What fees to charge for translation work

[JN53 355]

I don't have to charge VAT this year. Yeah, I am sure anyone really doing translation for living would not do this. I assume they'd try to find a student to do it. It deals with standards in the transportation and security area.

[Conquistador 11,153]

I'd advise you to make a counteroffer, but if they won't come close at least somewhat close to your asking price, I wouldn't bother doing it unless you really don't have anything else to do. You're going to spend time on this that would be better spent teaching, frankly, or looking for new customers.

 

You don't have to charge VAT, but was it made clear that the offer is net of VAT?

[El Jeffo 42,119]

€4000 would be a cheap price for a translation of that length. €800 is just ludicrous. You'll spend all month on it.

[JN53 355]

I have another question. Is the normal translation time per page (30 lines)usually an hour? It took me a bit longer than an hour to do a page, but I rarely do translation.

 

There is a grant available that is only 800 euros, so there's no room for negotiating on price. I figure with my other work it'd take me 6-8 weeks to get that booklet done, if I actually do it. I'm actually only considering it because she's a friend and it'd be more for the experience, than the money.

 

Again, thanks for the replies.

[arsenal21 400]

Forget it. Friendship based on business is worth more than business based on friendship.

[onemark 787]

@ conquistador (#300):

 

Depends on the subject;-))))

[Conquistador 11,153]

 

I have another question. Is the normal translation time per page (30 lines)usually an hour? It took me a bit longer than an hour to do a page, but I rarely do translation.

 

There is a grant available that is only 800 euros, so there's no room for negotiating on price. I figure with my other work it'd take me 6-8 weeks to get that booklet done, if I actually do it. I'm actually only considering it because she's a friend and it'd be more for the experience, than the money.

 

Again, thanks for the replies.

 

Just because it's from a friend, doesn't mean that it's reasonable and that you have to do it. As I and others suggested earlier, it's not worth your time. You can gain experience with more reasonably-sized (and priced)translation jobs.

[ahimsa 57]

 

I have another question. Is the normal translation time per page (30 lines)usually an hour? It took me a bit longer than an hour to do a page, but I rarely do translation.

@JN53 If it took over an hour to do 1 page, then that's ~160+ hours to finish the document.

Like El Jeffo said, that's a whole month working on it, for ~€5/hr!!

[JN53 355]

Yeah, I figure it would take me that long, but maybe some pages would go quicker. Anyway, she is going to try to negotiate with the people who would be paying the bill.

[JN53 355]

I just thought I'd give a quick update. The translation (that I talked about sometime ago) was shortened and the pay increased and I only have to do part of it right now. I sure am learning how long it really takes to do translation. I think I'll stick with short stuff in the future.

[Conquistador 11,153]

Good to hear that the terms improved a little, and this has clearly been a good learning experience for you. Unfortunately, lots of people only want to pay peanuts for a good translation.

[onemark 787]

@ Conquistador (#311):

 

You're right. Ours is a grossly underpaid, much-maligned and generally underrated profession.

 

We are written off as glorified secretaries and scribblers who have the audacity to charge outrageously high fees for what is after all only writing.

 

End of bitching session.

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year anyway.

 

onemark.

[berliner2007 1]

Hi everyone,

 

I have been asked to translate a 20 page proposal for a project for a University in Berlin. I am not a certified professional. This translation is supposed to be invoiced separately and I am not sure how long a document like this would take. It seems to have about 420 words a page on average. I was asked to give an estimated cost for the entire job. What do you think would be reasonable?

[jeba 4,342]

1 hour ago, berliner2007 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I have been asked to translate a 20 page proposal for a project for a University in Berlin. I am not a certified professional. This translation is supposed to be invoiced separately and I am not sure how long a document like this would take. It seems to have about 420 words a page on average. I was asked to give an estimated cost for the entire job. What do you think would be reasonable?

I used a certified professional and she charged € 20/page. These were official documents like police records etc. with much less than 420 words/page. So for a nonprofessional  translation my guess would be about € 10/page.

[scook17 247]

Most of the questions here are related to translation of a document. A friend of mine works as a freelance medical translator, so translating for private patients (US + Russian) who don't speak German. She does simultanous translation, or in other words she can translate fairly much immediately, rather than listen to the doctors explaination and then summarise. She's been working in this field for more than five years now, so has quite some experience as to who to see/what they need etc. She also organizes appointments, visas, hotels, taxi's etc as often her client's speak zero German. However, last year with the travel ban on foriegners, most of her work from the places she works for has dried up and it doesn't look like this will change any time soon.

 

I was wondering what other options there are for people experienced more with face-to-face translation, rather than translating documents. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

 

 

[engelchen 13,040]

48 minutes ago, scook17 said:

Most of the questions here are related to translation of a document. A friend of mine works as a freelance medical translator, so translating for private patients (US + Russian) who don't speak German. She does simultanous translation, or in other words she can translate fairly much immediately, rather than listen to the doctors explaination and then summarise. She's been working in this field for more than five years now, so has quite some experience as to who to see/what they need etc. She also organizes appointments, visas, hotels, taxi's etc as often her client's speak zero German. However, last year with the travel ban on foriegners, most of her work from the places she works for has dried up and it doesn't look like this will change any time soon.

 

I was wondering what other options there are for people experienced more with face-to-face translation, rather than translating documents. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

 

 

First of all

 

Written translation = übersetzen 

 

Spoken translation (aka interpreting) = dolmetschen 

 

In Germany these are two related but separate professions.

 

If she has the necessary formal qualifications she might want to look into the exams to become a court certified interpreter. 

 

She could also try the industry website: https://bdue.de/der-bdue