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Typical demand for translation rate
Initiator des Themas: Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice
Alisha Rice  Identity Verified
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 06:51
Mitglied (2024)
Spanisch > Englisch
+ ...
Jun 19, 2023

What do most translators demand for their rates if they are first starting out? I just want some advice for those in the field.
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Niederlande
Local time: 14:51
Mitglied (2006)
Englisch > Afrikaans
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@Alisha Jun 21, 2023

Alisha Rice wrote:
What do most translators demand for their rates if they are first starting out? I just want some advice for those in the field.

I think most translators would take a look at the average rate charged by other translators (here and here), and then charge slightly less, in order to be competitive without undercutting their colleagues by too much. New translators may also have heard that it's very difficult to raise your rates, so it's typically not a smart idea to start off by charging much less than what you'd hope to earn 5-10 years down the line. Some translators might try to be smart in the other direction and start off by charging slightly more than the average, so that they end up with a larger proportion of higher paying clients earlier in their careers.

Robert Rietvelt
Dalia Nour
Peter Dahm Robertson
Eleanor Odhiambo
Philip Lees
 
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:51
Mitglied (2007)
Englisch > Portugiesisch
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@Alisha Jun 22, 2023

What we translators charge to a client depends on the market (AFAIK translators in Asian markets charge much less than I do), on the language combination (I translate from English, French, Italian and Spanish into European Portuguese and I don’t charge the same for Spanish as I do for English) and on the subject matter (I don’t charge the same for a birth certificate as I do for an environment report, for example). I’m not starting out (I have been translating for over 40 years) and the ba... See more
What we translators charge to a client depends on the market (AFAIK translators in Asian markets charge much less than I do), on the language combination (I translate from English, French, Italian and Spanish into European Portuguese and I don’t charge the same for Spanish as I do for English) and on the subject matter (I don’t charge the same for a birth certificate as I do for an environment report, for example). I’m not starting out (I have been translating for over 40 years) and the bare minimum I invoice is 0.09€/word with a minimum charge of 40€. ▲ Collapse
 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 09:51
Mitglied (2005)
Englisch > Chinesisch
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English usage Jun 22, 2023

Alisha Rice wrote:

What do most translators demand for their rates if they are first starting out? I just want some advice for those in the field.


You translate into English, so presumably you are a native English speaker. As someone using English as his second language, I have never seen or heard this expression: "demand for their rates." Is there any special reason why you wrote it this way?

Also, when you said "I just want some advice for those in the field," did you intend to say "I just want some advice FROM those in the field?"

I'm sorry to bother you with this but trust me, I'm not nitpicking. I was just curious why some native English speakers write English phrases that cannot be found in Google search. Is your usage more idiomatic, rhetoric, or creative?

[Edited at 2023-06-22 15:40 GMT]

Jorge Payan
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 


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Typical demand for translation rate







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