| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | What prices do people work for at all? Thread poster: Thomas Loob
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Thomas Loob 
Estonia
Local time: 02:47
Member
English to Swedish
+ ...
Seems there are people working under €0.05 per word in West European language pairs.
I wonder how they manage to pay taxes or their bills - unless they have 3500 words 22 days a month.
| | | | | English into Spanish translations - my point of view | Feb 5, 2010 |
Yes, that is what I think when I hear that people charging such low rates. How can they make ends meet? How do they pay rent/mortgage/utilities/food/kids/etc.
Obviously, even though there are translators that charge those rates, not everybody does (I translate from English into Spanish and charge more than double that figure).
We have gone over and over this. IMHO, I think there are 3 groups of rates in my combination (f... See more Yes, that is what I think when I hear that people charging such low rates. How can they make ends meet? How do they pay rent/mortgage/utilities/food/kids/etc.
Obviously, even though there are translators that charge those rates, not everybody does (I translate from English into Spanish and charge more than double that figure).
We have gone over and over this. IMHO, I think there are 3 groups of rates in my combination (from what I see when I outsource).
Rates below 0.06 €/word. I believe that either they have someone that supports them and they just do this for "fun". Or they have to take huge loads of work in order to make ends meet. In this case, quality suffers since they don't have the time to "dedicate" time to each job. Definitely, you can see lots of bad translations out there. I am not sure if the agencies that hire these translators review their work, because they also offer very cheap translations to end clients.
Rates between 0.08 €/word and 0.10 €/word. They can take their time with each job and can produce better results. I think that in most cases, agencies that pay these rates, review the translators’ work.
Rates over 0.12 €/word. Very specialized translators that know what their work is worth. Agencies hire a second translator to review the translation and work for end-clients that primarily care about quality and that understand that the translated document is as important as the original in order to sell their product/service.
Well… this is what I think. But maybe we should listen to what someone charging a rate below 0.06 €/word has to say. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alma de Kok
Netherlands
Local time: 02:47
Member (2006)
Polish to Dutch
+ ...
[quote]Penelope Ausejo wrote:
Rates below 0.06 €/word. I believe that either they have someone that supports them and they just do this for "fun". Or they have to take huge loads of work in order to make ends meet. In this case, quality suffers since they don't have the time to "dedicate" time to each job. Definitely, you can see lots of bad translations out there. I am not sure if the agencies that hire these translators review their work, because they also offer very cheap translations to end clients.
You should add the country where the translator lives or the agency operates. There are a lot of countries where the cost of living is lower than in the USA/Western Europe, and translators can get by with € 0,05 a word, produce good translations, pay the bills and have some time left to enjoy life.
Kind regards,
Alma
| | | | Thomas Loob
Estonia
Local time: 02:47
Member
English to Swedish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Alma: I think a lot of Dutch people would be well off living in India translating. But they usually live in Holland.
I imagine the persons below €0.06 are either students/youth or housewives (of both sexes) earning some additional cash, but maybe I am wrong.
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Sorry about the misunderstanding Alma. I thought he was saying living in Western Europe countries, but now I see that he was only talking about our language pair. I was talking about Spain and it is definitely my opinion.
| | | | Edward Vreeburg
Netherlands
Local time: 02:47
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| living in India... I guess | Feb 5, 2010 |
Not long ago I received a big list of must-haves for a particular testing job (english-dutch) and at the end it mentioned the "salary" ... 5 USD / hour....
Imagine my horror, my cleaning lady already makes 12,50 eur/ hour...
But a few Indian friends in IT say they have a cleaning lady, cook, and nanny on a regular salary... so I guess it's just a matter of where you live...
Ed
| | | | Ken Fagan (X)
Local time: 02:47
French to English
| karma purging | Feb 5, 2010 |
I think that those who work for .06 or below do so to purge any negative karma they have built up in this and previous lifetimes.
Hope it works!
| | | | Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:47
Flemish to English
+ ...
Translation German >Dutch.
Translation is about a manual for a machine. not too technical.
2206words
budget is 0.03e per word
can supply more work in future if satisfied.
Volume and pricing:
2206 words
Payment 5 days after date of invoice.
2 bids.
Outsourcer is situated in the Netherlands.
Translators of Dutch normally to be found in the Netherlands and Belgium. High-cost and high-taxed countries.
Even in Suriname,... See more Translation German >Dutch.
Translation is about a manual for a machine. not too technical.
2206words
budget is 0.03e per word
can supply more work in future if satisfied.
Volume and pricing:
2206 words
Payment 5 days after date of invoice.
2 bids.
Outsourcer is situated in the Netherlands.
Translators of Dutch normally to be found in the Netherlands and Belgium. High-cost and high-taxed countries.
Even in Suriname, the other country where a kind of Dutch is spoken, this rate is low.
-*-*
With regard to the country you live. It is your rate, even if you live on Mars.
It is not about living and surviving, but about making money and growth.
Working for 0.03e boils down to making debts and surviving.
[Edited at 2010-02-05 10:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Tell me about it.
Recently I was looking for something and from one link to another I happened to reach the profile of a translator with probably 7 positive feedbacks charging... 0.02-0.03 EUR per word. This translator is based in Bulgaria ( my native country) which is as expensive as the UK but the income treshold is low. And this is only one of many.
This is totally demotivating so I prefer translating for direct clients based in the UK. Eventhough I got the software... See more Tell me about it.
