Euro rate quandary... Thread poster: RSI EN-ES (AA)
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I recently had to convert my rates (per word) from pesetas to euro. The math is the following (before everybody starts screaming, figures above 8 are given for example\'s sake only):
Pesetas Euro Rounded-off
8 0,048081 0,05
9 0,054091 0,05
10 0,060101 0,06
11 0,066111 0,07
12 0,072121 0,07
13 0,078132 0,08
14 0,084142 0,08
15 0,090152 0,09
16 0,096162 0,10... See more I recently had to convert my rates (per word) from pesetas to euro. The math is the following (before everybody starts screaming, figures above 8 are given for example\'s sake only):
Pesetas Euro Rounded-off
8 0,048081 0,05
9 0,054091 0,05
10 0,060101 0,06
11 0,066111 0,07
12 0,072121 0,07
13 0,078132 0,08
14 0,084142 0,08
15 0,090152 0,09
16 0,096162 0,10
As you can see, there are certain rounded-off figures that appear twice. In those cases, the rounding-off is done according to laws of mathematics dating back to, hmm, geez, I would venture to say at least Descartes, if not Pythagoras. Depending on what you were getting paid (and paying for that matter if you’re a client), the math sometimes favors you, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Since the EU has not minted a thousandth of a euro coin, and merchants do not sell chocolate bars for 1.41693 euro, my reasoning has been that 8 pesetas is 5 cents of a euro, period. And that 9 is ALSO 5 cents euro. Which results in sometimes winning a bit, sometimes losing a bit.
But there have been agencies ranting and raving at myself and others, saying that we have “raised” our rates, and that they haven’t done the same with their clients, and that they cannot accept it, etc, etc. They say the rate is 0.048 euro per word, or even have come up (after the fact) with completely anfractuous formulas to get things their way, e.g., our rate is NOW 4.81 euro per 100 words. So take your total word count, divide by 100 then multiply by 4.81 (so why multiply the original unit of measure by 100 anyway?) I’ve even heard of some agencies using four or more decimals!
Rhetorical question: If the rate in question had been 9 pesetas, instead of 8, would they have complained about a rate of 0.05 euro/word? And if one had said the rate in that case is 0.054, or 5.4 cents, wouldn’t they have perhaps said that it should be rounded-off?
I know the bottom line is you can’t do squat about it, I just wanted to see if any of y’all ran into the same issue and hear some feedback.
Cheers... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Paul Roige (X)
Spain
Local time: 03:42
English to Spanish
+ ...
| yo no regalo ni una centésima de céntimo a nadie | Feb 16, 2002 |
Nadie me lo regala a mí. Yo uso los tres decimales y si se ríe alguno entonces lo redondeo hacia arriba, así que pasan de la risa al lloriqueo. Entonces, repito el precio con los tres decimales y, milagro, lo que aparece ahora son sonrisas y un \"vale\". Así que, precios:
8 0,048
9 0,054
10 0,060
11 0,066
12 0,072
13 0,078
14 0,084
y, con suerte y rezando a la virgen de los mi... See more Nadie me lo regala a mí. Yo uso los tres decimales y si se ríe alguno entonces lo redondeo hacia arriba, así que pasan de la risa al lloriqueo. Entonces, repito el precio con los tres decimales y, milagro, lo que aparece ahora son sonrisas y un \"vale\". Así que, precios:
8 0,048
9 0,054
10 0,060
11 0,066
12 0,072
13 0,078
14 0,084
y, con suerte y rezando a la virgen de los milagros, etcétera.
Por lo demás, ¿se ha fijado alguien de cómo han subido los precios en España desde la entrada del euro? ¿O es mi imaginación?
Un saludo  ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nikki Graham 
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:42
Spanish to English
| Everything's more expensive now | Feb 16, 2002 |
I find it difficult to believe that agencies haven\'t put their rates up. Everything else has gone up. Prices in shops, my rent, our social security. What are we supposed to do? Work more hours a week to make up the difference? I got some very strange messages from agencies I actually don\'t work for (but must still be on the e-mail lists) telling everybody how to do the maths. Far too complicated. I solved this problem by putting the prices up for everybody except one agency, which pays same ra... See more I find it difficult to believe that agencies haven\'t put their rates up. Everything else has gone up. Prices in shops, my rent, our social security. What are we supposed to do? Work more hours a week to make up the difference? I got some very strange messages from agencies I actually don\'t work for (but must still be on the e-mail lists) telling everybody how to do the maths. Far too complicated. I solved this problem by putting the prices up for everybody except one agency, which pays same rate as last year (good anyway) and they just tell me what I\'m going to get lump sum in euros for the work (based on source count). Nothing worse than getting paid less than what you got the year before, and in my opinion if 8 pesetas = 0.0480809, etc., if you don\'t make that 0.049, you\'re losing out.
Example: 100,000 words = 800,000 pesetas
at 0.048 = 798,652 pesetas
at 0.049 = 815,291 pesetas
So, it\'s not much less, and it\'s quite a bit more. But less just isn\'t acceptable. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You're missing the point... | Feb 16, 2002 |
People, my golden rule is that it\'s the TRANSLATOR who sets the rate, not the agency. Right after the New Year I sent an e-mail to all the Spanish agencies I work for (I charge a flat rate of 10 pesetas/target word to all and sundry) telling them that my rate would be .06 euros/word for the first 2 months of the year, pending revision on March 1st if prices varied significantly since last year.
Obviously, I\'m going to have to raise my rate to .07 per word just to keep up with the art... See more People, my golden rule is that it\'s the TRANSLATOR who sets the rate, not the agency. Right after the New Year I sent an e-mail to all the Spanish agencies I work for (I charge a flat rate of 10 pesetas/target word to all and sundry) telling them that my rate would be .06 euros/word for the first 2 months of the year, pending revision on March 1st if prices varied significantly since last year.
Obviously, I\'m going to have to raise my rate to .07 per word just to keep up with the artificial inflation caused by the adoption of the euro. Everything else is more expensive - why should we be the exception?
I\'ve already warned the agencies about my decision. Guess what? I have trained my agencies well - they know that if they want quality they have to pay for it: not one of them has complained.
Martin Perazzo ▲ Collapse
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MERod
Spain
Local time: 03:42
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Todavía no es Navidad | Feb 28, 2002 |
Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con Paul Roigé. No es Navidad como para andar haciendo regalitos. Yo también utilizo tres decimales y si les parece mal, se hace la cuenta por cada 100 palabras, que es lo mismo pero parece distinto.
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