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Charge by WORD or HOUR? Or Both?
Thread poster: erolufs
erolufs
erolufs  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:10
French to English
Aug 20, 2002

Hi, I just got into this game and need to catch up. Could someone explain what the accepted method of billing is? By word? Hour? or both? Thank you!

EROLUFS
 
jccantrell
jccantrell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:10
Member (2005)
German to English
That depends .... Aug 20, 2002

I am sure you will get a few answers, but here is mine.



For straight translation, and I mean minimal formatting, I charge by the word (or line, or character count, or whatever).



If there is anything involved that requires my TIME, but not my translation expertise, I charge by the HOUR for the time. This would include heavy formatting (i.e., not provided by the original file), editing or proofing someone else\'s translation, etc.



I ha... See more
I am sure you will get a few answers, but here is mine.



For straight translation, and I mean minimal formatting, I charge by the word (or line, or character count, or whatever).



If there is anything involved that requires my TIME, but not my translation expertise, I charge by the HOUR for the time. This would include heavy formatting (i.e., not provided by the original file), editing or proofing someone else\'s translation, etc.



I have done jobs where I have invoiced both methods because there was some translation and some formatting or editing, so it depends on what you get as the input text and what your client is expecting back from you.



My take on it from the USA. ▲ Collapse
 
Daina Jauntirans
Daina Jauntirans  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:10
German to English
+ ...
Both Aug 21, 2002

I am also in the US and agree with jccantrell. Most people also charge hourly for PowerPoint files because textboxes have to be reformatted, etc.
 


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Charge by WORD or HOUR? Or Both?







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