Translation rate per sheet Thread poster: Florencia Noqui
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Hi there
I have to translate a 22 sheets document from English into Spanish and I feel that a rate per word would be too much to charge. So, I would like to know an estimate price per sheet. It's a scientific paper and the content is not too complex.
All suggestions are very welcome.
Thank you
[Edited at 2016-10-09 19:17 GMT]
| | | | matt robinson 
Spain
Local time: 09:08
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
| Not that large | Oct 10, 2016 |
22 pages is not such a big document. I imagine it is a one-off job, with around 6000 words. If I were you I would charge the normal per word rate.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 03:08
German to English
| Too much to charge? | Oct 10, 2016 |
MariaFlorencia wrote:
I feel that a rate per word would be too much to charge.
Unless you have an extraordinarily high per-word rate, charging by the word (either source or target) is the way to go on a project like this. Don't undervalue your work.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:08
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| per word is too much? | Oct 10, 2016 |
MariaFlorencia wrote:
I have to translate a 22 sheets document from English into Spanish and I feel that a rate per word would be too much to charge. So, I would like to know an estimate price per sheet
Are you trying to reduce your quote so it's more acceptable to the client? If so, why? Is it going to take you less time if you quote per page? I can't see how.
In actual fact, quoting per page is simply another format for quoting. The total price paid should end up the same - obviously, as the amount of work is unchanged.
I quote per word for translation, regardless of the volume. A large volume rarely saves time as there are extra consistency issues to be checked out (not all being handled by term bases etc). If a large job has a long and flexible lead time then I might offer a discount based on the fact that I can use it as a filler. But 22 pages isn't really that large.
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Toon Theuwis (X)
Belgium
Local time: 09:08
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Large volumes | Oct 10, 2016 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
A large volume rarely saves time as there are extra consistency issues to be checked out (not all being handled by term bases etc).
I agree with you on this Sheila. I too have to translate larger volumes sometimes that make me think: "I should charge extra for big volumes". You usually hear or read the opposite and clients tend to ask for a discount for larger volumes, but larger texts are more demanding in some ways.
In my opinion, discounts for regular clients are more appropriate than discounts for larger volumes.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 03:08
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Is a sheet a page? | Oct 10, 2016 |
MariaFlorencia wrote:
Hi there
I have to translate a 22 sheets document from English into Spanish
[Edited at 2016-10-09 19:17 GMT]
Just curious. To me a sheet could either be an tab on an excel file or a regular letter sized page.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 03:08
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Most customers would think you are kidding if you want to charge more for volume jobs | Oct 10, 2016 |
Toon Theuwis wrote: Sheila Wilson wrote:
A large volume rarely saves time as there are extra consistency issues to be checked out (not all being handled by term bases etc). I agree with you on this Sheila. I too have to translate larger volumes sometimes that make me think: "I should charge extra for big volumes". You usually hear or read the opposite and clients tend to ask for a discount for larger volumes, but larger texts are more demanding in some ways. In my opinion, discounts for regular clients are more appropriate than discounts for larger volumes.
They want discounts and their demand for discount is rational. It is rational in that large jobs could save you a lot of project management time. Compared with 10 small jobs of 1000 words each, a 10000 word job would save you about 2 hours in project management.
| | | | Florencia Noqui
Argentina
Local time: 04:08
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Translation rate per sheet | Oct 10, 2016 |
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for your reply. The idea is not to reduce quotes but to find a price that rewards my work and at the same time is reasonable for my client. The document contains around 18,000 words. Do you consider I should quote per word?
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cloudhunter (X)
Germany
Local time: 09:08
English to German
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| Yes, definitely per word | Oct 11, 2016 |
MariaFlorencia wrote:
The document contains around 18,000 words. Do you consider I should quote per word?
I'm not Sheila but yes, I think you should quote per word. If you quote per sheet or per whatever else and thus apply a discount because the job is large, this is how these ridiculous job offers are created:
"We have a translation of 20000 words, please quote with your BEST rate and consider the amount".
Which leads to the client thinking that big jobs are better for us because we earn more. Well, if it happens this way, we don't. A big job is still a job you have to spend your time on and normally you are not able to accept any further ones at this time.
Regardless of how big or small a job might be, you have your rates and you have to earn your living.
What you might do is apply one of thos infamous CAT-discounts, which I personally don't love. But be careful with this one, too. For some clients (I have a few of them) a discount is applied only for repetitions and 90-100% matches (like when you have 5 documents and there are only 5 different sentences in them, the rest is the same). For the vast majority applying a CAT discount is discounting everything beginning at 45%.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:08
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Thanks Cloudhunter | Oct 13, 2016 |
Thanks for providing cover during my trip to France  . I agree with everything you said.
It would certainly be worth seeing how much a CAT tool might be able to speed up the work. I've never offered a discount to a first-time client, but that's mainly because I rarely take a big risk with an untested one. I like to see a small job go well first, although on the two occasions when I let my heart rule my head everything... See more Thanks for providing cover during my trip to France . I agree with everything you said.
It would certainly be worth seeing how much a CAT tool might be able to speed up the work. I've never offered a discount to a first-time client, but that's mainly because I rarely take a big risk with an untested one. I like to see a small job go well first, although on the two occasions when I let my heart rule my head everything went fine.
For two regular clients, I offer discounts based on my CAT tool use - my idea, to help keep them loyal. One gets a reduced per-word rate for all their catalogue translations, which are quite repetitive. The other client's work needs a lot of care but he often writes very similar texts for website, blog, press release etc. Sometimes he gets charged 100% but on other occasions we share the benefits of the increased productivity and he only pays a tiny fraction. I base the discount on the CAT statistics but I just mark the invoice as a discount of nn euros. ▲ Collapse
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