https://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/263861-about_rates.html
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Translation - art & business » Money matters »
about rates
Thread poster: Mireille BOULANGER
Mireille BOULANGER
Mireille BOULANGER  Identity Verified
France
Member (2013)
English to French
Feb 5, 2014

Hi,
Getting started as a freelance translator, I am a bit embarrassed with stating prices per word, for new translation or repetition rate..I intended to use the minimum rate suggested by Proz.com 0.08€/word but what about repetition..? Thanks for your help.
 
Christophe Delaunay
Christophe Delaunay  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 16:16
Spanish to French
+ ...
Your choice to fall into it or not Feb 5, 2014

Some translators accept to be paid less for fuzzy matches and the likes. I don't. Should a bus driver be paid less because he's been driving the same route for a year and knows it very well? Should a surgeon be paid less after 10 years of surgery because he knows his stuff? Should an architect be paid less because he uses again and again the same pattern from one construction to the other?

Your choice!
 
Mireille BOULANGER
Mireille BOULANGER  Identity Verified
France
Member (2013)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Good point Feb 5, 2014

Well this is something to think about..and very true...thanks anyway.
 
LilianNekipelov
LilianNekipelov  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:16
Russian to English
+ ...
Fuzzy matches and repetitions Feb 5, 2014

are a total nonsense, unless the whole blocks of text are repeated in exactly the same form--like the whole paragraphs, or terms in a list of terms-- not any kind of a narrative or decription.

I don't think you should charge a different price for any of that-- only perhaps for the large blocks of text that do not require any intervention, but they have to be at least a paragraph long, in my opinion.

[Edited at 2014-02-05 11:03 GMT]
 
Mireille BOULANGER
Mireille BOULANGER  Identity Verified
France
Member (2013)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
thanks for your advice Feb 5, 2014

Being a new freelancer does not mean accepting anything from potential customers...So I will stick to your advice and have only one rate/word. Do you think using the rates proposed by Proz.com is good strategy? It is not so easy to start, I guess a tutor would be welcome...but the forum is great!!
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:16
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
more relevant for technical translations Feb 6, 2014

If you're doing mainly updates to manuals etc then there is definitely a case for such discounts. But it doesn't sound as your specialisations fall into that category. You can only give a client a discount if it's justified in business terms. If you've bought and trained on a CAT tool then that has to be recouped before you can consider discounts. And even then, if the works is done in 60% of the time, why pass all that saving to the client?

I occasionally get work that justifies a ... See more
If you're doing mainly updates to manuals etc then there is definitely a case for such discounts. But it doesn't sound as your specialisations fall into that category. You can only give a client a discount if it's justified in business terms. If you've bought and trained on a CAT tool then that has to be recouped before you can consider discounts. And even then, if the works is done in 60% of the time, why pass all that saving to the client?

I occasionally get work that justifies a discount because my CAT tool makes iit far faster, but I treat every case separately. ▲ Collapse
 


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