How do you charge for JSON files?
Thread poster: Joanie G
Joanie G
Joanie G  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:39
English to French
Apr 13, 2015

Hey everyone!

I've received a new project from a client of mine, but all the files are in JSON format. While I am able to open them, I can't extract the values from the code, and therefore I can't calculate the actual number of words to translate, and I can't use any of my CAT tools.

I've tried to work with them and have them ask their programmers to extract the values, but they don't seem to be able to/want to. I have warned them that I will charge them for the total w
... See more
Hey everyone!

I've received a new project from a client of mine, but all the files are in JSON format. While I am able to open them, I can't extract the values from the code, and therefore I can't calculate the actual number of words to translate, and I can't use any of my CAT tools.

I've tried to work with them and have them ask their programmers to extract the values, but they don't seem to be able to/want to. I have warned them that I will charge them for the total word count (codes included) if they can't provide me with a workable format, since it will take me so much more time to manually enter the translation into the code, but they don't seem to care.

We have arrived at a point where they just want me to work with the raw file and send them a quote.

What would you do? Would you charge them your translation rate for every single word including the code? Add a certain % discount (how much)? I'm at bit of a loss as to what is fair at this point.

Thank you for your help!
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Angela Malik
Angela Malik  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:39
German to English
+ ...
I've done this Apr 13, 2015

I had a job exactly like this. Lots of code with text mixed in there.

I warned the client that the word count was insane (it was a huge job anyway, and the code brought the word count up from about 70,000 words to a whopping 100,000 words or something. I also warned them that the code would make any kind of TM absolutely useless.

I offered them two options:

1) I translate "around" the code and charge by the hour, which would save them money in terms of not
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I had a job exactly like this. Lots of code with text mixed in there.

I warned the client that the word count was insane (it was a huge job anyway, and the code brought the word count up from about 70,000 words to a whopping 100,000 words or something. I also warned them that the code would make any kind of TM absolutely useless.

I offered them two options:

1) I translate "around" the code and charge by the hour, which would save them money in terms of not paying for an extra 30,000 words and would compensate me for the extra time it would take to wade through the code in the first place.

2) I remove the code myself, charging per hour to prep the files, translate the files charging my usual per-word rate (which would give them a discount on the actual translation in terms of the repetitions in the job) and then manually put the code back in, again charging per hour. I offered to start prepping the files, do about an hour's paid work, and then we'd have a pretty good idea of how much time it would take to prep the rest of it and insert code manually after translation. In the end they would have their translation and a workable TM (which happened to be important to them).

My client went for option 2, and for what it's worth, the hour's prep that they initially paid for to determine the estimated time costs was worth it because my estimate was exactly right, so the quote they got ended up being accurate.

Edited to add: I got the client to provide the text, words and code together as an Excel, which your client's programmers should at least be able to manage. That would allow you to offer them option 2 or at the very least, use your CAT tool so you can concordance terms as you translate through code.

[Edited at 2015-04-13 20:20 GMT]
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Paulinho Fonseca
Paulinho Fonseca  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 15:39
Member (2011)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Charge it accordingly Apr 13, 2015

@Angela,

once the client doesn't seem to care about how you will deal with the workload, it would be fair enough to charge the real thing:

-time spent;
-manual translation to be done as you mentioned;
-quality of source doc;
-number of inputs, etc.


I wouldn't offer discount considering that I would have to work on every term/segment.





 
Angela Malik
Angela Malik  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:39
German to English
+ ...
Charge the real thing? Apr 13, 2015

Paulinho Fonseca wrote:

@Angela,

once the client doesn't seem to care about how you will deal with the workload, it would be fair enough to charge the real thing


I did charge the real thing -- every hour of my time was accounted for. I certainly didn't do any work for free! But the client appreciated the transparency: since charging per word is unfair when (in my case) the extra code brings the cost up by thousands of extra euros, even though I don't actually have to translate it, then charging per hour is as "real" as it gets: they pay for the work without feeling ripped off and I get compensated for the time of having to work through the code.

Actually, in my case, I got paid a fair amount (NO free work on my part, even when making the initial quote) and the client saved well over 2000 euros so they were happy. So happy, in fact, that they recently asked me to cover the other languages they want to translate the text into.

Edited to add:

If you meant "the real thing" because I mentioned getting an Excel to work with a CAT tool, let me clarify that I still would have charged per hour if the code was there -- but if the job is huge and repetitive or at least has repetitive terminology, using a CAT tool might make the translator's life easier because at least she won't have to search around for the terms once she's done the research the first time. I definitely wouldn't offer any per-word discounts to the client unless I had a prepped file.

[Edited at 2015-04-13 21:05 GMT]


 
Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 19:39
English to Dutch
+ ...
Using CAT with JSON Apr 14, 2015

I once had to translate a JSON file. I noticed it consisted entirely of standard HTML code. So I added .html to the filename. After that, Trados Studio 2014 imported it without any hassle, hiding all code and leaving just the translateable text. At the end, I removed the .html ending from the generated source file and I was ready.
Now this was a pretty straight forward file, so there might actually be differences between .json and .html that I am not aware of. So I can't guarantee anything
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I once had to translate a JSON file. I noticed it consisted entirely of standard HTML code. So I added .html to the filename. After that, Trados Studio 2014 imported it without any hassle, hiding all code and leaving just the translateable text. At the end, I removed the .html ending from the generated source file and I was ready.
Now this was a pretty straight forward file, so there might actually be differences between .json and .html that I am not aware of. So I can't guarantee anything.
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Didier Briel
Didier Briel  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:39
English to French
+ ...
You could use Okapi Rainbow Apr 14, 2015

Joanie G wrote:
I've received a new project from a client of mine, but all the files are in JSON format. While I am able to open them, I can't extract the values from the code, and therefore I can't calculate the actual number of ords to translate, and I can't use any of my CAT tools.

With Okapi Rainbow, you could extract the translatable text and work with a CAT tool.
http://okapi.opentag.com/
http://www.opentag.com/okapi/wiki/index.php?title=JSON_Filter

Didier


 
Lori Cirefice
Lori Cirefice  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:39
French to English
Search for past info on Proz Apr 14, 2015

Surely there is a way to translate it using a CAT tool:

...
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Surely there is a way to translate it using a CAT tool:

http://www.proz.com/forum/wordfast_support/250181-translating_json_files.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/translator_resources/176903-which_cat_tool_can_i_use_to_translate_json_files.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/sdl_trados_support/283253-problems_analyzing_json_files_in_trados_studio_2010.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/cat_tools_technical_help/250175-translating_json_file_with_which_cat_tool.html
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Joanie G
Joanie G  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:39
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you! Apr 14, 2015

Thank you so much everyone for your help!!

 


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How do you charge for JSON files?







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