Pricing JPEG files Thread poster: Kim Metzger
|
|---|
An Austrian translation agency regularly sends me files as JPEG images and tells me they will pay X euros for the job. When I ask them if they have an approximate word count, the project manager replies that all she can say is that they have estimated the value of the job at X euros.
I regularly reply that I can't do a job unless I have a rough word count. I have done JPEG files for other clients who can somehow accurately estimate the size of the project, so I know it can be done ... See more An Austrian translation agency regularly sends me files as JPEG images and tells me they will pay X euros for the job. When I ask them if they have an approximate word count, the project manager replies that all she can say is that they have estimated the value of the job at X euros.
I regularly reply that I can't do a job unless I have a rough word count. I have done JPEG files for other clients who can somehow accurately estimate the size of the project, so I know it can be done even though I don't know how it's done.
It seems obvious to me that a translation agency can't put a price on a job without having a pretty good idea of how much it's worth. So I'm wondering why they refuse to give me the information they used to price it. Any ideas?
[Edited at 2006-02-16 20:09] ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Tell them to use OCR to recover the text and when they say they cannot, just offer it as an extra service (for which they only have to pay a moderate fee, because you want to be nice )
Kim Metzger wrote:
An Austrian translation agency regularly sends me files as JPEG images --snip--
| | | | Fred Neild (X) 
English to Spanish
+ ...
Hi Kim,
What I do is an approximation:
(words/line * lines/page)* nr of pages = xx words
Results are quite accurate once you master the 'method'.
Also you can scan the document with OCR and get an average wordcount with a software. This takes more time IMO, so I use the other method.
HTH
Fred
| | | | | Did you try any converter, Kim? | Feb 16, 2006 |
Kim Metzger wrote:
An Austrian translation agency regularly sends me files as JPEG images and tells me they will pay X euros for the job. When I ask them if they have an approximate word count, the project manager replies that all she can say is that they have estimated the value of the job at X euros.
I regularly reply that I can't do a job unless I have a rough word count. I have done JPEG files for other clients who can somehow accurately estimate the size of the project, so I know it can be done even though I don't know how it's done.
It seems obvious to me that a translation agency can't put a price on a job without having a pretty good idea of how much it's worth. So I'm wondering why they refuse to give me the information they used to price it. Any ideas?
[Edited at 2006-02-16 17:26]
You could use a JPEG to PDF converter (or quite a few other formats), and take it from there. Problem solved then.
E.g.:
http://www.pdf-tools.com
http://www.verypdf.com/tif2pdf/jpeg-to-pdf.html
etc.
| | |
|
|
|
Rafa Lombardino
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2005)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Three options | Feb 16, 2006 |
Hi Kim:
I usually give clients three options:
1) Pay per page - I apply a flat rate per page and, doing the math and considering the fact that I can get to about two to two-and-a-half pages in one hour, I feel comfortable with the resulting hourly rate for such projects. Of course some clients are reluctant to agree with such quote when there are images involved, but due to the inconsistency of the material (regarding pages full of text and pages with text and pictures)... See more Hi Kim:
I usually give clients three options:
1) Pay per page - I apply a flat rate per page and, doing the math and considering the fact that I can get to about two to two-and-a-half pages in one hour, I feel comfortable with the resulting hourly rate for such projects. Of course some clients are reluctant to agree with such quote when there are images involved, but due to the inconsistency of the material (regarding pages full of text and pages with text and pictures) some end up giving me the go ahead.
2) Hire a third-party transcriber and send me the text, to be charged by word - Some project managers have been doing it without my asking, specially when they work for a larger corporation and actually have people who can work on extracting and/or typing the text from the original material.
3) Pay for transcription rate + translation rate - Sometimes I offer myself to type AND translate the material, so that the client can have the full word count of the original document and I can have a text copy that I can work on using Trados. For such cases, I charge a transcription fee (which is half of my translation fee) per word AND the translation fee per word. Some project managers feel comfortable with it, specially when they don't want to "get their own hands dirty" and get to work...
Well, these are just some ideas. Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | gritoalaire (X)
English to Spanish
Hi!
I've just got registered here today and this is the first time I write
ade
I just wanted you to know that I work as a comic translator and I work exclusively with jpg files. The give me a comic and I translate it, and the pay me the whole comic... but I calcuted how much they are paying me by hour... you know, when is about images, and in comics, some pages are full of text and anothers don't have ev... See more Hi!
I've just got registered here today and this is the first time I write
ade
I just wanted you to know that I work as a comic translator and I work exclusively with jpg files. The give me a comic and I translate it, and the pay me the whole comic... but I calcuted how much they are paying me by hour... you know, when is about images, and in comics, some pages are full of text and anothers don't have even a word... so I think you should estimate your salary per hour! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What I do with bitmaps... | Feb 17, 2006 |
... depends on what sort of material it is and how good the image quality is.
If the images are charts or drawings for which usable translated images are required, I'll edit the bitmaps in MS Paint or PhotoShop or drop them into MS Word and overlay with text objects. This work is charged by the hour.
Reasonably good quality text gets run through an OCR program (such as Abbyy FineReader, a great investment), saved as a text file, RTF or other suitable format and translated normally. I... See more ... depends on what sort of material it is and how good the image quality is.
If the images are charts or drawings for which usable translated images are required, I'll edit the bitmaps in MS Paint or PhotoShop or drop them into MS Word and overlay with text objects. This work is charged by the hour.
Reasonably good quality text gets run through an OCR program (such as Abbyy FineReader, a great investment), saved as a text file, RTF or other suitable format and translated normally. I usually charge the OCR time plus the usual line or word rates for the translation, and the customer gets an editable "source" document with the delivery. If it's a document that will have to be retyped eventually in the source language, the customer is usually pretty happy with this, and the quality of out OCR work has led to some jobs that are pure OCR -- not my favorite sideline, but good work when my brain needs a rest.
Badly scanned documents still get run through OCR software to estimate the word count, even if I know I'll end up sight-typing the translation. If you have Abbyy FineReader, OmniPage or similar tools (chances are if you own a scanner you have some kind of OCR available), you can probably run those JPEGs through and see if the word count is about right for the "value" cited. ▲ Collapse
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Pricing JPEG files | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
