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How much to charge for translation/proof reading

How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Old Nov 28th 2011, 10:07 am
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Default How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Hi everyone,

Can someone advise me how much I should charge for the translation of a business contract? And do I charge per page or per word? I have no idea what the going rates are in Ile de France.

Thanks!!

Framboise
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Old Nov 28th 2011, 10:37 am
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Framboiseboo
Hi everyone,

Can someone advise me how much I should charge for the translation of a business contract? And do I charge per page or per word? I have no idea what the going rates are in Ile de France.

Thanks!!

Framboise
Hi, I used to be a translator, but quite specialised, and in any case what I charged before I retired is out of date! Going rates are "national".
http://www.sft.fr/clients/sft/telech...5ab788dee5.pdf
should give you an idea of tariffs as recommended by the SFT.
I always had texts at 300 words per typed page, so it was easy to charge per 100 words. Count each word on a printed page!
Are you translating into your mother tongue? If not, get your translation checked by a target-language national with knowledge of business contracts. An error or ambiguity could lead to trouble for you later, since you'd be held responsible...
Hope this helps!
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Old Nov 28th 2011, 1:23 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by dmu
Hi, I used to be a translator, but quite specialised, and in any case what I charged before I retired is out of date! Going rates are "national".
http://www.sft.fr/clients/sft/telech...5ab788dee5.pdf
should give you an idea of tariffs as recommended by the SFT.
I always had texts at 300 words per typed page, so it was easy to charge per 100 words. Count each word on a printed page!
Are you translating into your mother tongue? If not, get your translation checked by a target-language national with knowledge of business contracts. An error or ambiguity could lead to trouble for you later, since you'd be held responsible...
Hope this helps!
Thanks for that, it sounds like a reasonable guide, but would that be TTC or HT?

Thank you :-)
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Old Nov 28th 2011, 4:03 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Agree with dmu, though I am not a translator but as journalist/writer. Charges via a site I use can be based on total word count (poss on 100 word chunks), per page (but how many words per page?), per hour, or a set fee for the total. If you are not in a competitive market, then I suggest you follow dmu's good advice; at least you are offering a rate that is professionally accepted.

I usually charge by the hour, but it not an exact science. I try to be flexible as my market is always competitive. If you pitch a set fee you win some that come easy, or lose when the client continues to discuss the work submitted.
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Old Dec 1st 2011, 5:09 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Framboiseboo
Thanks for that, it sounds like a reasonable guide, but would that be TTC or HT?

Thank you :-)
Sorry, I've only just noticed your post.
I don't know, but I would imagine HT. I had to add TVA to my bills (but then I was an Sàrl) - I don't know whether "independents" are obliged to add TVA or not. What is your Statut?
Sorry I can't help more!
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Old Dec 1st 2011, 6:00 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by cjm
Agree with dmu, though I am not a translator but as journalist/writer. Charges via a site I use can be based on total word count (poss on 100 word chunks), per page (but how many words per page?), per hour, or a set fee for the total. If you are not in a competitive market, then I suggest you follow dmu's good advice; at least you are offering a rate that is professionally accepted.

I usually charge by the hour, but it not an exact science. I try to be flexible as my market is always competitive. If you pitch a set fee you win some that come easy, or lose when the client continues to discuss the work submitted.
I could never do that because I'm not consistent enough. Sometimes I can do 5 to 10 whole pages in an hour and sometimes it takes me an hour just to do half a page because it's flipping boring or complicated and I faff and get up and make tea, and check out this place and write to my sister etc.

For straight forward text pages I usually charge by page but most people here ask for a total price for a piece, website, contract, manual etc. I work out my best price and quote it to them.

Then it's down to me.... if I get the job done in a couple of hours - great. If I take a week over it I still get the same amount of money but I've put more time into it because I've been faffing and wasting time.

I get texts in Italian. It's bad in the sense that they write loads of twaddle when it's not necessary and pubblicity texts are all poetic and full of crap. I count my price going on the Italian because they always have far, far more words than the final result in English .... and because that is the job that is given to me to quote a price on in the first place. I don't read every word when I quote a price. I count the words, skim read and calculate the general level of easy or dificult or an effing pain in the arse.

