Translation projects are billed according to the type
of material, length, source and target languages as well
as formatting and deadline requirements.
To get an accurate quote you should first classify the
type of the document. The following are some of the classification
commonly used:
Legal and accounting documents (e.g. contracts, annual
reports)
Handbooks (e.g. work-flow or process descriptions)
Business literature (e.g. special interest or corporate
books, articles, training literature)
Correspondence
The translator will also need to know the number of pages,
lines and/or words. If possible use the 'word count'-function
in Microsoft Word ("Tools" -> "Word count"). Otherwise,
manually count the number of lines and words on a typical
page and multiply by the total number of pages. The cost
is generally calculated as a rate per (thousand) word(s)
and adjusted for the following criteria:
Industry specialisation. For certain industries,
specialised translators charge prices above average because
the work requires subject knowledge and/or additional research.
Level of difficulty. A very technical and complicated
document is more expensive than a straight-forward general
text. Unformatted documents are cheaper than formatted ones.
Deadlines. For very short deadlines or over-night
service there is often an extra charge that can easily rise
up to and beyond 100%. As a rule of thumb: "normal" requests
call for an output of 5 standard pages a day… anything beyond
this would justify a premium.
Size of project. Many translators charge a minimum
fee for small projects. As a guideline this is approximately
£35 for anything below 250 words.
Long-term contract/relationship. It might be worth
considering a long-term contract with a translator agency
if there is regular translation work. This can significantly
decrease your costs.
