0.02 euros/word?! Thread poster: Lynn Elise Roger Peiffer (X)
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Lynn Elise Roger Peiffer (X) 
Local time: 04:08
English to German
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Hello guys,
I just got an offer to work on a project German to French. The agency wanted to pay 0.02euros/word. I personally was shocked, but now I'm wondering if I might have been overreacting so I thought I'd see what you guys think about that price. I personally think it's an insulting and unfair rate, so I didn't accept the job.
Would you work for 0.02euros/word, German-French?
Curious to read your answers! ... See more Hello guys,
I just got an offer to work on a project German to French. The agency wanted to pay 0.02euros/word. I personally was shocked, but now I'm wondering if I might have been overreacting so I thought I'd see what you guys think about that price. I personally think it's an insulting and unfair rate, so I didn't accept the job.
Would you work for 0.02euros/word, German-French?
Curious to read your answers!
Lynn ▲ Collapse
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Ralf Lemster
Germany
Local time: 04:08
English to German
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| Just ignore it. | Sep 20, 2008 |
Hi Lynn,
We've had bundles of similar discussions in the past.
I personally think it's an insulting and unfair rate,
Insulting? Don't see why.
Unfair? Nobody can force you to accept.
so I didn't accept the job.
Right. Not even worth responding to. Delete and forget.
Best regards,
Ralf
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| I agree with Ralf | Sep 20, 2008 |
Just delete it.
They will get the quality they deserve for this price.
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Lynn Peiffer wrote: Hello guys, I just got an offer to work on a project German to French. The agency wanted to pay 0.02euros/word. I personally was shocked, but now I'm wondering if I might have been overreacting so I thought I'd see what you guys think about that price. I personally think it's an insulting and unfair rate, so I didn't accept the job. Would you work for 0.02euros/word, German-French? Curious to read your answers! Lynn
Someone once posted an offer for people to do translation work due to this person's unavailability for a certain period. The offer was for .03/.04 US $ cents a word. That magnanimous offer received 133 bids.
So why not 2 euro cents for Fr-German? After all, that is 0.028 US$ cents at the moment-nearly as much as the job I just mentioned. Absurd job offers are posted all the time, even for less common language pairs, and people seem to bid, no matter what. Of course you can do us all a favour and let the agency know that their offer isn't even a decent rate for proofreading and politely give them a hint as to where they can go. 
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| Waste of time | Sep 20, 2008 |
writeaway wrote:
Of course you can do us all a favour and let the agency know that their offer isn't even a decent rate for proofreading and politely give them a hint as to where they can go.
Lynn, it does nobody any favours as these cowboys ignore it or simply send a rude response. Frankly, it's like talking to a brick wall and certainly not worth spending time and effort on it. Bottom feeders exist in every profession (back-street abortionists, ambulance-chasing lawyers, etc) and will always attract their own following in the segment of the market they cater to - Ralf's suggestion of delete and move on is the best thing to do.
[Edited at 2008-09-20 13:27]
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NMR (X)
France
Local time: 04:08
French to Dutch
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| Just got a job offer | Sep 20, 2008 |
from someone who had a big company and therefore should have been a direct client. I showed my interest, told him about my services and got a mail back that he wanted it to be done for 0,06 euros. And that in the meantime he got several positive reactions. Side effects of the internet translation market?
At the same time there is another translation market where people don't mind to pay for quality.
It's up to you to decide in which one you want to be.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 04:08
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| I'd be very interested in your reasons | Sep 20, 2008 |
Lynn Peiffer wrote:
I just got an offer to work on a project German to French. The agency wanted to pay 0.02euros/word. I personally was shocked...
Why were you shocked? Did it occur to you that, since you did not send the agency a detailled income/expenses statement to indicate your cost of living, the agency had no idea what rate you require to break even? Were you perhaps shocked because it never occurred to you that your lifestyle may be less spartan than you had previously thought? Tell us what about the rate shocked you, and tell us why.
I personally think it's an insulting and unfair rate...
Well, you have every right to be insulted by any action of anyone else, no matter how silly your reaction may be, so I'm not going to comment on the insult (it is, after all, a personal thing), but I would very much like to hear your reasons for calling this rate unfair.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 03:08
Member (2007)
English
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| Do as Miguel suggests | Sep 20, 2008 |
Miguel Garcia Lopez wrote:
Just delete it.
They will get the quality they deserve for this price.
You have to accept US cost of living, do a thoroughly professional job (I imagine!) and have a right to a reasonable return for your expertise.
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Your are not alone, Lynn...
Not long ago, I received an offer for US$0.04 per word. So, I did a quick math: 2,000 words a day means $80 a day.
For comparison: whenever I allow myself a luxury to have someone clean my house, it costs me $100 for a full day of cleaning lady's job...
Feel free to come to your own conclusions.
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| Sleight of mathematics | Sep 21, 2008 |
I sometimes respond to such offers by (deliberately) quoting the price shifted by a decimal point, and also evince a keen interest in starting work immediately! So in the above example, it would be EURO 0.20/word.
Needless to say, they get the hint.
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inkweaver
Germany
Local time: 04:08
French to German
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| Another generous offer... | Sep 21, 2008 |
I was once offered 0.01 €/source word for a translation from Italian into German. I didn't bother to tell the agency what I thought of their far too generous offer, since they probably wouldn't have cared anyway. I just used the "delete" button...
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Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 22:08
English to Spanish
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I like the way you think, Anil!
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 04:08
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Cleaning ladies in my country | Sep 21, 2008 |
Alexandra Goldburt wrote:
For comparison: whenever I allow myself a luxury to have someone clean my house, it costs me $100 for a full day of cleaning lady's job...
In my country, a very good cleaning lady working an 8 hour shift would get about 1/8th of that.
Our local translators' institute just published their rate survey findings for this year, and it turns out that if a translator translated 2000 words a day for the average rate (both mean and median were more or less the same) of my country, he'd get $110 per day.
The rate that I myself charge local clients (at 2000 words per day) would work out to $160 per day. The rate I charge for non-local clients (at 2000 words per day) would be $240 per day. But I often do at least 3000-4000 words per day.
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| What a pity that housecleaning cannot be outsourced! | Sep 21, 2008 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Alexandra Goldburt wrote:
For comparison: whenever I allow myself a luxury to have someone clean my house, it costs me $100 for a full day of cleaning lady's job... In my country, a very good cleaning lady working an 8 hour shift would get about 1/8th of that. Our local translators' institute just published their rate survey findings for this year, and it turns out that if a translator translated 2000 words a day for the average rate (both mean and median were more or less the same) of my country, he'd get $110 per day. The rate that I myself charge local clients (at 2000 words per day) would work out to $160 per day. The rate I charge for non-local clients (at 2000 words per day) would be $240 per day. But I often do at least 3000-4000 words per day.
Congratulations, your business is doing quite well - and I imagine that your house is spotless! (unlike mine... sigh...)
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