| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | The answer to how much an agency charges Thread poster: Arianne Farah
|
|---|
Arianne Farah 
Canada
Local time: 18:12
Member (2008)
English to French
Through a little human error, I got my hands on a large LSP's master file. I won't tell you which one it is and it's not one of the companies that I've given a blueboard rating to, so won't be able to find it that way. I have a great relationship with the company and have no intention of souring it by linking this information to them. Suffice it to say that they're big, they operate worldwide and they have a stellar blueboard reputation. Please do not PM me to know which company it is, I will no... See more Through a little human error, I got my hands on a large LSP's master file. I won't tell you which one it is and it's not one of the companies that I've given a blueboard rating to, so won't be able to find it that way. I have a great relationship with the company and have no intention of souring it by linking this information to them. Suffice it to say that they're big, they operate worldwide and they have a stellar blueboard reputation. Please do not PM me to know which company it is, I will not share the information. As of this posting, it is simply a list of prices and you only have my word that they are legitimate.
I have decided to post these rates since I think that they will afford a little perspective into our industry and the much maligned world of agencies which has become tainted by a few bad apples. The service they offer is translation+editing+QC with the editing & QC either in-house or outsourced; knowing my rates, their profit margin is thin, much thinner than I would have expected. The range from one language to another was interesting : it's surprising that more 'exotic' languages in comparatively low cost countries, such as Arabic, Russian, Thai, Malay and Turkish are so high. Also surprising is the high price of Italian since it is a notoriously underpaid language pair. Less surprising are the low prices for Spanish and Portuguese.
I'm hoping this post will spur some debate and will also serve as a reference point for translators wondering how much (or little) a large agency would charge for a run of the mill translation (no rush, not technical, no DTP, etc.), and also to serve as a basis for what to charge direct clients.
Enjoy & use wisely!
ARABIC USD 0.28
CHINESE (SIMPLIFIED) USD 0.18
CHINESE (TRADITIONAL) USD 0.18
DANISH USD 0.22
DUTCH USD 0.20
FINNISH USD 0.22
FRENCH (FRANCE) USD 0.20
FRENCH (CANADA) USD 0.20
GERMAN USD 0.20
HEBREW USD 0.22
HINDI USD 0.20
INDONESIAN USD 0.22
ITALIAN USD 0.24
JAPANESE USD 0.22
KOREAN USD 0.22
MALAY USD 0.22
NORWEGIAN USD 0.22
PORTUGUESE (BRAZIL) USD 0.14
PORTUGUESE (PORTUGAL) USD 0.14
RUSSIAN USD 0.26
SPANISH (LA) USD 0.14
SPANISH (SPAIN) USD 0.14
SWEDISH USD 0.22
THAI USD 0.22
TURKISH USD 0.24 ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Hi, very interesting. Thank you. | Feb 13, 2014 |
Russian is not such a rare language--one of the main languages in the world( spoken by 180,000 of people, if I am not mistaken. Moscow is the most expensive city in the world--at least it was last year. (It is apparently second now)
[Edited at 2014-02-13 14:51 GMT]
| | | | | Not a sound business move | Feb 13, 2014 |
Actually sharing rates on a public forum can seriously hurt price negotiations. Besides, these are not particularly high rates, and having a thin profit margin is not virtuous.
| | | | | So many questions... | Feb 13, 2014 |
I have a great relationship with the company (...)
If you have a working relationship with them, are you not bound by an NDA? If there is no NDA in place, are you not ethically concerned about disclosing this material, particularly considering its source?
(...) and have no intention of souring it by linking this information to them.
You do realize that there is a very high, real possibility that by posting in this forum, which is read by many people in the industry, they will actually learn about your disclosure? Do you think that having withheld the name of the company provides sufficient basis to justify this breach of their trust?
Enjoy & use wisely!
I'd much rather not, thank you. But I would advise you, with the best of intentions, to remove your post.
| | |
|
|
|
Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 18:12
Member (2008)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER | Knowledge is power | Feb 13, 2014 |
SBlack wrote:
Actually sharing rates on a public forum can seriously hurt price negotiations. Besides, these are not particularly high rates, and having a thin profit margin is not virtuous.
How do you figure? I believe that negotiating with information in hand is much preferable to negotiating blindly. I do my homework when it comes to rates, sometimes requesting quotes from agencies to determine if they're worth working with. For example if an agency quotes me 0.10$/word or advertises low rates, I know not to bother since they'll be paying translators much less. I think there is a lot of misinformation in our industry, and a little knowledge can go a long way.
I, however agree that they are not particularly high rates, I was quite surprised, if I had been asked to guess, I would have assumed something 40-50% higher.
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 18:12
Member (2008)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER | Thank you for your solicitude | Feb 13, 2014 |
Rossana Triaca wrote: I have a great relationship with the company (...) If you have a working relationship with them, are you not bound by an NDA? If there is no NDA in place, are you not ethically concerned about disclosing this material, particularly considering its source? (...) and have no intention of souring it by linking this information to them. You do realize that there is a very high, real possibility that by posting in this forum, which is read by many people in the industry, they will actually learn about your disclosure? Do you think that having withheld the name of the company provides sufficient basis to justify this breach of their trust? Enjoy & use wisely! I'd much rather not, thank you. But I would advise you, with the best of intentions, to remove your post.
