Rates in the international market Thread poster: Anafejos
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Anafejos
Brazil
Local time: 09:53
Portuguese to Spanish
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Hellow everyone, what is considered a reasonable rate perword in the international market, I really need help with this, I live in Brazil and so far I did translations inside of Brazil.
Thanks a lot
Happy eastern
Analía
| | | | B D Finch 
France
Local time: 14:53
  Member (2006)
French to English
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This really is a question of the "how long is a piece of string?" variety. There is no single international market. Indeed, you seem to recognise this yourself, in mentioning that you have previously only worked within the Brazilian market. What you can charge depends upon such things as: the country your client is in, your client's budget, the rarity value of your language pair and/or specialist field, your own experience and qualifications and the quality of your work as perceived by your client and whether they are prepared to pay extra for that.
This is further complicated by the fact that very few translators would be prepared to tell you their rates in a public forum like this one.
Good luck!
BDF
| | | | Mohamed Mehenoun
Algeria
Local time: 13:53
Member (2008)
English to French
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| depends on several factors | Apr 21, 2011 |
Hello,
It depends on the nature of the text, your experience, and your skills as a negociator.
Cheers !
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 14:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Analía F Villagra wrote:
What is considered a reasonable rate per word in the international market, I really need help with this, I live in Brazil and so far I did translations inside of Brazil.
I googled for "sample page showing the aggregate translation rates" and found this:
PT-ES and ES-PT:
39 translators in Brazil ask an average of USD 0.07 per word or USD 22.10 per hour. The rate of translators in Spain and Portugal is roughly the same. The rate of translators in the US is higher: In the US, 53 translators ask an average of USD 0.10 per word or USD 30.35 per hour (for ES-PT it is slightly lower at USD 0.09 per word).
EN-ES
50 translators in Brazil ask an average of USD 0.08 per word or USD 22.98 per hour for EN-ES. The rate of translators in Spain is roughly the same. The rate of translators in the UK and the US is higher, but so is the competition: In the US, 1457 translators ask USD 0.10 per word or USD 27.17 per hour.
[Edited at 2011-04-21 11:26 GMT]
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| Analia's problem | Apr 21, 2011 |
I see Samuel's figures for ES-PT and PT-ES as low, if compared to EN-PT and PT-EN, however I wouldn't be able to relate them. Every Brazilian considers him/her self as a potential ES translator, since it's easy for us to understand Spanish, though it doesn't work the other way around.
(As one ES translator explained to me, Portuguese has all the sounds of Spanish, while the reverse is not true. That's why ES speakers don't readily understand PT.)
(For Scandinavians, a Norwegian told me that the resemblance between SV-NO is comparable to the one existing between PT-ES. No idea on whether it is also biased to one direction.)
Analia's problem may stem from the Brazilian currency getting stronger and stronger internationally, in spite of our government struggling to keep it down. As our exports are usually negotiated in USD, which is getting weaker internationally, if they fail in doing it, soon Brazilian exports won't be worth their weight in crap.
As I translate into EN-US, it makes sense to state my international rates in USD. In late 2008, I think, the USD/BRL exchange rate fell roughly from 2.2 to 1.6 and stayed there (though last week it was 1.5). I endured all of 2009 at a loss in every foreign job I took. So in Jan. 2009 I raised my international rates by 20%. All my clients worth keeping understood that immediately.
To provide a yardstick, I have kept my rates in BRL unchanged since 1994. Increased productivity from advances in IT managed to cover inflation ever since. My experience amassed ever since probably helped as well.
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| | | | Teresa Borges
Portugal
Local time: 13:53
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
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| There is no such thing as... | Apr 21, 2011 |
... a rate per word in the international market. Translation rates in China or India are much, much lower than in Austria or... Belgium!
| | | | imatahan
Brazil
Local time: 09:53
English to Portuguese
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For my experience, Brazilian agencies in general offer us half the rate that other countries do. The ones I've worked with gave a lot of work to receive some payments.
Other asks us a million tests and contracts and do not end us work after the whole process.
The rates offered are comparable to China and India, although the rates mentioned above are the sindicate rates and what we ask to international agencies.
What is worrying us rifgt now is that the dollar rates are going down fast and the agencies all over the world seem to offer payments in much longer duedates. Many are offering 40, 45, 60 and even 90 days for paying our work, and they almost always want it in a hurry... This combination of lower dollar rates and longer periods for payment puts us in disadvantage.
| | | | imatahan
Brazil
Local time: 09:53
English to Portuguese
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| professional associations | Apr 21, 2011 |
Hello Analia,
As many others have already said, there are no standard international rates.
However, many national professional translator associations regularly collect and publish data about typical price ranges and contractual conditions. The associations are generally very easy to find with Google and then you can search their websites for relevant information/publications.
If you are looking to start marketing yourself in new regions, then you probably ought to pick a few countries and spend time gathering information on them. If you are responding to a specific request, then you can concentrate on that country.
Sincerely,
Michael
| | | | Anafejos
Brazil
Local time: 09:53
Portuguese to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks a lot for your answers!!!!!
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