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Need help on hourly rates
Thread poster: Translation1 (X)
Translation1 (X)
Translation1 (X)
English to French
+ ...
Jan 4, 2006

Hi,
Does anymoby know where I could find some information about hourly rates? I customer of mind asked me to charge a hourly rate, and I don't know what to do...I thought hourly rates for translations should be higher than hourly rates for revision, but they told me it is not right...
Regards,
Tradu.lom

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2006-01-04 09:46]
 
Stephen Rifkind
Stephen Rifkind  Identity Verified
Israel
Local time: 06:45
Member (2004)
French to English
+ ...
It depends on you and the text. Jan 4, 2006

How many pages of this text can you translate in an hour? How much time will you spend editing your translation? How much will taxes take from you? How much organizational time (billing, etc) will it take?

Then, figure out how much money you want to get out of this project.

This is not a simple answer, but "translation" is not selling eggs noodles. It is different every time.

Stephen Rifkind
 
Peter Bouillon
Peter Bouillon  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 05:45
French to German
+ ...
Mainly your call Jan 4, 2006

Tradu.lom wrote:

I customer of mind asked me to charge a hourly rate, and I don't know what to do...I thought hourly rates for translations should be higher than hourly rates for revision, but they told me it is not right...


Well, you are the manager of your own business, so it is up to you to set your hourly rates. If you decide to charge more for translation work than for revision work then there is nothing to prevent you from making it so.

On the other hand, if you decide to charge higher rates for proofreading/revising, let's say as a compensation for pain and suffering as it were, then that is possible, too.

It is your business after all.

The only thing to keep in mind is to be very confident when stating your terms.

Of course, it takes two to reach an agreement, so if your client insists on paying exactly one rate and if you want to do business with that client, then you have no choice but to honour their wish.

If you don't have any notion at all what to charge, here is an approach for calculating an hourly rate for translations:
You must have some notion on how long it takes you, on average, to translate a certain size of text. Let's say x hours. You know what you would charge for translating a text of that size. Let's say y €. Apply the rule of three. You get an hourly rate of (y/x) €/hour.

P.

[Edited at 2006-01-04 10:32]
 


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