If I start off with 200 words and send them back 125 it's not my fault. If they send me a 10 page instruction manual it's not my fault they only get 8 pages back. It's because some full of himself technical Italian engineer has written something like:

"the fan belt has an immediate action on the gear box which in its turn will put pressure on the bearings and as the pressure on such goes down in relation to the revolutions of the above mentioned, the machinery motor and engine box will stop when you press the red fungus shaped foot pedal."

In English that turns into: Pressing the red foot pedal will bring the machine to an immediate halt.

It sometimes takes me 10 minutes just to understand what the hell they are on about and I have to read the sentence 6 times and change it back to front before I can translate it. If that all adds up as more words and therefore more pages in Italian to pay for, so be it - I deserve it after wrangling through their stupid Italian nonsense.

Oh God sorry - didn't mean to rant on. Somebody must have hit a nerve
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Old Dec 2nd 2011, 8:15 am
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

This isn't aimed at the author for this thread, because that sounds like a business transaction.

But I will use this thread to vent some anger at the English I have met since being here.

I find it massively irritating that when you meet an English person here and you start talking to them and say how hard it all is at the begining and not understanding the letters etc that come throught the door. They say to bring it over and they'll help, and then they mention money!!!! I think bl***y hell, what's happened to you that you can't help someone out.
All the French people we have met have been more than willing than to help.

We saw the neighbour at our new place the other day, saw they had a cat and said, oh that's good you have pets, maybe you could feed ours when we go away and vice versa, and she rattled off what rate she'd charge. I just thought, that's that then, I'm not talking to you again if thats the kind of person you are.
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Old Dec 2nd 2011, 5:11 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza
I could never do that because I'm not consistent enough. Sometimes I can do 5 to 10 whole pages in an hour and sometimes it takes me an hour just to do half a page because it's flipping boring or complicated and I faff and get up and make tea, and check out this place and write to my sister etc.

For straight forward text pages I usually charge by page but most people here ask for a total price for a piece, website, contract, manual etc. I work out my best price and quote it to them.

Then it's down to me.... if I get the job done in a couple of hours - great. If I take a week over it I still get the same amount of money but I've put more time into it because I've been faffing and wasting time.

I get texts in Italian. It's bad in the sense that they write loads of twaddle when it's not necessary and pubblicity texts are all poetic and full of crap. I count my price going on the Italian because they always have far, far more words than the final result in English .... and because that is the job that is given to me to quote a price on in the first place. I don't read every word when I quote a price. I count the words, skim read and calculate the general level of easy or dificult or an effing pain in the arse.

If I start off with 200 words and send them back 125 it's not my fault. If they send me a 10 page instruction manual it's not my fault they only get 8 pages back. It's because some full of himself technical Italian engineer has written something like:

"the fan belt has an immediate action on the gear box which in its turn will put pressure on the bearings and as the pressure on such goes down in relation to the revolutions of the above mentioned, the machinery motor and engine box will stop when you press the red fungus shaped foot pedal."

In English that turns into: Pressing the red foot pedal will bring the machine to an immediate halt.

It sometimes takes me 10 minutes just to understand what the hell they are on about and I have to read the sentence 6 times and change it back to front before I can translate it. If that all adds up as more words and therefore more pages in Italian to pay for, so be it - I deserve it after wrangling through their stupid Italian nonsense.

Oh God sorry - didn't mean to rant on. Somebody must have hit a nerve
Lorna, that's brought out the biggest smile I've had in days. And, WOW, aren't you the dedicated one. Respect. Yes, it can be swings and roundabouts. Being freelance is not easy. Full timers get a cheque at the end of each month, if they have a heavy month or not.
And isn't it a contender as an oxymoron to 'rant' and be a 'super moderator'; bit like 'old news' 'new classic' and dare I say 'living dead'!!

Loy Loy Sorry to hear you have had those experiences. We have, I feel, been most fortunate. An English friends takes our Jack Russells as a prompt to get out and take more exercise; another English friend has helped with some plumbing and I have helped a French friend fill his cracked walls. Hospitality and friendship are the only factors involved. And, today I helped an English friend repair his disco fog machine, so he can enjoy a posh gig he is doing this weekend. All that changed hands was some tea and cake - mine! You are likely correct that our French friends put themselves out to be helpful. My wife is soon to meet a French neighbour, she to assist her French and the neighbour to pick up some English. As one gets older, is one less mercenary: discuss!
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Old Dec 3rd 2011, 3:57 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

I have experienced both side: last year I made friends with a lovely English lady and can honestly say she and her husband are the kindest and most generous people we have ever met and have helped royally through a difficult year.

