| It depends... | Aug 25, 2011 |
Basically it depends on your speed and how much you earn doing something else. After I had been doing it for 20 years (this was 4 years ago), I decided that once I had been able to select one single general m.o. regarding software, I'd charge the same per minute of playing time, regardless if it were transcription in either EN or PT, translation in either direction between them, for whichever purpose among verbatim, for dubbing, or for subtitling. Any of these take me about the same time to do, ... See more Basically it depends on your speed and how much you earn doing something else. After I had been doing it for 20 years (this was 4 years ago), I decided that once I had been able to select one single general m.o. regarding software, I'd charge the same per minute of playing time, regardless if it were transcription in either EN or PT, translation in either direction between them, for whichever purpose among verbatim, for dubbing, or for subtitling. Any of these take me about the same time to do, it's a matter of changing the approach. Variation between easier and more difficult materials is covered by the average: win on some, lose on others.
Of course, I don't get transcription jobs, and I'm not interested in them. There are much, much cheaper people doing it. I also have a minimum 15 minutes' playing time per order, to cover the hassle of downloading, converting if needed, etc. I avoid committing to do more than 30-60 minutes of video work per day, my ratio is 6:1, as quality tends to drop after that.
Btw, I go all the way to a fully-authored, subtitled DVD. So, to parse with your TV editor, once a client called me on a Friday, at 9:00 AM: "I have a one-hour documentary in English, which I need translated, subtitled, and delivered as a DVD today by 5:00 PM. I am ready to pay whatever you consider reasonable for the rush." I had to tell him that, no matter how fast I could translate and spot the video, even if I covered my computer with gold, it wouldn't render video any faster.
Some video guys still dream of Jeannie, and in their dreams she is a translator. ▲ Collapse
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