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Translation - art & business » Translation Theory and Practice »
How do you charge to transcribe a tape?
Thread poster: aneta_xh
aneta_xh
aneta_xh  Identity Verified
English to Albanian
+ ...
Feb 8, 2004

How do you charge to transcribe a tape? By hours, words or both combined? I would appreciate any help with this matter. Thank you.
Ani
 
Anches Holzweber
Anches Holzweber
Local time: 12:30
English to German
+ ...
Transcription: 3 times the length of tape Feb 8, 2004

.. is what you normally charge for transcription of a tape. So, if you transcribe a 60 min. tape you charge 3 hrs.
 
Sabry Hameed
Sabry Hameed  Identity Verified
Egypt
Local time: 12:30
Member (2004)
Persian (Farsi) to Arabic
+ ...
I think by hours Feb 8, 2004

aneta_xh wrote:

How do you charge to transcribe a tape? By hours, words or both combined? I would appreciate any help with this matter. Thank you.
Ani


I think the better way to charge this kind of work is the time of the tape, which means that you charge that tape according to its length. It might be per minute, I think this is the best way to charge it.

I hope you good luck
 
Nikita Kobrin
Nikita Kobrin  Identity Verified
Lithuania
Local time: 13:30
Member (2010)
English to Russian
+ ...
Transcription: 5 times the length of tape on average Feb 8, 2004

It depends upon the quality of the recording and sometimes upon a subject. The worse the quality the more time it takes. I would never charge a Transcription project without listening to the recording to be transcribed.

Regards,
Nikita Kobrin

[Edited at 2004-02-08 23:50]
 
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:30
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
By the hour or... Feb 8, 2004

As others have said, it can vary tremendously according to the quality of the tape. Hear it first, and different sections, then come to a conclusion on a time basis. Some clients may pressure for an up-front price but it is best to stick with "so much an hour", whatever your rate is, or at least give them a range, but not a firm figure.

I translate such material, but a long time ago I gave up the transcription part, my hearing is just not that good and it requires special equipment ... See more
As others have said, it can vary tremendously according to the quality of the tape. Hear it first, and different sections, then come to a conclusion on a time basis. Some clients may pressure for an up-front price but it is best to stick with "so much an hour", whatever your rate is, or at least give them a range, but not a firm figure.

I translate such material, but a long time ago I gave up the transcription part, my hearing is just not that good and it requires special equipment to do the best job and especially if the quality is poor. I leave that part to transcribers who normally charge much less than I do. However, I do review the written against the audio.

It's the kind of job you charge for by the hour because it is unpredictable. Clients will have to learn to live with that, or you might find yourself dealing with something that is very tedious and pays very little.

5 times the tape time is not much, I would say closer to 10 if it is not bad. ▲ Collapse
 
aneta_xh
aneta_xh  Identity Verified
English to Albanian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you very much Feb 8, 2004

I appreciate all of you who replied to my question. You have helped me a lot to get an idea how to charge for a possible project. Your help is great. Thank you again and have a great day.
Ani
 
Befanetta81
Befanetta81
Italy
Italian to German
+ ...
Per minute Feb 9, 2004

HI,

Ask a price per minute. For example: 3EUR per minute. If the tape is 10 minutes long you charge 30EUR for transcription.

Sorry for my broken english
 


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How do you charge to transcribe a tape?


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