| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Is USD1 per minute rate too low for subtitling? Thread poster: Aditya Ikhsan Prasiddha
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| 2 mins of duration per hour? | Jun 2, 2010 |
Ronald van der Linden wrote:
My experience is that I can translate about 2 mins per hour.
wait, are you serious or is that a typo? sorry, i don't mean to offend you, just wanna make sure because if it's true than that's rather daunting for a beginner like me.
| | | | jbjb 
Estonia
Local time: 23:37
Estonian to English
+ ...
Sylvano - subtitling is the only field of translation where working for free qualifies as an answer.
Subtitling is the only area that has people doing translations for free, just out of interest, and placing them in the Internet for everyone to use. 98% of such translations are mostly crap but sometimes this is done even by professional translators who translate films they like etc, especially in smaller markets where just a small proportion of older films are available officially on DVD.... See more Sylvano - subtitling is the only field of translation where working for free qualifies as an answer.
Subtitling is the only area that has people doing translations for free, just out of interest, and placing them in the Internet for everyone to use. 98% of such translations are mostly crap but sometimes this is done even by professional translators who translate films they like etc, especially in smaller markets where just a small proportion of older films are available officially on DVD. I have not yet seen anyone translate a European Parliament directive or a coffeemaker manual for fun, just because they like it so much. But in subtitling it happens all the time.
Many of such people are ready to accept very low fees for a while, feeling that at least they get paid something. They won't make a living with it but again - subtitling is the only translation-related job that many people are glad to do as a hobby after their 8-hour working day. They usually get tired of this once they have to do too many uninteresting translations.
It's hard to say what the lowest rate can be but due to its nature, subtitling only pays well (comparable to other fields of translation) in countries that are heavily trade unionized and protect the rates. In France, I believe, the situation is the best in Europe in that area. Scandinavia has managed to protect the rates in state-owned channels and to some degree this has managed to stop the falling rates in the market as a whole (I believe a sort of a "fair play" agreement was signed by major subtitling companies there a few years ago, stabilising the rates after years of downward sliding).
If your country does not have strong trade unions and the market is completely free and wild, subtitling jobs pay about 2 times less than other types of translation (by word/character count). If someone wants to pay less - reject it as a professional translator.
Going by the minute is also a good idea. Generally 5 minutes an hour is a normal speed. Some manage to do more - it really depends very much on the nature of the material you are translating. 10-15 minutes an hour is quite possible with some very easy things.
In subtitling the working speed very much depends on how you organise your work technically. Beginner translators usually work several times slower than they will after getting the hang of the job. At first subtitle translation will be very unprofitable. It takes 6 months to 2 years to acquire all the tricks that help to make you work faster just from the technical point of view. So that if your translation speed doesn't change, you find that by organising your work this way or that, you can actually translate 4 minutes an hour, not just 2 minutes.
Ronald - try changing your working style and you might discover that you can do much more during one working hour. But you have to try new things constantly - I have been translating subtitles for more than 10 years and I still occasionally find tricks that help me save some time. A different working style for films, series, documentaries - much depends on the source material. ▲ Collapse
| | | | larsjorgen (X)
Local time: 22:37
English to Norwegian
| To make things clear.. | Jun 4, 2010 |
Giulia TAPPI wrote:
somebody told me the average rate is 0.93€ per subtitle, not per minute!
Do I understand this correctly? The average is 0.93€ per subtitle, as in every line of text? Sounds like a LOT, as I usually get something like 3.70 USD per running minute. Or 0.21 USD per subtitle if the episode`s got 700 lines..
| | | | larsjorgen (X)
Local time: 22:37
English to Norwegian
| Is that worth doing? | Jun 4, 2010 |
Ronald van der Linden wrote:
From time to time I'm translating subtitles of soap operas. My experience is that I can translate about 2 mins per hour. My max is about 15-18 minutes, which is the equivalent of 2,500 to 3,500 words per working day.
[Edited at 2010-06-01 22:01 GMT]
How is that even worth doing? If I was to do that I`d just get payed nickels and dimes..
