Proofreading Rates Thread poster: Hipyan Nopri
|
|---|
Hipyan Nopri 
Indonesia
Local time: 11:53
Member (2005)
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Dear Colleagues, I usually charge US$53 (£35) per hour for proofreading jobs. 1 hour is equivalent to +/-500 words.
What is the number of words that deserves discount?
What is the feasible discount rate?
Thanks for your responses.
| | | |
Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 07:53
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
If you have to read 5000 words, do you read the last 1000 words faster than the first 1000? I doubt it. So there is IMO no reason for discount.
Regards
Heinrich
| | | |
Paul Stevens
Local time: 05:53
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
I see no reason to apply any discount unless, perhaps, it is a valuable client.
Whilst I would say that US$53 is probably closer to GBP 30 than GBP 35, your rate still seems very high, especially if you feel that your speed is approx. 500 words per hour, which, in turn, seems rather low to me.
Do you get many jobs at that rate? If so, good luck to you, and long may it continue if you enjoy doing proof-reading jobs!
[Edited at 2006-10-01 08:42]
| | | |
| The hourly rate is not expensive | Oct 1, 2006 |
Hi Paul!
Hipyan's hourly rate is not expensive. As for how many words can be proofread per hour, that so much depends on the quality! It is said that the standard for proofreading is 1000 words per hour, but that would be if the quality is faultless. I cannot even proofread my own translations at the rate of 1000 words per hour! Proofreading is a time-consuming job, that also requires very high concentration. It is difficult to earn much from it at all, actually.
Hipya... See more Hi Paul!
Hipyan's hourly rate is not expensive. As for how many words can be proofread per hour, that so much depends on the quality! It is said that the standard for proofreading is 1000 words per hour, but that would be if the quality is faultless. I cannot even proofread my own translations at the rate of 1000 words per hour! Proofreading is a time-consuming job, that also requires very high concentration. It is difficult to earn much from it at all, actually.
Hipyan,
I agree with Heinrich - no discount - for the above reasons as well!
Astrid
[Edited at 2006-10-01 12:17] ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
Marc P (X)
Local time: 06:53
German to English
+ ...
| "Proofreading" | Oct 1, 2006 |
It depends what is meant by "proofreading".
Proofreading in the proper sense, i.e. checking a printer's proof against a manuscript, is a lot less time-consuming than editing a translation or checking a translation against the corresponding source text.
Marc
| | | |
Sophia Hundt (X)
Local time: 23:53
Russian to English
+ ...
| No discount - every minute of your time costs you the same. | Oct 1, 2006 |
I agree with everyone who already commented that no discount should be appied.
| | | |
Hipyan Nopri
Indonesia
Local time: 11:53
Member (2005)
English to Indonesian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Really Precious Inputs | Oct 1, 2006 |
Indeed, in my experience so far some agencies use "proofreading" and some others "editing" while in fact both involve "checking and correcting." In this case, both terms are interchangable.
In my practice, I set 500 words per hour as the standard proofreading speed (not the actual speed, of course). As mentioned by Astrid, the actual speed depends on the quality of the translation itself. Thus, it serves as the standard to determine the rate.
Thank you very much Heinric... See more Indeed, in my experience so far some agencies use "proofreading" and some others "editing" while in fact both involve "checking and correcting." In this case, both terms are interchangable.
In my practice, I set 500 words per hour as the standard proofreading speed (not the actual speed, of course). As mentioned by Astrid, the actual speed depends on the quality of the translation itself. Thus, it serves as the standard to determine the rate.
Thank you very much Heinrich, Paul, Astrid, Marc, and Sophia, for your precious inputs. I agree with you all in connection with discount.
[Edited at 2006-10-01 23:58]
[Edited at 2006-10-01 23:59] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| What is 'expensive' and other comments | Oct 2, 2006 |
The question of expensive all depends on where you are working, for me in Poland 53 USD per 500 words is incredibly expensive. I charge around 6-7 USD for about 500 words - for proofing English. My rates do depend on the kind of work, texts with high repeatability of vocabulary and structures take less time than more free-wheeling texts such as where someone is trying to sell something.
As for speed, the last 1000 words are quicker than the first 1000 because by the time you get to... See more The question of expensive all depends on where you are working, for me in Poland 53 USD per 500 words is incredibly expensive. I charge around 6-7 USD for about 500 words - for proofing English. My rates do depend on the kind of work, texts with high repeatability of vocabulary and structures take less time than more free-wheeling texts such as where someone is trying to sell something.
As for speed, the last 1000 words are quicker than the first 1000 because by the time you get to the last 1000 you know almost everything about the text, everything (hopefully) makes sense and every global change you make will speed you on your way. So I might make a decision to give a reduction for long texts based on this.
I might also give a reduction if the situation tells me that it will make business sense, the customer is not an enemy trying to rape you of the value of your time - generally:-)
Trevor ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| I was just asked to proofread 5 pages | Oct 3, 2006 |
of either a very bad translation or a machine translation. Admittedly, to translate a German Sitzungsprotokoll into English poses several problems one being to render the tenses correctly, and the other, trying to immitate telegraphic style in English will not work well...
Anyway, I turned down the offer to proofread i.e. retranslate 5 pages for 40 Euro.
Can anybody tell me, why I cannot open a new topic?
| | | |
Ara Mkrtchyan (X)
Armenia
Local time: 08:53
English to Armenian
+ ...
| Proofreading vs. Editing | Oct 4, 2006 |
Hi Hipyan,
First. Keep the rates. It's like giving a discount in the case of translating. Personally I do not offer discounts in both cases since if I take a big project I can take nothing else and have to turn down offers from my regular clients.
Second. Do distinguish between and have a discussion about proof-reading and editing. You are right in that agencies often confuse these - some of them even intentioanlly so that you would charge less. But, I do always differ... See more Hi Hipyan,
First. Keep the rates. It's like giving a discount in the case of translating. Personally I do not offer discounts in both cases since if I take a big project I can take nothing else and have to turn down offers from my regular clients.
Second. Do distinguish between and have a discussion about proof-reading and editing. You are right in that agencies often confuse these - some of them even intentioanlly so that you would charge less. But, I do always differentiate between proofreading which is like checking the grammar, the punctuation, the spelling, page correspondence etc and editing which is 'wider', i. e. an editor kind of checks the quality of a translation, removes ambiguous phrases, paraphrases thoughts, monitors the consistency, check the word choice etc. And I charge more for editing that for proof-reading.
The other day I had to reject a proof-reading job because the translation I received was of rather poor quality and what it needed was editing, not proof-reading. I had to explain this to the outsourcer who refused to pay more than 0.02 USD per word(!) and I said good-bye (after submitting a number of mistakes that needed editing for her to believe)
As far as the rates are concerned, 53 USD an hour is very expensive for Armenia, so I agree with Trevor.
Third. My own question: do you usually charge on an hourly basis for proof-reading or word count?
Rgrds,
Ara Mkrtchyan
[Edited at 2006-10-04 11:14] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| They called it adapting | Oct 4, 2006 |
Another of these vague words that could mean a bunch of things...
I would have charged on an hourly basis, but this agency tells me in advance...what they are prepared to pay...
| | | |
Hipyan Nopri
Indonesia
Local time: 11:53
Member (2005)
English to Indonesian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks everybody for your invaluable comments.
To Ara: my proofreading/editing rate is based on hour; my standar is 1 hour per 500 words.
| | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
