Japanese -> English Translation Rates Thread poster: Jordan Taylor
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Jordan Taylor
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:26
Japanese to English
Hi all, I'm fairly new to the freelance translation market and I wanted to ask if there are any Japanese to English translators out there that could give me some advice on rates. ProZ's average rates for Japanese to English translation are about $0.13 to $0.09 but it says per "word". Is that per character or per word (as I believe per character is the more standard way of charging)?
I've been applying for some translation agencies and a lot of them are only offering around $0.02 per... See more Hi all, I'm fairly new to the freelance translation market and I wanted to ask if there are any Japanese to English translators out there that could give me some advice on rates. ProZ's average rates for Japanese to English translation are about $0.13 to $0.09 but it says per "word". Is that per character or per word (as I believe per character is the more standard way of charging)?
I've been applying for some translation agencies and a lot of them are only offering around $0.02 per character which seems incredibly low to me. I was skimming the forums and it seems that most translators can do somewhere around 2000 words in a good eight hour day (but again, that was non-Japanese languages, so I don't know how much you guys can do in a day) and at $0.02 per word that would mean only $40 a day...not exactly a livable wage.
So anyway, these are my questions:
What are your Japanese to English translation rates?
About how many characters can you translate in an eight hour day? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:26
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
taylo701 wrote:
ProZ's average rates for Japanese to English translation are about $0.13 to $0.09 but it says per "word". Is that per character or per word (as I believe per character is the more standard way of charging)?
Although I have worked with a few US clients I don't have any regulars, as I am busy enough with clients in Japan and Europe. I have found the few I talked to in the US to have quite legalistic (there's a surprise) practices - long and onerous supplier agreements and so on. I haven't marketed hard to US clients for these reasons.
There must be decent agencies in the US that pay well, as it's a huge market, but those firms will occupy the upper 5-10% of the pyramid of agencies. Do not go by size alone for agencies; the bigger they are, the worse they pay. It takes time to find good clients. All you can do is continue to make careful, targeted applications to agencies and companies. (Especially in Ohio, going direct to companies could be a useful and lucrative approach.) Join paymentpractices.net and vet all potential clients carefully.
Image is so important. Sure, if you can't translate well you will lose any clients that you do find, but if you can't market you'll struggle to get any clients in the first place. Polish your CV (but don't call it a CV of course) and your profile. Find your own domain and get rid of the gmail address. Dress up smart and have a professional photo taken and put it in your profile. Emphasise your specialisations - the auto is obvious, but can you get that art background to work for you in some way, perhaps link to CAD or modelling? Work on CPD and talk about it.
Other commenters will tell you that they have lots of work and they have a gmail address / don't have a portrait photo / have a bog-standard CV. Well, fine, there are many routes to success. But keep in mind that this is a numbers game in a competitive industry and quite frankly you're looking to out-compete other freelancers, so any edge helps. Busy people with a translation to allocate want a simple, safe option and first impressions count for a great deal.
Ms. Smith needs 1,000 characters on plastic manufacturing done in 48 hours. Does she choose the guy with the anime picture for an avatar, the [email protected] email address and the skimpy and slightly flippant profile, or the girl with the photo in her business suit, [email protected] email address and the detailed, professional profile complete with PO box (or even real!) address and phone number? 8 out of 10 times Ms. Smith will go for the latter. (Of course, for video games or manga the reverse may be true; horses for courses) Like I said, it's a numbers game and while you may think this is "superficial" or "prejudiced", human nature really doesn't care what you or I think.
On rates, $0.02 is unspeakable. $0.05/5 yen per source character would be very low. You should be aiming for at least twice that in specialised fields like auto. Hold out for good rates, because it's very hard to raise them for any specific client. Do not give volume discounts unless you have specific reasons to do so. Translation at this level is not like manufacturing where a high fixed-cost base generates non-linear improvements in profits as volumes rise. Your costs as a freelancer are nearly all variable.
Having said that, quite honestly, I do like competitors who take on huge jobs for low rates. That puts them out of contention for weeks when it comes to bidding for smaller projects with far higher rates. Ultimately this means that they have lower revenue, which leaves them with less income to plough back into marketing, CPD, or even just paying the rent. Meanwhile I'm making more money, being more available to clients and so cementing my status as a reliable and useful supplier. This leads to more projects and more revenue again, allowing me to reinvest in the business and widen the gap between myself and the others. (And no doubt there are people who are charging more than me.)
Capacity is hard to judge. If I am familiar with the subject I can do 8,000 characters a day for short bursts, but currently I can't sustain that without a negative effect on quality. On the other hand, and again only in my specialist areas, I can lope along at 4,000 characters a day indefinitely and that gives me some leeway to take on other jobs as they pop up. I have no idea how this compares to others. Oh, and forget about 8-hour days - if you want those, work for a company. I have found that I have quiet days and very busy days, but as a freelancer you do what you must to hit the deadlines.
Just FYI I find that 1,000 Japanese characters maps to 400 to 450 English words for my projects.
Pros and cons from your profile... Pros: real-world experience in industry is gold, and the (half? full?) language degree is important. Cons: No experience in Japan, half/full language degree is potentially slightly confusing and your JLPT N2 is a bit meh, I would get N1 if you can.
CAT tools? If you like. Me, I do like. I have only ever been asked for SDL Studio compatibility by Japanese companies. The US may be different.
Here endeth the lesson.
Dan
| | | | | An agency perspective | Aug 23, 2016 |
I work for an agency in Japan, and we typically bill our clients 15-yen/character for J-E technical translations.
That includes project management costs, QA, etc.
4000 characters per day sounds about right.
MLG4035
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:26
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Dan Lucas wrote:
On rates, $0.02 is unspeakable. $0.05/5 yen per source character would be very low. You should be aiming for at least twice that in specialised fields like auto.
I want to add a clarification here. There is no one market for translation so prices can vary tremendously. When people go to buy a new car, they can choose anything from the smallest and most basic vehicle to a luxury limousine or supercar. Most people in the US choose a car or truck costing a bit over $30,000.
People are free to buy what they want to buy. We don't mock the average consumer if they don't buy a BMW 7 series or a Mercedes S600, though we might express concern if they bought something so cheap that it had limited safety features. Even in the latter case, the vehicle has to pass minimum NHTSA standards. The cheapest car in the US is less than half the price of the average car bought, so the difference can be significant. The fact is that different people have different priorities when it comes to the amount they spend on their vehicles.
I have talked to agencies (in Japan and in developing countries) that have offered me 5 yen a character or even less. They were professional and polite. These prices are low, but I get the feeling that there would be no problems with payment. They're professionals, but serving the value-conscious end of the market. They're the equivalent of the people who buy a Nissan Versa.
Conversely there are absolutely clients out there that want what they perceive to be the best and who will pay for it. They might pay 13 or 14 yen or even more to the translator; I know this from personal experience. I think it's highly likely that there are translators out there - not many, mind - getting much more than that. (And for direct clients it could be higher again.) These clients are the equivalent of the people who buy the German luxury brands. Maybe they should buy a Nissan Versa and save their money, but that's not how they do things. Nearly all markets have some kind of segmentation.
So you can deal with the professional agencies at the high end or the low end. Both are legitimate business models, though I don't think a full-time professional should be spending time on jobs that only pay 5 or 7 yen a character. What you shouldn't do is deal with the unprofessional agencies in any segment of the market. The agencies who treat you without respect, who always seem to have the tightest deadlines, who pay rock-bottom rates and still have trouble paying you. Those are the people to avoid.
Dan
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Jordan Taylor
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:26
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Dan and Micheal for the advice, it's really helped a lot!
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