What is the average percentage discount on Trados matches Thread poster: Mar Pelaez-Munoz MCIL DPSI
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CAT translations percentage Discount with Trados
How much translators charge for English into Spanish translation on:
Percentage Discount on 99% matches*
Percentage Discount on 75 to 98% matches*
Percentage Discount on 50 to 74% matches*
| | | | Emma Goldsmith 
Spain
Local time: 04:45
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
| | Discounts should reflect the time saved using those matches instead of retyping teh translation | Jan 25, 2016 |
Mar PelaezMunoz wrote:
CAT translations percentage Discount with Trados
How much translators charge for English into Spanish translation on:
Percentage Discount on 99% matches*
Percentage Discount on 75 to 98% matches*
Percentage Discount on 50 to 74% matches*
As a independent service provider, you are not required to follow any sort of discount pattern, especially if you are into creative or marketing translations. It is not because agencies require one that you have to offer them one.
This said, there used to be the one-third-two thirds-three thirds matrix, which was more or less endorsed by Trados users in the previous millenium. That meant:
33% of full rate for 100% matches and repetitions (you save 2/3 of your time leveraging and rereading in context 100% matches and repetitions)
66% of full rate for 75-99% matches (you save 1/3 of your time modifying fuzzy matches compared to translating them from scratch)
100% of full rate for 0-75% matches (any match below 75% is mostly useless)
And there wasn't any homogeneity or intra-file concordance.
Mine is around those lines :
20-25% for 100%/reps (this should reflect a realistic editing rate since you wil mostly reread and edit if needed)
60% for 85-99% matches
full rate for 0-85% matches (matches below 85% are not that useful in my language pair)
based on homogeneity/intra-file concordance tick box unchecked.
I see that Emma's article suggests similar figures.
Then some agencies want you to think that you save 90% of your time with 95-99% matches or for rereading repetitions/100%. You time that and let me know if it reflects reality.
Those who require discounts for 50-74% don't deserve any consideration.
When agencies offer you unrealistic, set discount grids, you have to increase your base rate accordingly. Unless you are a not-for-profit organisation.
Philippe
| | | | Kirsten Bodart
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:45
Dutch to English
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| It depends on the type of translation | Jan 25, 2016 |
But creative stuff doesn't deserve any discount unless your customer wants to run the risk of getting a text that isn't fit for purpose because it's too repetitive or incoherent.
On the other side, if one particular customer ends their texts always with, say, the same terms and conditions (give or take a few tweaks) and you always translate their texts without input from another translator who can mess things up, then obviously you're not going to spend much time on them. Because yo... See more But creative stuff doesn't deserve any discount unless your customer wants to run the risk of getting a text that isn't fit for purpose because it's too repetitive or incoherent.
On the other side, if one particular customer ends their texts always with, say, the same terms and conditions (give or take a few tweaks) and you always translate their texts without input from another translator who can mess things up, then obviously you're not going to spend much time on them. Because you know they're right and maybe you've read them 20 times over already. In that case, you could choose not to invoice them at all (if you felt that would be a one-off nice thing to do).
I go by the 50% charge for reps/100/101% matches, but no charge if the project is more than 5,000 words and didn't require a lot of prepping work. If there is a project with, say, 75% consistently recurring reps, you could opt to charge the full rep rate to their first occurrence and then charge the remainder at 0. After all, you're not going to keep on reading the very same stuff over and over.
Other discounts I find absolutely outrageous, especially for fuzzies. I'm about to point out to one such agency that in that case, I'll only do just 50% of the work required. Who pays back my investment? ▲ Collapse
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Thank you all for the time you took to reply and for the good advice. I will now apply your comments!
Gracias!
| | | | Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 03:45
Lithuanian to Portuguese
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| But waht is "the match", anyway? | Jan 25, 2016 |
I normally refuse to work with Trados, as the flexion in one of my target languages always makes a match a mismatch. But in languages without flexion, whati s considered a match?
I have seen a full sentence, a part of a phrase, two words and even one word underlined as a match.
With a full sentence, it is clear but when it comes to two words or even one, I can't agree less.
Are there any standards, rules on this?
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Generally I don't offer discounts for anything other than 100% matches or repetition, however, it does depend on the document, e.g. short product descriptions of about 10 words, where only the colour or the size of the item changes often do come out as 80%-90% matches and I feel that I can give a reduction for that as it genuinely saves time.
| | | | | No discounts should be given for percentage matches in Trados and other CAT tools IMO | Jan 25, 2016 |
Inga Petkelyte wrote:
I normally refuse to work with Trados, as the flexion in one of my target languages always makes a match a mismatch. But in languages without flexion, whati s considered a match?
I have seen a full sentence, a part of a phrase, two words and even one word underlined as a match.
With a full sentence, it is clear but when it comes to two words or even one, I can't agree less.
Are there any standards, rules on this?
