLopez]

[Phil_K]

Two points to be taken into consideration:

1) The normal unit of charge is per cuartilla, which is literally a sheet of paper, but is taken to be 200 words, so the font type and size doesn't come into it.

2) Many of us are offering this service as non-professionals, with the only qualifications that we are bilingual and, presumibly, that we know how to write well in English. I include myself in this, although I have self-studied (my usual method of learning!) and have even successfully given a course in it.

The conclusion? The figures quoted are fair enough per page but the previous points must be taken into consideration when competing against professional translators. Translation is an art, not a science. We translate ideas, not words. A good translator is a great writer in his own language; something that is even more difficult translating INTO the foreign language.

TIPS:

1) Make it clear in the case of technical translations that you need to collaborate with the client

2) If you think it is too difficult, don't be ashamed to refuse the job. No one can be an expert in every subject

3) For English > Spanish, even if you think you have done a great job, get a well-educated native to proof-read it, for correction of style.

There are some awful translations out there, just look at some of the translated promotional literature produced by some of the states of Mexico!

I once saw a subtitled documentary about The Beatles on TV. It was full of howlers, but one I particularly remember was when Paul McCartney was talking about the song "When I'm 64". Appearing on the screen was: "In 1964... (Thus the need for knowledge of the subject!)

[mejms]

I agree with everything that Phil_K said, particularly that one translates ideas and concepts, not words, and that being a good writer is a prerequisite for being a good translator, just as being a good communicator of ideas is a prerequisite for being a good teacher.

I mainly posted because I haven't prepared a translation of this length before. It's a big price to pay, and a lot of clients don't realize how much work it is to translate. Someone will pay $1,000 pesos for a translation, but $10,000 (even though the text is proportionally longer) is mind-boggling for them. But I'm going to charge it and I've already been given the green light to do it, but yes, he was surprised. When we meet up next week, I'll have to explain a little bit about what work translating is.

[Enchilada Potosina]

[Phil_K]

[Isla Guapa]

I've been on vacation, so I just saw this thread today. I consider myself a professional translator and have been doing this kind of work for the last few years in Mexico and the US. Both here and there, I charge by the word, which in Mexico usually comes to .9 pesos per word. When I began doing this kind of work in the States, I was told that a per word charge was how it was done, and the same thing happened when I began translating in Mexico. I think it's the only fair way to go since you never know how many words a page will contain.

[amaranto]

I just saw this post today, too. I'm also a professional translator. In my experience, competitive rates in Mexico (when not working for an agency) fall between 150 and 200 pesos per cuartilla (200-230 words). Rates are affected by many factors, including location, language pair, specialization, etc.

I have worked with peritos who charge more than 200 pesos and often charge to seal the translated documents. I would say anything above 250 pesos per cuartilla would be an expensive translation.

The funny thing is that you often run into clients who expect you to give them a discount for bulk. They don't realize that it's much more work to translate, edit, and proofread a lengthy document. You often have to be prepared to educate your client as to why you charge what you charge.

[mejms]

Well, I feel reassured. I spent all Saturday afternoon and evening and all day Sunday doing this and made headway of the first manual, but even so not finished with it: I still need to finish a few more pages, then proofread and edit. Then I'm on to the second manual, which is even thicker in terms of content.

I agree that I'll probably wish I charged more, but I charged what I'm confident charging at this stage of the game. And I agree that you need to educate the client on the work involved in translating. I think that people tend to think, what work is it? You read the Spanish word and you write the English word. How hard is it? They don't understand the thoroughness of it all.

I also felt like I wanted to be careful with the total cost. Like Phil_K, even if it's a whole book you're translating, a potential client who doesn't know the translating market really can't grasp charging $24,000. I hope my client calls up other places to cross-check costs, so he's more aware of the rates. And I don't think I'll finish for Friday. I've got too much work. I'll likely explain to him that Monday morning is the earliest.

[ontoit]

We charge a fair, but pretty penny for translations because:

1. We are professionals and provide professional-level work.
2. The translation we do for you will benefit you, either personally or professionally. Now, why should I give you a break so you can benefit? Are your needs more important than my time and skill?
3. Translation is not "easy, therefore cheap", and if you think it is, be my guest and take care of it yourself.

Dignity and pride: You think that what you are doing is important but what I do to make it possible for you to do what you do is not? I'm sorry. If I do not do what I do, then you cannot do what you do, especially if you are trying to sell a product abroad or get a paper published.

Then again, we earn upwards of 10,000 USD/ month, so we can afford to be picky.

[Isla Guapa]

[TeresaLopez]

[Guy Courchesne]