How much does a translation cost?

—How much does a translation cost?

—Well, it may be a per-case matter.


HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY (by increasing your volume).


THE EVER-CHANGING PRICES OF SOME SERVICES (and... products).

Also, I think other ways to be disruptive ought to be by "shaking the beehive" in the rest of the world's direction or, sometimes, in oneself's direction!
—Who will get the honey...?
—Well, who knows...?

OKAY.

I am going to get right to it.

HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY (by increasing your volume).

And, no I am not going to charge $47  —as some vendors do at Clickbank (www.clickbank.com "A global Internet retailer"; "Premier Internet retailer", etcetera), a somewhat famous Boise-based company—  per two hyped and useless e-books and a set of six equally useless and time-consuming DVD's; no, you will get this info FOR FREE, here and right now.


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1. It has come the time when some freelancers/professionals should consider to charge different, ever-changing prices for the services they perform.

This SYSTEM has worked and is working for me. As an English-Spanish translator, I have not set a fix price; instead, I charge from 2 to 12 pennies per word (source word count, id est, source language), depending on:

A) Field/theme. If I like the theme, I will be charging less, because my fingers will be easily sliding (and even "flying") over my keyboard, as if all of it were a game, a hobby or a passion play. If I really enjoy the task, maybe I will be charging less.

B) Length of the material to be translated; the number of words to be translated.

C) Complexity of the subject matter of their content.

D) Turnaround time. How quickly are they looking to have their content translated? There are no reliable averages, as a given translator can translate about 2,000 words per day, and other translator can translate 4,500 words per day.

Some translators charge "n" amounts for editing and proofreading.

(Editing and proofreading, at least for me, are easy tasks to do, so I seldom charge for these ones, provided I have translated the texts.)

And... when a client happens to ask for a per-hour pricing, I charge a "whopping" $400.00
(U.S. currency) per hour!, payable IN ADVANCE... with the aim of not to be assigned to a per-hour task. And I have always come successful at this.

For other translators, who charge 12 cents per word, their per-hour price could be... Well, let us say that, as I have mentioned above, some translators translate an average of up to 2,000 words of content per day; now, let us take that number and divide it by an 8-hour work day. That leads us to about 250 words per hour.

Those translators offer their translation services for $0.12 per word. Multiply 250 words by $0.12/word. That comes up to $30.00/hour.

——

Sometimes I am so busy, that I reply e-mails one week after I have received them! So if someone (an entrepreneur, owner, company, industrial entity, etcetera) wants or ahem, REALLY NEEDS an urgent translation, it may be a matter of "luck", for him/her/it, and for me as well.

——

http://search.proz.com/employers/rates


E) I deliver the translated text in Word 2003 format or WordPad, or simple txt (the client's choice); I do not format texts, not even in PDF (portable document format). I rarely translate captions in Excel, and when I do, I charge a lo-o-o-t more.

F) The value I give to MY time at any given moment of the day/week.

G) My pending tasks, if any.

H) My mood at that time. I can feel high- or low-spirited, motivated, exhilarated, etcetera.

I) The nature/temperament of my client, is he/she/it a demanding, penny-pincher, angry individual/company?, or maybe a gentle, serene, relaxed person/enterprise?



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Please, let me post a digression:

At    http://launchastartup.com/odesk-vs-elance/   you should read at least two paragraphs, one which starts with the following words: "Here’s how it is supposed to work", and another one, which starts this way: "Here’s how it actually works".

Please, let me make it clear, SOMETIMES I charge less, but nonetheless I deliver quality translations.

End of the digression.
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All of that said, please let me pinpoint two paramount factors:

I. THESE ARE PER-CASE MATTERS. It does not apply a list of several pre-set prices policies, because there are so many factors involved. You are not buying a cheese burger, french fries, and a Coca-Cola. You are rather buying variably-priced "vegetables" and "fruits". As far as I know, no one will be reading a PRICE LIST when it comes to translations. 

II. Each task, each translation project requires a unique approach and there are a lot of variables involved in determining its price.

Sure, I know this SYSTEM of changing prices IS NOT for everyone... Maybe it is not for physicians, engineers, public accountants, programmers, pilots, drivers, teachers, nurses, etcetera, etcetera.

And if you are a translator (or maybe a graphic designer), and a client of yours happens to tell you or e-mail you something like: "... But last month you charged me only four cents per word! (or 20 dollars for the graphic design of a page or a couple of pages), why are you trying to charge [...] now?", you can reply: "At this time, this is the price... This is my final offer at this very moment; you can take it or leave it".

The prices of cucumbers, potatoes, melons, strawberries, commodities, shares, oil!, etcetera, keep going up and down all of the time...

I even inform them about the phone numbers or e-mail addresses of some of my competitors! I am not afraid to lose a client.

Besides, there are Websites like freelancer.com upwork.com guru.com verbalize.com translatorscafe.com proz.com mytranslation.com mytranslation.net

By the way, perhaps   mytranslation.net   is not so good: At http://translationethics.blogspot.com/p/blacklist-m.html a translator wrote: "Furthermore, I would like to confirm the comments about MyTranslation.net. I cancelled my account after one day - the rates are the lowest of all agencies (0.04 - 0.05 EUR per source word), yet the translator takes care of all the administrative tasks, dealing directly with clients as if they were indeed, direct clients! Normally, this is the work of Project Managers. Not a good deal. Many thanks once again for your valuable Translation Blog."

BEWARE OF SCAMS:

You can read some blacklists at:

http://translationethics.blogspot.com


I have adopted the above-mentioned policy of changing prices based upon the philosophy and ideas of futurologist and social scientist Alvin Toffler (New York City, 1928- ). In his 1990 book Powershift, he says that state-of-the-art technology is accelerating the pace of business, human relationships, etcetera.

And, I can keep remembering that prices of cucumbers, potatoes, melons, strawberries, commodities, shares, oil!, etcetera, keep going up and down all of the time...


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Now, if you happen to find some typos, errors, etcetera, in this post, you may ask: "Is this guy saying he is a translator?", please bear in mind that I have stated that I am an English-Spanish translator, AND NOT VICE VERSA!



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2.
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