Conversely I have met many rude, thoughtless and completely money orientated English people too; I avoid them!
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Old Dec 3rd 2011, 3:58 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza
I could never do that because I'm not consistent enough. Sometimes I can do 5 to 10 whole pages in an hour and sometimes it takes me an hour just to do half a page because it's flipping boring or complicated and I faff and get up and make tea, and check out this place and write to my sister etc.

For straight forward text pages I usually charge by page but most people here ask for a total price for a piece, website, contract, manual etc. I work out my best price and quote it to them.

Then it's down to me.... if I get the job done in a couple of hours - great. If I take a week over it I still get the same amount of money but I've put more time into it because I've been faffing and wasting time.

I get texts in Italian. It's bad in the sense that they write loads of twaddle when it's not necessary and pubblicity texts are all poetic and full of crap. I count my price going on the Italian because they always have far, far more words than the final result in English .... and because that is the job that is given to me to quote a price on in the first place. I don't read every word when I quote a price. I count the words, skim read and calculate the general level of easy or dificult or an effing pain in the arse.

If I start off with 200 words and send them back 125 it's not my fault. If they send me a 10 page instruction manual it's not my fault they only get 8 pages back. It's because some full of himself technical Italian engineer has written something like:

"the fan belt has an immediate action on the gear box which in its turn will put pressure on the bearings and as the pressure on such goes down in relation to the revolutions of the above mentioned, the machinery motor and engine box will stop when you press the red fungus shaped foot pedal."

In English that turns into: Pressing the red foot pedal will bring the machine to an immediate halt.

It sometimes takes me 10 minutes just to understand what the hell they are on about and I have to read the sentence 6 times and change it back to front before I can translate it. If that all adds up as more words and therefore more pages in Italian to pay for, so be it - I deserve it after wrangling through their stupid Italian nonsense.

Oh God sorry - didn't mean to rant on. Somebody must have hit a nerve
This was SO FUNNY!!! I lived in Italy for five years and became fluent and did a bit of translation and I know exactly what you mean!! I have a sort of affection for that flowery, verbose Italian but it is certainly a pain to translate...
perhaps read some beautiful Italian like Leopardi or something as an antidote??

Tina
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Old Dec 3rd 2011, 4:20 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by between two worlds
This was SO FUNNY!!! I lived in Italy for five years and became fluent and did a bit of translation and I know exactly what you mean!! I have a sort of affection for that flowery, verbose Italian but it is certainly a pain to translate...
perhaps read some beautiful Italian like Leopardi or something as an antidote??

Tina


When I worked in offices, it took me ages to convince the boss that a fax with "Package arrived today - all okay - thanks." was perfectly okay with UK, American clients etc. and that they didn't need half a page of:

Dear Sirs,
We are pleased to inform you that the package sent on November 23rd of this year with FedEx, containing N.200 pieces of metal plates, was delivered to our premises this morning .............. blah blah blah
.

Did you notice how long some Italian sentences can be? 20 commas and not a full stop in the middle!
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Old Dec 3rd 2011, 6:58 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza

Did you notice how long some Italian sentences can be? 20 commas and not a full stop in the middle!
Hah! At least they use commas. In German its all one word.
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Old Dec 9th 2011, 8:17 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Novocastrian
Hah! At least they use commas. In German its all one word.
I never did get the hang of German.
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Old Dec 10th 2011, 7:43 am
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza
I never did get the hang of German.
Neither has David Cameron it would seem, nor indeed his French!
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Old Jan 6th 2012, 12:48 pm
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Default Re: How much to charge for translation/proof reading

I do very little translation work but when I do , it's about 8.5 cent per word. you use the origional text as reference as (as mentioned before) it's not your fault that the final version is shorter. you still had to ''treat'' each word. In general translation is charged at between 10 and 12 cent per word. this can go up by about 10% 20 % depending on the speciality and deadline. for a 'normal '' timeframe count between 1000 -1500 min per day. You then have a minimum of maybe 50 Euro set rate.
so if you have a 2000 word document , you should charge about 200 E HT and you should be able to give it back a day and a half later.
proof reading is (I think ) about one or two cent per word and I presume the timeframe would be 10 times faster too....but to be honest I'm not sure how to proof-read and where the line is between that and correcting/translation.
hope this helps
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