Not going to say bad things about the company I work for because they are really great to work with, but they sure don`t pay enough; I usually do a tv episode in a day, a reguler one with 45 minutes running time, translating from English to Norwegian. Average is probably 7-800 "boxes" of text, and it varies if it`s one or two lines in each.
How much should I expect to get payed for doing that? My work is usually flawless, given that the English file I receive is as it should be. Besides, I`m pretty fast..
Right now I get payed about 150 USD for an episode, and I work my butt of. I usually use about 7-10 hours on an episode.
[Edited at 2010-06-04 13:43 GMT]
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Ronald van der Linden (X)
Mexico
Local time: 14:37
German to Dutch
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dan138zig wrote: Ronald van der Linden wrote:
My experience is that I can translate about 2 mins per hour.
wait, are you serious or is that a typo? sorry, i don't mean to offend you, just wanna make sure because if it's true than that's rather daunting for a beginner like me.
Yes, I'm serious. But the point I wanted to make was not my minute-production, but offering you another point of view on how to calculate your fee, namely by taking the amount of words that a particular documentary, movie, soap opera etc. contains, in relation to the amount of minutes.
But somehow it seems that word count is not part of the price calculation, which I find odd. In my opinion a minute of video cannot provide you with the basis on how much work you will have subtitling, a word count will.
Again, I just wanted to give you my experiences. And, you could consider me a beginner as well, I don't "do" subtitling that often. It's fun though, and the company I work for has strict rules and reviewers, which makes it basically a good learning school.
| | | | Baraa Ajaj (X)
Local time: 06:37
English
+ ...
| from my own experience | Jun 9, 2010 |
I worked in an international subtitling company for almost three years and we were paid by subtitle. The rate was far more than 1 USD per minute, as you can never tell how many subtitles there are in a minute. I subtitled movies, documentaries (medical, technical and some for reputable news channels). the rate varied per subtitle depending on the type of the file you're working on, but it was much higher than 1 USD.
My advice to you is to reconsider well before taking the job and ke... See more I worked in an international subtitling company for almost three years and we were paid by subtitle. The rate was far more than 1 USD per minute, as you can never tell how many subtitles there are in a minute. I subtitled movies, documentaries (medical, technical and some for reputable news channels). the rate varied per subtitle depending on the type of the file you're working on, but it was much higher than 1 USD.
My advice to you is to reconsider well before taking the job and keep in mind that in most of the times you are required to deliver within a very strict deadline ( it could be 2 days sometimes), and even if the file had a script ( which is the case in most of the times), subtitling is a form of translation.
Best of luck for you and I hope i was helpful
[Edited at 2010-06-09 06:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | jbjb
Estonia
Local time: 23:37
Estonian to English
+ ...
Yes, international companies based outside your native country usually pay more than USD 1 per minute even for very low-paid countries. They have a certain set of rates that they use for different languages and the lowest rate for translation is generally higher than USD 1.
As to why words are usually not used in price calculations - when subtitling companies bid for projects, they always make bids per minute. So it's easier for them to maintain a "per minute" system when paying to ... See more Yes, international companies based outside your native country usually pay more than USD 1 per minute even for very low-paid countries. They have a certain set of rates that they use for different languages and the lowest rate for translation is generally higher than USD 1.
As to why words are usually not used in price calculations - when subtitling companies bid for projects, they always make bids per minute. So it's easier for them to maintain a "per minute" system when paying to translators - they just keep a certain amount of the money and pay out the rest.
It is possible to work out a rate "per subtitle" or "per word" - this usually means that they take their "per minute" bid and a file with just about the biggest number of words/subtitles possible - and work out a "per subtitle" or "per word" rate that won't produce a loss for them.
This means that when there is little text, the translator also makes little money but the subtitling company makes a bigger profit on such files. ▲ Collapse
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In my experience, the rate is rather around 2 EUR/subtitle or 10-20 EUR/minute.
I can usually adapt around 6 minutes per hour of work (including proofreading, excluding time-coding).
Now the real question is: how much do you want/need to earn per hour to make a comfortable living in your country?
Once you know how much you want to earn, you have to find out how many minutes you can translate in an hour. Don't push yourself too much, you'll be slower at the ... See more In my experience, the rate is rather around 2 EUR/subtitle or 10-20 EUR/minute.
