| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Fee per page? Thread poster: Celeste BJ
|
|---|
I'd like to know much do you think it is reasonable to charge for a
translation PER PAGE? (I just got a request for a client) but I am lost
because I usually charge per word.
This is a simple to moderate regular text.
Language: English to Spanish
Type of document: Manual of a Life/social skills Workshop
Target audience: Facilitators
Thanks in advance!
| | | | Michele Fauble 
United States
Local time: 03:42
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
Why don't you just tell the client you charge per word?
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 11:42
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| 2 possibilities | Jun 24, 2013 |
Do you know why the client wants you to quote this way? It sounds as though it's a direct client so could it be that he just thought that was the normal way? Do you really need to comply? Maybe you just need to get back to this client and say what you normally charge, letting him know that per-word rates are perfectly normal.
If he insists for some reason, a page is generally deemed to be about 250 words, I believe. So base your quote on that. But don't take my word for that as I've... See more Do you know why the client wants you to quote this way? It sounds as though it's a direct client so could it be that he just thought that was the normal way? Do you really need to comply? Maybe you just need to get back to this client and say what you normally charge, letting him know that per-word rates are perfectly normal.
If he insists for some reason, a page is generally deemed to be about 250 words, I believe. So base your quote on that. But don't take my word for that as I've never done it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | ATIL KAYHAN
Türkiye
Local time: 13:42
Member (2007)
Turkish to English
+ ...
| I charge per word, too. | Jun 24, 2013 |
Do you have the manual? If yes, you can get a word count for a few (or several) pages, and calculate the average. If you do not have the manual, it gets more difficult. Then, you can do the same calculation for another document that you have.
| | |
|
|
|
Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 04:42
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Per word is our standard, especially in EnglishSpanish. There is no such thing as a "standard page". One man's page can be another's postage stamp or life history, we never know. That is why you quote by the word. But there are other considerations as well: Will you have to deal with a difficult format? Illegible documents? Lists of items or endless, tedious pieces of data and numbers or codes with little context? All the latter can entail extra charges.
Do not, under ANY circumstan... See more Per word is our standard, especially in EnglishSpanish. There is no such thing as a "standard page". One man's page can be another's postage stamp or life history, we never know. That is why you quote by the word. But there are other considerations as well: Will you have to deal with a difficult format? Illegible documents? Lists of items or endless, tedious pieces of data and numbers or codes with little context? All the latter can entail extra charges.
Do not, under ANY circumstances, quote a job without seeing the ENTIRE job first. Just politely inform the client that you charge by the word, and some of the considerations mentioned above can also affect the price. After seeing the material involved, then you can quote an exact price and stick to it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Maciej W
Poland
Local time: 12:42
English to Polish
+ ...
| Charging per page | Jun 24, 2013 |
I'm from Poland and get most of my work locally, and here charging per page is pretty standard. "A page" is normally 1800 characters (spaces included), so it's quite a fair measure. As to the financial side, you'd probably charge for a page what you charge for 250-300 words (depends on the language, for my calculations I mostly use 275 ). Also, most CAT tools should give you the page count in their analyses.
| | | | Olga Slavova
Ukraine
Local time: 13:42
English to Russian
+ ...
| In Ukraine and Russia it's a common practice to charge by page. | Jun 24, 2013 |
One page is 1800 characters including spaces. One standard page consists of about 250 words. I ususally count this way.
| | | |
You can charge per page of any other number of words multiplied by your word rate. However, I find 250 words (which is the local standard) to be very intuitive, because it can be quickly converted into pages without a calculator (by multiplying the number of words by 4: for example 4K words is 16 pages, 8K words is 32 pages, etc.). You invoice the number of words in the file divided by 250 x page rate.
HTH
| | |
|
|
|
Hi all,
I suppose the 250 words you are referring to are pages from books, as A4 paper, which is on a Word document, has far more, depending on line spacing. Good to know how many words a page from a book contains though, as I am always confused when I am asked to quote per page.
| | | | | Beware, though | Jun 24, 2013 |
The customer may mean a page of their document to be translated and not a "standard" or whatever page.
A "page" can then be any size.
Have the doc sent to you to be safe.
Philippe
| | | | | Yes, there is somehting called a "standard page" | Jun 24, 2013 |
Henry Hinds wrote:
There is no such thing as a "standard page". One man's page can be another's postage stamp or life history, we never know.
On the contrary, there are "standard pages" - for example, translations in Italy are still often calculated in "cartelle" (= standard pages).
Each cartella is deemed to be 1500 characters (spaces included) for commercial/technical translations (i.e. 60 characters per line, and 25 lines per page), or 1800 characters (i.e., 60 characters per line, 30 lines per page) for editorial translations.
| | | | Olga Slavova
Ukraine
Local time: 13:42
English to Russian
+ ...
Philippe Etienne wrote:
The customer may mean a page of their document to be translated and not a "standard" or whatever page.
A "page" can then be any size.
Have the doc sent to you to be safe.
Philippe
To avoid the misunderstanding with a client it is better to mention that the quote is for one page which includes 1800 characters with spaces.
| | |
|
|
|
| Just out of interest | Jun 24, 2013 |
Why do so many countries still charge by the line or page? Is it just a relic of the days before word processing, when words weren't easy to count? Why is there no move towards charging by the word?
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 12:42
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| Quoting without having seen the document | Jun 25, 2013 |
You might try to ask your client to send you the work for a better evaluation of your rate, perhaps informing her/him that this is the fairest way for him/her.
The 250 words per page depend, actually, on the source language, e. g. English can have many more words on one page than German.
As our colleagues have already suggested, it would be best if you could convince your client to pay a per word rate.
| | | | nrichy (X)
France
Local time: 12:42
French to Dutch
+ ...
| It doesn't matter. | Jun 25, 2013 |
Why not mention both on your quote.
For instance: File xxx, 1000 words x 0.10 = € 100.
(two pages, price per page : €50)
Just make clear that the price per page depends of the file. In other cases, this can be:
File yyy, 1000 words x 0.10 = € 100.
(five pages, price per page : €20)
[Modifié le 2013-06-25 07:37 GMT]
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Fee per page? | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
