How to quote price for a page in Italy Initiator des Themas: Jay Kim
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Jay Kim 
Korea, Republik (Süd-)
Local time: 17:26
Englisch > Koreanisch
+ ...
Hi all,
Being still a newbie on ProZ, I have to ask for your help again with price quote for a page. A translation agency in Ivrea, Italy inquired me if I can help them with ENG>KOR translation of IT project. For European companies, my base rate is 0.1 Euro per word and 0.12 or higher for specialized subjects, i.e., medical, pharmaceutical, legal, technical, etc. Well, I know translation rate/price is set on different standards depending on countries. Per 1000 words in UK, Per line ... See more Hi all,
Being still a newbie on ProZ, I have to ask for your help again with price quote for a page. A translation agency in Ivrea, Italy inquired me if I can help them with ENG>KOR translation of IT project. For European companies, my base rate is 0.1 Euro per word and 0.12 or higher for specialized subjects, i.e., medical, pharmaceutical, legal, technical, etc. Well, I know translation rate/price is set on different standards depending on countries. Per 1000 words in UK, Per line in Germany, Switzerland and some Eastern European countries. Most European companies I worked with asked me quote per word and that is all I know. I do not know how to quote for a page. They said "usually we consider that 1 page = 1.500 characters, spaces included". If they can accept quote per word, I like to propose 0.1 Euro per word if their material is not highly technical as this is first collaboration. But I need to know average(or moderate, I'd rather say) price for a page in Italy before moving ahead. Thanks in advance for your help!
Jay
[Edited at 2008-02-04 15:11] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | How to quote for a page in italy | Feb 4, 2008 |
Hi Jay,
All I can tell you is that in Italy a page of 1500 characters+spaces has about 220 words. Unfortunately I know practically nothing about prices for translations from or to korean.
I hope that helps.
Madalina Martac
| | | | | It depends on language and subject matter | Feb 4, 2008 |
However, as a guideline €0.10 per word of English very roughly equates to €22.00 per cartella (page) of 1500 characters including spaces (this is the standard way of counting in Italy, some agencies use words but in my experience most use cartelle).
In other words, one cartella is about 220 words of English (at least when I write it!... See more However, as a guideline €0.10 per word of English very roughly equates to €22.00 per cartella (page) of 1500 characters including spaces (this is the standard way of counting in Italy, some agencies use words but in my experience most use cartelle).
In other words, one cartella is about 220 words of English (at least when I write it!). In practice of course it varies with the text. ▲ Collapse
| | | | smarinella
Italien
Local time: 09:26
Deutsch > Italienisch
+ ...
| prices in Italy | Feb 4, 2008 |
Hallo,
I have absolutey no idea how much a Korean, Japanese or Mongolian translator living in Italy can ask for a page (cartella)....
I only know a couple of (really competent, I have to say) Scandinavian translators who charge for IT>DA/NO until 30,- / 35,- €. Even more, for highly difficult texts... Although Italy unfortunately belongs to the countries with VERY low rates...
Of course, every price is negotiable...
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| English-Korean rates | Feb 4, 2008 |
Hi Jay,
I have attached a link to a renowned "tariffometer" for rates in Italy. Unfortunately, the site is in Italian. But if you take a look at the table under "Coreano" (Korean), you'll see that the second column contains the factor 2.6. What does this mean? It means that the rate to be charged is 2.6 times the average Italian rate. Please keep in mind that this table has not been compiled according to scientific methods, but it can be used as an indication. Now, let's say the av... See more Hi Jay,
I have attached a link to a renowned "tariffometer" for rates in Italy. Unfortunately, the site is in Italian. But if you take a look at the table under "Coreano" (Korean), you'll see that the second column contains the factor 2.6. What does this mean? It means that the rate to be charged is 2.6 times the average Italian rate. Please keep in mind that this table has not been compiled according to scientific methods, but it can be used as an indication. Now, let's say the average rate in Italy is 15-18 euros per page. Multiplied by 2.6, that makes 39-44 euros. If I were you, I would ask at least 40 euros per page, even more so because they're asking you to translate from English to Korean, a combination that is rare as chicken teeth in Italy.