I can usually adapt around 6 minutes per hour of work (including proofreading, excluding time-coding).
Now the real question is: how much do you want/need to earn per hour to make a comfortable living in your country?
Once you know how much you want to earn, you have to find out how many minutes you can translate in an hour. Don't push yourself too much, you'll be slower at the end of the day.
Once you know that, it is simple:
Divide what you want to earn per hour by the number of minutes you can translate in an hour and you'll get your rate per minute.
(Your rate may vary depending on the video) ▲ Collapse
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Wojciech_ (X)
Poland
Local time: 22:37
English to Polish
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| Just to make things clear... | Jun 14, 2010 |
It is one of the largest (if not the largest one) INTERNATIONAL companies that has recently proposed their translators such a "big deal". They have changed "per subtitle" to "per minute" and the rates they started offering range from $1-$2 per minute. Outrageous - that's the only word that comes to my mind.
In my opinion they are digging their own grave with such a move. I once worked for a company that offered similar rates, and they ended up with a bunch of inexeprienced tr... See more It is one of the largest (if not the largest one) INTERNATIONAL companies that has recently proposed their translators such a "big deal". They have changed "per subtitle" to "per minute" and the rates they started offering range from $1-$2 per minute. Outrageous - that's the only word that comes to my mind.
In my opinion they are digging their own grave with such a move. I once worked for a company that offered similar rates, and they ended up with a bunch of inexeprienced translators who were willing to do subtitling for those peanuts, and a few more experienced translators who stayed but in order to get the same money as before had to take more assignments and consequently were doing them carelessly.
I wonder if it's so difficult to understand that in most cases low rate = low quality?
[Edited at 2010-06-14 10:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ulf Samuelsson
Mexico
Local time: 14:37
Member (2007)
English to Swedish
+ ...
| Increadibly low rate | Jun 15, 2010 |
It doesn't matter how you look at it, $1 per minute is no rate that you'll make a living on if you are going to do the full subtitling (both timing and the actual translation).
A good subtitlist can do 40 minutes per day, when doing it all from scratch.
And even if you'll receive an already timed text file to translate, then you might be able to do up to 70 minutes per day, if you're fast. (Or, for instance, one episode of Bones - not an easy program to subtitle).
... See more It doesn't matter how you look at it, $1 per minute is no rate that you'll make a living on if you are going to do the full subtitling (both timing and the actual translation).
A good subtitlist can do 40 minutes per day, when doing it all from scratch.
And even if you'll receive an already timed text file to translate, then you might be able to do up to 70 minutes per day, if you're fast. (Or, for instance, one episode of Bones - not an easy program to subtitle).
I know, it is fun to do this type of job, but if you're going to get a decent salary, you'll have to be able to translate two full-length movies per day, or 4 episodes of Bones in one single day (and I've not even managed to translate 4 full episodes of Bones in one week). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Viivi
Finland
Local time: 23:37
| You should not accept per minute rates | Jun 24, 2010 |
Hi!
Yes, the rate is offensively low. No professional would accept it.
I also agree with others, that you should not accept per minute rates as it does not take into account the actual work load. Anyone offering per minute rates needs a thorough lecture on what translation is!
I would also like to comment on jbjb's post on the situation in Scandinavia. Here in Finland, av-translators have also unionised, and we are now negotiating with subtitling com... See more Hi!
Yes, the rate is offensively low. No professional would accept it.
I also agree with others, that you should not accept per minute rates as it does not take into account the actual work load. Anyone offering per minute rates needs a thorough lecture on what translation is!
I would also like to comment on jbjb's post on the situation in Scandinavia. Here in Finland, av-translators have also unionised, and we are now negotiating with subtitling companies as well (in addition to channels).
Recently, a letter of intent was signed at the audiovisual translators’ negotiations. One company opted out of the negotiations but Finnish freelancers got support from university staff who now demand that they return to negotiations. Anyone interested in the outcome should follow news at this site: http://www.av-kaantajat.fi/in_english/
Oh, and according to the agreement we already have with the channels, the working pace is 180 subtitles per working day when you do both timing and translation.
[Edited at 2010-06-24 10:06 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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