Funnily enough, I don't have an NDA with that agency, so the question is moot.
As for the breach of trust, I would equate publishing rates to posting salaries on glassdoor.com for a position without mentioning a company name; hard to be less generic. I can think of no way the company will be disadvantaged/harmed by this publication since unless someone from there steps forward to claim the rates, they could be attributed to any of the tens of thousands of agencies out there.
I did think before posting and weigh pros and cons, up to and including losing them as a client, and felt that the benefit to the community outweighed the personal risk.
| | | | Attila Piróth
France
Local time: 00:12
Member
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 15:12
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| Word count differences | Feb 13, 2014 |
I assume this is into English. What strikes me is that the rates are not higher for Germanic languages, or lower for Romance languages, considering the fact that for an equivalent amount of text in English there are 30%-40% more words in Romance languages than in Germanic languages.
| | |
|
|
|
| Actually I agree | Feb 13, 2014 |
Rossana Triaca wrote:
I'd much rather not, thank you. But I would advise you, with the best of intentions, to remove your post.
I happen to agree with this.
Furthermore, I do not think we should be too concerned about what our customers charge their customers, but about what we charge in order to make a decent living in the long run. The sooner we make our calculations and find our fair rate, the better off we all will be in the future.
| | | | Arianne Farah
Canada
Local time: 18:12
Member (2008)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you so much! That first link is an absolute gold mine!
| | | | | This is not some Edward Snowden conundrum :P | Feb 13, 2014 |
I can think of no way the company will be disadvantaged/harmed by this publication (...)
Isn't the whole point that that's for them to decide?
I did think before posting and weigh pros and cons, up to and including losing them as a client, and felt that the benefit to the community outweighed the personal risk.
I think you are not considering the real loss here: to your own reputation, as a professional willing to disclose confidential information, obtained by human error, without prior consent. I'd be more worried about that getting immortalized by Google's crawlers than to lose them as a client to be honest.
We can of course debate how sensitive the information is based on how sanitized it was prior to disclosure, but how many big 5-star agencies, with more than one review, not listed in your LWA, with offices in other countries, and that offers Thai and Danish are we going to find? I suspect it is a short list.
I don't know, maybe I'm making a storm in a teacup and the information is generic enough to consider it non-sensitive, but with all the details provided, my first impression was quite the opposite (BTW, if the information is considered sensitive, this is not in line with the professional guidelines you subscribe to as a Pro Network member).
Ethically, the fact that you think this disclosure would sour your relationship with them, is enough to make me pause. You know, ye olde "don't do unto others...".
My first post was, although belligerent as usual before my second coffee, really kindly meant.
| | | | | Rate info is often readily available and IS important | Feb 13, 2014 |
I think it's beneficial to know these rates.
Here is a little story. This Little Translator I know was offered a quick job by a large translation company. It was a short document (one page if I remember correctly) and the PM claimed their max. budget was $15. It turned out that they were charging the client $250 for this job (minimum fee + rush fee + DTP + proofreading, etc.)
Moral of the story:
Little Translator, don't be dumb. Charge minimum fees and rush fees.... See more I think it's beneficial to know these rates.
Here is a little story. This Little Translator I know was offered a quick job by a large translation company. It was a short document (one page if I remember correctly) and the PM claimed their max. budget was $15. It turned out that they were charging the client $250 for this job (minimum fee + rush fee + DTP + proofreading, etc.)
Moral of the story:
Little Translator, don't be dumb. Charge minimum fees and rush fees. Don't do DTP for fee. Negotiate! ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| A recent study | Feb 14, 2014 |
shows that in a negociation, when a party discloses their priorities, thus inviting the other party to do the same, there is a higher probability to strike a deal, even "with cynical personalities".
It appears that it is more efficient to reveal one's game than to play bluff or be overly suspicious.
(Science et Vie 1157, from IEEE Intelligent Systems)
I am not the least troubled by this "disclosure" and it certainly doesn't harm translators to learn such info if t... See more shows that in a negociation, when a party discloses their priorities, thus inviting the other party to do the same, there is a higher probability to strike a deal, even "with cynical personalities".
It appears that it is more efficient to reveal one's game than to play bluff or be overly suspicious.
(Science et Vie 1157, from IEEE Intelligent Systems)
I am not the least troubled by this "disclosure" and it certainly doesn't harm translators to learn such info if they haven't got a clue.
What is more disturbing is how a big company could leak such information if they want to keep their game close to their chests.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:12
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Exotic languages | Feb 14, 2014 |
Arianne Farah wrote:
It's surprising that more 'exotic' languages in comparatively low cost countries, such as Arabic, Russian, Thai, Malay and Turkish are so high.
Yes. It represents an interesting business opportunity for agencies, though -- translators in these languages are likelier to work for lower rates, even though they may be in greater demand in the international arena, and therefore one can make a sizeable profit with them. The argument "this is an exotic language, and therefore costs more" does work with clients. And of course, "this is a rarely requested language, and therefore does not pay much" works well with translators.
| | | | OlafK
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:12
English to German
+ ...
Does anybody else find the rates quoted for German extremely low? Do they really include proofreading? Where do they find the translators? In my experience competent German to English translators are like gold dust.
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » The answer to how much an agency charges | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
| | Wordfast Pro | Translation Memory Software for Any Platform
Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users!
Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value
Buy now! » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
