Have you ever wondered what it looked like to be the very first of any job? For example, what did the first ever translator charge? You might know or have guessed that the Bible is the most translated book in the world, depending on what version you’re talking about. The bible itself has been translated into 700 languages. With such a wide audience reached, the job of a translator deserves to be properly compensated.
Whether we are a novice translator or someone that needs a translation done, pricing a translation can be tricky, as there are different factors to consider. Translation prices can vary depending on projects, types of contracts, experience level of the translator, languages, deadline timeframes, location, and many other components that should be examined. Let’s break down the key elements that will assist you in figuring out what fee is most adequate for the job being done.
Five questions you need to ask yourself when setting your translation rate are:
- What type of project is it?
- What is the your experience level?
- What is the language pairing?
- When does it need to be turned in?
- Who is the client?
1. Why Is the Project Type Important When Setting Your Translation Rate?
Sometimes, a project may require extra work beyond just the translation, and this heavily affects the price. What format is the project in? Will the translator need to be knowledgeable in the interface being used? (The translator may have it be a requirement that all projects must be in a word document, for example). Is the project in PDF format or something else that might not be as well known? Depending on the answer, the final fee will reflect this.
Is the translation more technical or creative?
Some topics are harder to find a translator for because they require special expertise. These topics might be more expensive. Documents that need to be officialized for the government or apostilled tend to be more expensive, as they require more time and people. Depending on how official the document needs to be also influences the final fee.
Another aspect of the translation project might be whether it is a one-time or repeating occurrence. Translating texts such as newsletters, horoscopes, or blogs, for example, are repetitive projects in which case the price can be cheaper per translation to make it more budget-friendly in the long run. As with most things, the more of the service you use, the more the price per unit might go down.
The type of project itself is the first determining factor for a price, however it does not stop there.
2. Why Is the Your Experience Level Important When Setting Your Translation Rate?
Just because someone knows how to speak a language perfectly, does not mean that they are an efficient translator. In order to translate accurately, the translator must be able to adapt the text to the correct context. Consider a poet trying to translate an instructional manual, for example, or a technician trying to translate a romance novel. The goal is to pay the right person the right amount, so the work is valued.
Another important factor is the target audience of the translation project
Depending on who the translation is for, the formality and vocabulary of a translation is adapted and the translator must know how to do this in a way that feels natural to the reader. Having a second set of eyes look at the text is incredibly important, and sometimes even the most impressive of translators will miss a few things in their own text. Therefore it is worth paying a fee that involves an editor’s work.
3. Why Is the Language Pairing Important When Setting Your Translation Rate?
Mandarin, Spanish, and English are the most common target languages in translation, and therefore the most competitive languages to price. Depending on what region you are working in or who you are working with, English-Spanish can be a very popular language pairing, the fee must also be competitive while respecting the time and worth of the team behind the translation. If, however, the language pairing is something like Russian-Arabic, or Swahili-Norwegian, it might be trickier to find the adequate translator for this. Due to this, more rare language pairings tend to be higher in price.
4. Why Is the Due Date Important When Setting Your Translation Rate?
When does the client want the project to be turned in by? There is a normal turnaround rate for projects that should be expected, and work that has a 24-hour deadline will immediately go up in price. Like anything, working efficiently and doing something right takes time, so rushing a translator is usually not a good idea. However, we can’t always help it and in the case that a project needs to be turned in much sooner than would be comfortable for the translator, the price will definitely reflect this by being higher.
5. Who Is the Client?
As a translator, we must also consider who we are working for and why. Is it a big business that can afford to pay for our precious time or a smaller business trying to get their brand out there and we want to help them out? Is it a project we believe in or that might help people? What can the client afford to pay? Considering who we are working for and not only what we are translating needs to happen to figure out an adequate fee.
Conclusion
Now that we have covered all these factors you understand why telling you how much to expect for a translation price is so tricky The context of both translator and client should be contemplated and considered. To give you an idea, an average standard price of what to expect in the United States will range between $.10 to $.20 (USD) cents a word for a Spanish-English pairing. This range depends on the expertise of the translator, and how rushed the work might be.
However the price can vary drastically depending on the other factors we have underlined here. Hopefully, regardless of what role you are in, you will find the right person for the right project, and a respectful fee.
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