Making a price per word from a price per line
Thread poster: Serge Driamov
Serge Driamov
Serge Driamov  Identity Verified
Belarus
Local time: 23:40
English to Russian
+ ...
May 23, 2010

An agency is requesting for price per word translated from German. Up to now I have calculated prices for translations from German on lines counting base; a formal line contains a certain previously specified and agreed number of characters. The details have been given nicely in reply to my previous... See more
An agency is requesting for price per word translated from German. Up to now I have calculated prices for translations from German on lines counting base; a formal line contains a certain previously specified and agreed number of characters. The details have been given nicely in reply to my previous forum post:
http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/112979-counting_lines.html

Now could anybody give a suggestion regarding converting a line-and-character-based price into a word-based price for German?

Thank you
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Astrid Elke Witte
Astrid Elke Witte  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:40
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
8 words per line May 23, 2010

This is the nearest that I have been able to get it.

You could try this:

Determine a word count, counting 8 words to each line.
Inform the agency that you have to base your count on the "average word", so that the word count is not identical to the word count they will get in Word.
Tell them that your word count will be agreed and applied.

Also explain that the "average word" is at least one character longer than with many other languages, so th
... See more
This is the nearest that I have been able to get it.

You could try this:

Determine a word count, counting 8 words to each line.
Inform the agency that you have to base your count on the "average word", so that the word count is not identical to the word count they will get in Word.
Tell them that your word count will be agreed and applied.

Also explain that the "average word" is at least one character longer than with many other languages, so that your word price has to be marginally higher.




[Edited at 2010-05-23 20:32 GMT]

[Edited at 2010-05-23 20:39 GMT]
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opolt
opolt  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 21:40
English to German
+ ...
8 w/l is a good number to start May 23, 2010

I'm saying this because I remember I faced the same problem many years ago, and back in FLEFO times the going conversion number was always 8 AFAIR.

But unless I am missing something here(?), this is really very simple, basic math anyway. I mean, couldn't you just take a few samples from what remains on your hard disk from recent projects, dividing the fees that you have been paid in each case by the number of words of the corresponding documents? This would quickly give you an idea
... See more
I'm saying this because I remember I faced the same problem many years ago, and back in FLEFO times the going conversion number was always 8 AFAIR.

But unless I am missing something here(?), this is really very simple, basic math anyway. I mean, couldn't you just take a few samples from what remains on your hard disk from recent projects, dividing the fees that you have been paid in each case by the number of words of the corresponding documents? This would quickly give you an idea of your own going rates, as based on No. of words, for different kinds of translations. On the basis of these samples, you could also just calculate the average, if you don't have much variation in your rates.

-- opolt
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Ronald van der Linden (X)
Ronald van der Linden (X)  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 14:40
German to Dutch
+ ...
Fee converter May 24, 2010

http://www.amtrad.it/feewizardol.php

Try this converter.

Best,
Ronald

[Edited at 2010-05-24 00:26 GMT]


 
Serge Driamov
Serge Driamov  Identity Verified
Belarus
Local time: 23:40
English to Russian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks May 24, 2010

Thanks a lot Astrid, opolt and Ronald, the replies are really helpful.

 
Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
Cyprus
Local time: 22:40
Turkish to English
+ ...
My thinking May 24, 2010

All you need to do is take a sample text written in the language in question - obviously this will vary from language to language depending on the average lengths of words in terms of character - get a count of the number of lines and then the number of words. If you divide the former by the latter, this will give you the factor involved. For English, I have always assumed the average word length to be five characters, including the space, and have taken a 55-character line to be equivalent to 1... See more
All you need to do is take a sample text written in the language in question - obviously this will vary from language to language depending on the average lengths of words in terms of character - get a count of the number of lines and then the number of words. If you divide the former by the latter, this will give you the factor involved. For English, I have always assumed the average word length to be five characters, including the space, and have taken a 55-character line to be equivalent to 11 words in English.Collapse


 


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Making a price per word from a price per line







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