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Precis
Thread poster: Victoria Amengual
Victoria Amengual
Victoria Amengual  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:56
Spanish to English
+ ...
Apr 17, 2007

Hello everyone,
Has anyone had experience of doing precis?
ie: ie reducing something that is already in Spanish to fit a certain character length?

I have been asked to do some and I have been asked to give my rate. Any idea how best to charge this? By hour? how much roughly would you charge?

Thanks so much for your help!!
 
Inga Jakobi
Inga Jakobi  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:56
Member (2006)
Chinese to German
+ ...
I suggext per hour Apr 17, 2007

Hi solovah,
I haven't done such a job yet, but I guess, charging per hour would be best. The rate itself depends on you, I made up my hourly rate by estimating how many words I can translate per hour and how much money I would make based on a per word rate then.
Hope this helps,
Inga

[Bearbeitet am 2007-04-17 11:38]
 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:56
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
By the hour Apr 17, 2007

Often the task of reducing something that is already in Spanish to fit a certain character length is not an easy one, because for it to be comprehensible it must exceed parameters set for another language like English. To jam it into smaller parameters and still keep it comprehensible can be a tall order.

Clients of course often do not understand this. It ends up being a patch job that needs to be done because of the ignorance of others.

Charge by the hour; you cannot r... See more
Often the task of reducing something that is already in Spanish to fit a certain character length is not an easy one, because for it to be comprehensible it must exceed parameters set for another language like English. To jam it into smaller parameters and still keep it comprehensible can be a tall order.

Clients of course often do not understand this. It ends up being a patch job that needs to be done because of the ignorance of others.

Charge by the hour; you cannot reasonably tell how long it will take you. ▲ Collapse
 
lexical
lexical  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:56
Portuguese to English
I've only done this twice... Apr 17, 2007

...but each time, I charged my normal word rate and then timed how long it took to trim the first draft to the required word length and charged that time at my normal hourly rate as an extra on top. There's quite a lot of work involved - cutting out superfluous words, looking for more economical ways of saying the same thing, etc. Don't underestimate it. Each time, it took me 4-5 attempts to hit the required length.

I explained this to the client before starting (I remembered doing ... See more
...but each time, I charged my normal word rate and then timed how long it took to trim the first draft to the required word length and charged that time at my normal hourly rate as an extra on top. There's quite a lot of work involved - cutting out superfluous words, looking for more economical ways of saying the same thing, etc. Don't underestimate it. Each time, it took me 4-5 attempts to hit the required length.

I explained this to the client before starting (I remembered doing précis at school!) and said they could either pay me what I asked or forget it. They paid. ▲ Collapse
 


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