Thursday, September 20, 2012

How much to charge for a translation project?



Knowing how much to charge can help you grow your client list or improve the profitability of your freelance translation business. When starting a career as a translator the rates can vary from $0.01 per word to $0.30 per word. Here are some things you should consider before setting up your rates:

·       Language – some languages are particularly in demand by employers at different times. But If you want to work with a language that has a large number of speakers and which is spoken in many countries, the ones to choose in order of 'usefulness' are: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, And Chinese (Mandarin), German, Japanese, Portuguese and Hindi/Urdu.
·       Deadline – how soon the job needs to be completed, text length and how flexible your schedule is to make sure you will deliver the job on time.
·       Skills – are you handling a specific job for the first time? Are you familiar with the subject to be translated?
·       Localization – Prices may vary from place to place, find out about the rates that are being charged within your city/country.

2 comments:

  1. There are several factors to consider, while charging for a particular translation, like the Subject, whether it's technical or the plain text on a general subject, known to all and the target class / mass / group and the level of their education i.e. the quality of the translation and the localization aspect of it and then lastly, the Urgency factor and the payment span, the current rates prevalent in the market, in that particular language pair and your relationship with that particular client, the long-term association factor etc.

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