rates for transcreation/adapting Thread poster: Yelena.
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Yelena. 
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:17
English to Russian
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Dear colleagues,
How do you charge for transcreation/adapting? I got an inquiry the other day and I\'d be grateful if you could share your ideas/approaches...
Thanks!
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| By the hour, of course! | Jan 17, 2003 |
Best regards 
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| This is editing | Jan 18, 2003 |
Hi folks!
Apart from my translation business I also have a degree in PR consultancy and do a lot of text generation (press releases, brochure texts etc.). The crossover with translations is that I can offer German ready-to-publish media texts out of an English source release to whatever audience is targeted.
This work is never charged by word but by hour or by page.
With regard to a page price (DIN A4/B5) an average translation earns some 20-40... See more Hi folks!
Apart from my translation business I also have a degree in PR consultancy and do a lot of text generation (press releases, brochure texts etc.). The crossover with translations is that I can offer German ready-to-publish media texts out of an English source release to whatever audience is targeted.
This work is never charged by word but by hour or by page.
With regard to a page price (DIN A4/B5) an average translation earns some 20-40 dollars per page, depending on the source and conditions.
A generated page of the same size is worth 100 dollars MINIMUM. PR agencies charge their clients at least 250 dollars for a page long press release.
The result is often a completely different text compared to the source. The reason for this are the different media cultures in each country. For example, an US press release that has 2,5 pages ends up with a 3/4 page in German. Why? German journalists are not interested in hundreds of personal opinions of CEOs and other people often cited in US releases. They only want to see the hard facts (remember the 5 W\'s?).
So, when I start to adapt an US press release, I wipe out all the mentioned company names except for the first one. I then wipe out all expressione like \"the best\", \"unique\", \"we are delighted\" and all other sorts of comparatives and superlatives. Furthermore, all cited phrases are eliminated and if they bring facts (which never happens) they are integrated into a small side note. Finally, all narrative and descriptive passages are killed, unless they explain something REALLY important.
When all this is done, the text will be 2/3 shorter than before.
My point is: editing is much more than just improving the style. It also means to change the text (sometimes completely) according to the target audience.
To be able to do this, an editor must have a thorough knowledge of target audiences and local cultures (and levels) the text will be published to.
It is this special knowledge you get paid for.
Have fun.
Best regards
Herbert ▲ Collapse
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| Transcreation, my foot! :=) | Jan 18, 2003 |
What is transcreation? A fancy name for high-quality outbound translation?
Anyway, if you can deliver, you should charge, IMHO, at the very least $ 0.30 per word.
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OlafK
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:17
English to German
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| By the hour, | Jan 18, 2003 |
as Félix says.
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Yelena.
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:17
English to Russian
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TOPIC STARTER | transcreation | Jan 18, 2003 |
By transcreation I mean a creative translation. In other words, translating sales copies, brochures, slogans, etc. so that they are as effective in the target language as in the source language. The result must \"sell\" a brand, product, service or idea effectively to the target audience.
Thank you very much for your responses! I have got an idea now...
[ This Message was edited by:on2003-01-19 14:57]
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| fees for "transcreation" | Jan 20, 2003 |
Hi Konstantin and Yelena,
As you can see from my comment earlier in this thread, I recommend to charge by page or by hour.
Imagine a sales brochure with some 30 words only. How could I possibly charge this by word? Even 30 cents per word would be ridiculous if I have to think about it and try several versions to make it sound natural in the target language? Sometimes, you even have to call somebody working in the industry sector in question to help you out and cont... See more Hi Konstantin and Yelena,
As you can see from my comment earlier in this thread, I recommend to charge by page or by hour.
Imagine a sales brochure with some 30 words only. How could I possibly charge this by word? Even 30 cents per word would be ridiculous if I have to think about it and try several versions to make it sound natural in the target language? Sometimes, you even have to call somebody working in the industry sector in question to help you out and contribute some ideas.
All these actions can easily take several hours or even half a day. At 30 cents a word you would get 9 Euro for half a day!!
But there is another quite obvious reason not to offer a fee per word to a possible client:
He/she should not be tempted to compare this kind of work with an \"ordinary\" translation. Thus, I ALWAYS offer an hourly fee in advance and decide afterwards if it would even be better to charge per page (it just depends). But NEVER NEVER offer a word price!
And... don\'t forget and think about:
Usually, these brochures are completely done by advertising agencies and some clients try to avoid the high fees agencies take for localization jobs by offering \"already translated\" versions. Those clients almost always know exactly the agency prices, that\'s why they ask you to do it.
Refuse! Charge an hourly rate of at least 80 Euro! Even this offer is cheaper than anything an advertising agency has to offer! ▲ Collapse
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| Denial of the fittest :=) | Jan 22, 2003 |
>But there is another quite obvious reason not to offer a fee per word to a possible client:
He/she should not be tempted to compare this kind of work with an \"ordinary\" translation.<
Very sensible comments about hourly vs. per word charges, Herbert.
What I don\'t understand, though, is why clients \"should not be tempted to compare this kind of work with an \"ordinary\" translation\". (And what is an ordinary translation, btw?)
... See more >But there is another quite obvious reason not to offer a fee per word to a possible client:
He/she should not be tempted to compare this kind of work with an \"ordinary\" translation.<
Very sensible comments about hourly vs. per word charges, Herbert.
What I don\'t understand, though, is why clients \"should not be tempted to compare this kind of work with an \"ordinary\" translation\". (And what is an ordinary translation, btw?)
Any translation is either fit for the purpose or not, and translations that work reliably almost always cost more (often several times more) than those that fail. ▲ Collapse
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| True, but... | Jan 24, 2003 |
Konstantin,
You are right to say that all translations have to be fit for purpose.
However, I think Yelena is right to distinguish between \"transcreation\" and translation.
I would define it like this - Translations stick relatively/very closely to the wording and structure of the original without sacrificing target-language effect (examples: financial statements, legal texts, technical texts). In \"transcreation\" you have the f... See more Konstantin,
You are right to say that all translations have to be fit for purpose.
However, I think Yelena is right to distinguish between \"transcreation\" and translation.
I would define it like this - Translations stick relatively/very closely to the wording and structure of the original without sacrificing target-language effect (examples: financial statements, legal texts, technical texts). In \"transcreation\" you have the freedom to add text, rearrange the order of sentences and paragraphs, create new headlines, etc. I have, for instance, \"shaped up\" rough drafts of English marketing texts in this way.
Yelena - I also charge an hourly rate for this. ▲ Collapse
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