Recently I was looking for something and from one link to another I happened to reach the profile of a translator with probably 7 positive feedbacks charging... 0.02-0.03 EUR per word. This translator is based in Bulgaria ( my native country) which is as expensive as the UK but the income treshold is low. And this is only one of many.
This is totally demotivating so I prefer translating for direct clients based in the UK. Eventhough I got the softwares, the diplomas... my main priority is the interpreting. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Yael Ramon
Israel
Local time: 03:47
German to Hebrew
+ ...
| Supply and demand laws | Feb 5, 2010 |
Hate to admit, but in our business they are just as present as in any ohter business.
If someone takes, why wouldn't some other one offer?
Those of us who know what they worth would probably never go that low, but those who don't possess such a high self-esteem, would go for even less.
and let's face it - in many cases, people do not require high quality - they just want to know what's written, and do not wish to spend a fortune for this knowledge.
It reminds me of... See more Hate to admit, but in our business they are just as present as in any ohter business.
If someone takes, why wouldn't some other one offer?
Those of us who know what they worth would probably never go that low, but those who don't possess such a high self-esteem, would go for even less.
and let's face it - in many cases, people do not require high quality - they just want to know what's written, and do not wish to spend a fortune for this knowledge.
It reminds me of the faux brands market.
Pitty for us all... ▲ Collapse
| | | | Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 21:47
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| Depends on where you live | Feb 5, 2010 |
I'm perfectly happy to work for .05 € , since that's more than what most Brazilian agencies pay. It really depends on where you live. It also depends on whether you have a family or not, what kind of lifestyle you lead, etc. There are so many factors, that it's hard to judge why a person accepts a certain rate. We have to decide individually how low we are willing to go...someone else can't do that for us.
| | | | Rosa Foyle
Germany
Member (2008)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Rates vary according to other factors | Feb 5, 2010 |
Being a translator who lives and works in Germany, I think it really depends on a number of factors. My rates are different for agencies and end-customers. Agencies obviously pay less per word (at least half the fee) . unfortunately I had the experience of working in-house at an agency once and I know that they really didn't proofread all the translations and they just turned around sent them to the customer. Another factor is the deadline. If it's a rush job or has an early Monday morning deadl... See more Being a translator who lives and works in Germany, I think it really depends on a number of factors. My rates are different for agencies and end-customers. Agencies obviously pay less per word (at least half the fee) . unfortunately I had the experience of working in-house at an agency once and I know that they really didn't proofread all the translations and they just turned around sent them to the customer. Another factor is the deadline. If it's a rush job or has an early Monday morning deadline, then I charge more. And of course, volume. The lowest rates I know going are 0.05, which is too low to even come close to break-even. However I have even charged an agency this fee once a few years ago when I was translating an 120 page dissertation, which was appropriate given the circumstances because I worked on my own time and had an "open" deadline (it was incredibly repetitive too and done without trados). Of course I wouldnt charge this fee for the average stuff I translate though. So basically my point is that as a freelancer you get to adjust your fee depending upon a number of different factors, which may be why we professionals wonder about the "dumping rates" sometimes. ▲ Collapse
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ATIL KAYHAN
Türkiye
Local time: 03:47
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
+ ...
My rate for English-Turkish and Turkish-English translations is 0.07 USD per source word. I should say I have a tough time securing work these days here in Turkey. I do not know if rates have anything to do with it or not. I never thought of lowering my rates.
Regards,
Atil
| | | | | You would be surprised what some reputable translation agencies offer... | Feb 5, 2010 |
Unfortunately, it's not translators who should be blamed. What some reputable and high quality offering translation agencies tend to do is, once they have a fairly steady and heavy stream of work into Eastern and Central European languages is to set up a local branch or a subsidiary in one or more target language countries and OFFER LOCAL MARKET RATES or hire a project manager who knows the market/markets and does roughly the same. I happened to me several times that, after YEARS of excellent co... See more Unfortunately, it's not translators who should be blamed. What some reputable and high quality offering translation agencies tend to do is, once they have a fairly steady and heavy stream of work into Eastern and Central European languages is to set up a local branch or a subsidiary in one or more target language countries and OFFER LOCAL MARKET RATES or hire a project manager who knows the market/markets and does roughly the same. I happened to me several times that, after YEARS of excellent collaboration at high rates I was approached by a local branch/subsidiary/ representative of THE SAME agency and asked to work at local rates. Needless to say, the relationship was discountinued after my refusal. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | About that feedback | Feb 5, 2010 |
Silvina Gospodinova wrote:
Recently I was looking for something and from one link to another I happened to reach the profile of a translator with probably 7 positive feedbacks
This is an age-old issue, and the recent answers always seems to come down (in essence) to: Globalization. People in areas where the standard of living isn't as high/isn't based on the same income level charge less, because they can, because they are competing. The nature of the beast.
But after my experiences with some "global" translation agencies, I wouldn't put too much faith in feedback at this point. I've worked on projects that they've had to split, and was told on several occasions that the project was absolutely commended by the client.
But when I have received entire finished documents in return, either for subsequent additions, or even (big swallow here) as "reference material", I have been shocked at the inaccuracy and unacceptably poor quality of some of the sections of text translated by other supposedly great translators.
I will not back down on what I feel are appropriate rates, but the way I see it, cheap translations will continue to flood the market no matter what we do, because in so many cases, neither agencies nor end clients can recognize quality - or care.
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