How to charge for specializard Proofreading and Reviewing Thread poster: Berenice Font
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Berenice Font 
Mexico
Local time: 05:17
Member (2010)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Hello everyone,
I turn to you in search for orientation on the best way to set rates for specialized proofreadind and reviewing of a translation done by someone else.
Is it best to charge by quoted amount of work hours or by source word?
thank you all.
| | | | sokolniki
United States
Local time: 06:17
English to Russian
+ ...
.. and I charge one hour minimum.
| | | | | It's not easy... | Sep 22, 2010 |
Yes, per hour is the ideal situation, but customers usually want to know beforehand what the job will cost them, so a per-word rate is the only way to go many times.
Now, the rate you should charge will depend on a number of factors:
- How good is the translator's knowledge of the source and target languages?
- How good is your knowledge of the source and target languages?
- How experienced is the translator in the field at hand?
- Are you experienced in the ... See more Yes, per hour is the ideal situation, but customers usually want to know beforehand what the job will cost them, so a per-word rate is the only way to go many times.
Now, the rate you should charge will depend on a number of factors:
- How good is the translator's knowledge of the source and target languages?
- How good is your knowledge of the source and target languages?
- How experienced is the translator in the field at hand?
- Are you experienced in the field at hand?
- How careful was the translator handling mechanicals like spelling, punctuation, tags?
- What is the format and nature of the files?
- What CAT system or other translation system will be used?
Unfortunately I don't have a unified answer for this question, but the above are questions I ask myself when I am offered a proofreading job.
The best way to go in order to answer all these questions is to ask the customer for a sample of the translated materials. This way you can quickly assess all these factors and give a reasonable price based on the effort required to deliver a perfect proofread text. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Berenice Font
Mexico
Local time: 05:17
Member (2010)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Not easy as Tomas Says | Sep 22, 2010 |
Thank you for your answer Sokolniki!
And Tomas, you detailed a very good explanation, all the questions are very accurate and guide the decision making process. I want to thank you very much. I would say defining a rate per word would be fair once all the elements you presented are analyzed.
Thank you very much!
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| If machine translation | Sep 22, 2010 |
I wanted to answer some of the questions with a machine translation, based on the texts I have seen so far:
- How good is the translator's knowledge of the source and target languages?
>> Clearly insufficient.
- How experienced is the translator in the field at hand?
>> Machine translation systems may have specialised glossaries, but the result is far worse than that of an experienced translator since the machine cannot understand what it's reading, as an ex... See more I wanted to answer some of the questions with a machine translation, based on the texts I have seen so far:
- How good is the translator's knowledge of the source and target languages?
>> Clearly insufficient.
- How experienced is the translator in the field at hand?
>> Machine translation systems may have specialised glossaries, but the result is far worse than that of an experienced translator since the machine cannot understand what it's reading, as an experienced translator can.
- How careful was the translator handling mechanicals like spelling, punctuation, tags?
>> Very careful. Machine translations rarely mistakes in this aspect, although they don't fix mistakes present in the source text either.
Machine translations take the longest when you proofread or review them. Always think that fixing a machine translation will take anything from 50% to 80% of the time it would take you to translate from scratch. Be very careful if quoting to proofread machine translations! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Berenice Font
Mexico
Local time: 05:17
Member (2010)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | no machine can ever do a human's work | Sep 22, 2010 |
Thank you once again for your comments. I was teaching english last year and my students somehow always thought they could let google translator do their homework. Turned out to be the funniest thing to read those incomprehensible texts!!!
About automatic review, I sometimes use them mostly for spelling or keyboard mistakes, but never rely for gramatical errors they select.
There is no such thing as a machine that could process what a human brain can.
gra... See more Thank you once again for your comments. I was teaching english last year and my students somehow always thought they could let google translator do their homework. Turned out to be the funniest thing to read those incomprehensible texts!!!
About automatic review, I sometimes use them mostly for spelling or keyboard mistakes, but never rely for gramatical errors they select.
There is no such thing as a machine that could process what a human brain can.
gracias Tomás! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Roberto Bertuol
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:17
Member (2007)
Italian to English
+ ...
| Proofreading rates | Sep 22, 2010 |
I usually charge 25/30% of the full rate and I charge per word. For instance, if my rate per word for translations is 0.08 Eurocent, the (rounded down) proofreading rate will be 0.02 Eurocent. Of course, if the quality is really bad, I usually contact the client and possibly increase the rate.
| | | | Berenice Font
Mexico
Local time: 05:17
Member (2010)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Roberto. I read in other forums that some reviewers can cahrge up tp 50% of the translation rate, in one forum here on PROZ they affirmed that you could charge this much. What do you think?
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Louisa Berry
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:17
Member (2009)
German to English
I normally start off at about 50% of my word rate for translation. If its accepted, great. If not then depending on the client and workload I am sometimes willing to negotiate down to 1/4 to 1/3.
| | | | Berenice Font
Mexico
Local time: 05:17
Member (2010)
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Your answer is the simplest and fairest | Sep 22, 2010 |
Louisa Fox wrote:
I normally start off at about 50% of my word rate for translation. If its accepted, great. If not then depending on the client and workload I am sometimes willing to negotiate down to 1/4 to 1/3.
Thank you so much Louisa, so far I think I'd go with your method, it seems to me as the simplest and fairest way to go.
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