Here is what I do Inga. I don't offer discounts at all on any percentage matches calculated by any CAT tool. When I come up with a price (per word, per hour or per project), I take everything into account that has to do with my actual work. I assess the work that is required and quote a fair and professional rate. CAT tools are here to make our work easier and to improve its quality, not to be used as a discount tool DEMANDED by clients. The use of a CAT tool should be seen as an added value (where applicable) that helps perfect translations. There's no reason to give a discount for that at all. The opposite might be applicable.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 15:36 GMT]
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Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 03:45
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
Here is what I do Inga. I don't offer discounts at all on any percentage matches calculated by any CAT tool. When I come up with a price (per word, per hour or per project), I take everything into account that has to do with my actual work. I assess the work that is required and quote a fair and professional rate. CAT tools are here to make our work easier and to improve its quality, not to be used as a discount tool DEMANDED by clients. The use of a CAT tool should be seen as an added value (where applicable) that helps perfect translations. There's no reason to give a discount for that at all. The opposite might be applicable.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 15:36 GMT]
Completely agree on this.
Some of the recent EU tender bidders, though, sent me match discount tables, so I wondered whether it is obligatory now to deliver EU translations performed on CAT. Or could have it been the agency's convenience?
I still wonder if there is a general understanding of what is a "match".
I remember, in one of the projects, there was a word "ténis". Surely, it was a 100% match and no any discount at all, although we still have to give our time and check its accuracy. It happens, in this case, that "ténis" in Portuguese referes either to the sports or sport shoes, translated differently in most of target languages. In such situations, a translator not only has to introduce a new term for which is paid 0 but also lose their time to explain the client what this is about.
If only complete sentences/phrases were deemed to be a match, maybe discounts would make some more sense.
| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 04:45
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
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| Misunderstanding | Jan 25, 2016 |
Inga Petkelyte wrote:
If only complete sentences/phrases were deemed to be a match, maybe discounts would make some more sense.
You may indeed have a misconception about what a match is. So-called fuzzy matches are always calculated on the basis of full segments (i.e. sentences).
However, a segment can of course consist of a single word, in which case the calculation will be even more unreliable than usually.
Personally, I don't offer discounts for fuzzy matches, as it usually doesn't save time to edit them. I do, however, offer discounts for repetitions. Any way, it's entirely up to you as a service provider to find a way that works for you.
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Yes, although some agencies like to sell their CAT-tables as standard practice, I can't accept accept 0 payment for 100% matches in any shape or from.
Sometimes I accept such tables though if I can negotiate a higher per word rate or if there are only 3 matches in the document.
| | | | | Similar story | Jan 25, 2016 |
Inga Petkelyte wrote: Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
Here is what I do Inga. I don't offer discounts at all on any percentage matches calculated by any CAT tool. When I come up with a price (per word, per hour or per project), I take everything into account that has to do with my actual work. I assess the work that is required and quote a fair and professional rate. CAT tools are here to make our work easier and to improve its quality, not to be used as a discount tool DEMANDED by clients. The use of a CAT tool should be seen as an added value (where applicable) that helps perfect translations. There's no reason to give a discount for that at all. The opposite might be applicable.
[Edited at 2016-01-25 15:36 GMT] Completely agree on this. I still wonder if there is a general understanding of what is a "match". I remember, in one of the projects, there was a word "ténis". Surely, it was a 100% match and no any discount at all, although we still have to give our time and check its accuracy. It happens, in this case, that "ténis" in Portuguese referes either to the sports or sport shoes, translated differently in most of target languages. In such situations, a translator not only has to introduce a new term for which is paid 0 but also lose their time to explain the client what this is about. If only complete sentences/phrases were deemed to be a match, maybe discounts would make some more sense.
I encountered a similar incident last year. I was translating from German to Japanese, and the word "Inhalt" which can both mean "Table of Contents" and "contents" as in a box or a crate. This word appeared at the beginning of a manual, where I correctly translted it into Table of Contents, since below the word in question there were lists of the chapters, 1.1,XXX, 1.2 XYZ, etc.
But there was an illustration of a box which contained some important wires, cords, etc to activate the machine at around page 30, and this word "Inhalt" came up again but the word has already been translated as Table of Contents (100% match) which would not be a correct translation, since it's describing the contents of what's inside the box, and had to change the Japanese translation.
It appears that translation agencies and clients do not know this kind of thing happens, so I guess it's up to the translator to check the 100% matches and repetitions since we cannot say that this kind of incident would never happen using CAT tools.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 03:45
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| I work the same way as Bernhard | Jan 25, 2016 |
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
I don't offer discounts at all on any percentage matches calculated by any CAT tool. When I come up with a price (per word, per hour or per project), I take everything into account that has to do with my actual work. I assess the work that is required and quote a fair and professional rate.
In the marketing sector, repetitions on the sentence level are quite rare, and generally to be avoided in the target text even if found in the source. Generally speaking, most website text is new copy, apart from the odd "Click here" or "Contact us", where the volume is so low that a different rate wouldn't merit the effort, even in the client's eyes. However, I do work on one fashion catalogue that is highly repetitive week on week, year on year. You're basically putting together notes on materials, styles, colours, accessories etc. and there are consequently a lot of fuzzy matches that do actually help speed things up. But I don't give a discount; I work for a lower per-word rate that I find convenient and profitable for both parties.
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