How to calculate rates for subtitle editing Thread poster: Mirja Maletzki
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I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on how to calculate rates for subtitle editing.
I have translated for TV before but I haven't edited someone else's translation yet.
With regular editing jobs, I charge a percentage of what the translation would cost for editing - 50% most of the time.
So with subtitle editing, would I charge 50% of my video translation rate (calculated by xxx/10 minutes)?
Or would I rather cha... See more I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction on how to calculate rates for subtitle editing.
I have translated for TV before but I haven't edited someone else's translation yet.
With regular editing jobs, I charge a percentage of what the translation would cost for editing - 50% most of the time.
So with subtitle editing, would I charge 50% of my video translation rate (calculated by xxx/10 minutes)?
Or would I rather charge a regular editing rate, i.e. 50% of my per word translation rate for the language combination?
Or even an hourly rate?
Any input would be appreciated.
Thank you! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sies van Gijtenbeek (X)
Netherlands
Local time: 01:56
English to Dutch
Hi,
Ususally rates are pvm per video minute for subtitling and for editing as well. If you check the subs with video I'd charge about 1 euro/minute.
Sies van Gijtenbeek
Siesign TXT Design
| | | | Edward Vreeburg 
Netherlands
Local time: 01:56
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| by the minute | Feb 13, 2011 |
I guess you also need to check the spotting, so you are going to have to check translated and extremely shortened text - not an easy task.
If you charge word-rate, you will be extremely underpaid, so go for a rate used in the business - you will quicklly see how good or bad the translation is...
It is a bit strange your client is leaving the verification of the subtitling to a (relatively unexperienced? ) subtitler... - I hear alarm bells -
...on the ... See more I guess you also need to check the spotting, so you are going to have to check translated and extremely shortened text - not an easy task.
If you charge word-rate, you will be extremely underpaid, so go for a rate used in the business - you will quicklly see how good or bad the translation is...
It is a bit strange your client is leaving the verification of the subtitling to a (relatively unexperienced? ) subtitler... - I hear alarm bells -
...on the other hand an hourly rate might work too... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | This will depend on the material you get | Feb 13, 2011 |
Let's draw a picture of the environment, and try to pinpoint the variables involved.
I do the whole job, from a video in EN or PT to a subtitled video, or maybe a complete DVD, respectively in PT or EN, or any part of the whole nine yards, usually depending on the type of client, what they have done/will do on their own. Bottom line is that if I'm doing the post-translati... See more Let's draw a picture of the environment, and try to pinpoint the variables involved.
I do the whole job, from a video in EN or PT to a subtitled video, or maybe a complete DVD, respectively in PT or EN, or any part of the whole nine yards, usually depending on the type of client, what they have done/will do on their own. Bottom line is that if I'm doing the post-translation steps, any mistake will cause me to undertake unnecessary rework.
Material costs are minimal. Good quality DVD media is neglectably cheap, however the time it takes to render a video and record it to that media must be considered. I try to do it overnight, however urgency requests may require it to be done on daytime.
I also speak rather fluently (but don't translate - would have to study them more) IT, FR, and ES. So sometimes My assignment starts with a video translated for subtitles in any pair among PT-EN-IT-FR-ES, and I'm expected to move it on, by spotting, burning, authoring, whatever. Of course I can fix any issues in EN-PT subtitles, however even if I notice mistakes in IT-FR-ES, or if I see a need for making some subs more concise, I cannot do it reliably in these three languages.
This last situation is probably where you, Mirja, are in. So let's briefly see some levels of input you may get.
1. Good translation for subtitling, both in content and size, accurately broken, possibly containing a few typos to fix.
2. Good translation, however not sufficently concise subtitles for efficient watching by a monolingual spectator. You'll have to rewrite some or many of them.
3. Perfect translation, however clearly not for subtitling; it would be easier to adapt them for dubbing, if you get my point. It's the complete script translated, and broken into chunks of a predefined size.
4. The script, translated. You'll have to break that streaming text into subtitles, taking into account the rhythm, the flow of the video.
5. Clueless translation. Just too much to fix. For instance, if they wrote Hamstertown instead of Amsterdam, and even worse things.
6. Bad translation like any other.
The variety is so wide that I don't think it's safe to set a rate to be multiplied by minutes of playing time, unless you are familiar with that specific translator's output.
I don't like charging by the hour of my time. If I'm relatively unskilled at doing whatever is required, the client will be overcharged by my incompetence. If I invested years in honing my skills to do that, I'll be underpaid for my investment. However until you get familiar with how much work a certain translator's output - if it will be that same one all the time - will require, the safe way is to charge for your autual working time.
In fact, we are always selling our time. The reason we define rates by the word, minutes of playing time, whatever, is to minimize the client's risk that, for any reason whatsoever, it may take us much longer to do a certain job than expected. ▲ Collapse
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Mirja Maletzki
Germany
Local time: 08:56
Korean to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you, everyone.
@Edward: No need for alarm bells. The client told me that they'll train me, software and all. If you take a look at my language pairs, one might guess that it's easier for the client to train people than to actually find someone who's specialized in this. Even if those people do exist (I have yet to meet a professional, full time translator in my languages, let alone someone specialized!) they'll be busy enough due to their specialization.
And consi... See more Thank you, everyone.
@Edward: No need for alarm bells. The client told me that they'll train me, software and all. If you take a look at my language pairs, one might guess that it's easier for the client to train people than to actually find someone who's specialized in this. Even if those people do exist (I have yet to meet a professional, full time translator in my languages, let alone someone specialized!) they'll be busy enough due to their specialization.
And considering that I have a background as in-house editor as well as 6 years of movie and TV translation, it might make more sense to the client to train someone like me.
And of course I'm always happy to learn something new ▲ Collapse
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