http://www.turner.it/T-%20Altre_lingue.htm ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jay Kim
Korea, Republik (Süd-)
Local time: 17:26
Englisch > Koreanisch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER | Cartella and English-Korean rate | Feb 5, 2008 |
Many thanks for kind feedback by Itaian colleagues. I have to confess that I was very confused when my client asked me "price quote for a page(usually we consider that 1 page = 1.500 characters, spaces included)". A couple of Italian agencies I worked for asked me rate per word and that was all I knew! You taught me a lot about what she meant by 1 page = 1,500 characters -- Cartella!!! If 1 caretella has only 220 words as standard, I do not need to repeat 0.1 Euro was TOO LITTLE for IT project. ... See more Many thanks for kind feedback by Itaian colleagues. I have to confess that I was very confused when my client asked me "price quote for a page(usually we consider that 1 page = 1.500 characters, spaces included)". A couple of Italian agencies I worked for asked me rate per word and that was all I knew! You taught me a lot about what she meant by 1 page = 1,500 characters -- Cartella!!! If 1 caretella has only 220 words as standard, I do not need to repeat 0.1 Euro was TOO LITTLE for IT project. As Smarinella and Alessandro noted, I suppose I could suggest somewhere between 30 and 40 Euros for a page in rough calculation. I think Italian linguists working in Asian language or Asian linguists working in Italy can enlighten me on this point. I am afraid there are very few of them. Somehow I gave my client quote per word but reminded her if she feels uncomfortable with rate per word, we can discuss price for a page.
Jay
[Edited at 2008-02-05 15:54] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Price per cartella has nothing to do with price per word | Feb 5, 2008 |
Jay Kim wrote:
If 1 caretella has only 220 words as standard, I do not need to repeat 0.1 Euro was TOO LITTLE for IT project.
Jay [Edited at 2008-02-05 15:54]
We've given 220 words as a guideline, but that's all it is – cartelle are counted by number of characters, not words. For example, in this paragraph (from "We've" to "characters") there are 349 characters, equivalent to 0.23 cartelle, and 56 words. Another paragraph could contain more characters but fewer words, or more words but fewer characters.
[Edited at 2008-02-05 17:52]
| | | | Jay Kim
Korea, Republik (Süd-)
Local time: 17:26
Englisch > Koreanisch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER | That understood | Feb 19, 2008 |
Marie-Hélène Hayles wrote:
We've given 220 words as a guideline, but that's all it is – cartelle are counted by number of characters, not words. Another paragraph could contain more characters but fewer words, or more words but fewer characters.
[Edited at 2008-02-05 17:52]
Hi Marie,
That understood -- cartella is 1500 characters including spaces. Number of words can be more or less than 220 words. CORE of my ISSUE was Cartella quote vs. Per word quote. Considering rairty of my pair in Italy, I just meant my quote of 0.1 Euro was low based on-- assuming-- the input that 1 cartella has 220 words, for example. I absolutely had no idea how many words per each page her text contains, of course.
Hope I made myself clear!
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Paul Dixon
Brasilien
Local time: 05:26
Portugiesisch > Englisch
+ ...
In stillem Gedenken
It is interesting that in Italy translations are charged by cartella (cartelle in plural) rather than by word. A similar method called the 'lauda' is used in Brazil, but fortunately this is on the wane now, nearly everyone now charges by source word. (Except for sworn translations and book translations, where the 'lauda' is still strong - in fact it's compulsory for sworn translations)
There were four big problems with the lauda. First, as the lauda was usually based on target text,... See more It is interesting that in Italy translations are charged by cartella (cartelle in plural) rather than by word. A similar method called the 'lauda' is used in Brazil, but fortunately this is on the wane now, nearly everyone now charges by source word. (Except for sworn translations and book translations, where the 'lauda' is still strong - in fact it's compulsory for sworn translations)
There were four big problems with the lauda. First, as the lauda was usually based on target text, clients would object to the fact that they would only know the price after the work was completed. Secondly, in the case of jobs with a down payment, it would be difficult to calculate, say, 25% for advance payment. Thirdly, very few people outside the translation world had even heard of a 'lauda' before. Once I spent an hour on the telephone explaining the concept to a direct client. And finally, each translator had a different 'lauda'. Mine was 1300 chars with spaces, but I have seen everything from 1000 to 2100 chars as being a lauda, and 180 to 250 words (both with and without spaces). There was even an agency that calculated the lauda using a complex formula with characters, words and paragraphs - possibly to make it more difficult for the translator to know how low the rates were.
It would be interesting to know how gl'italiani deal with these aspects in the case of the cartella. If you charge x for a cartella of 250 words, it would be much more logical to charge 4x per 1000 words. Indeed, the cartella is unheard of outside Italy - just like the lauda. (I had only heard of it today. I had heard that in Italy a different unit was used but didn't know the name or how it worked). Charging by 'source cartella' (counting the source words) rather than target would at least allow the client to know the price in advance. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 08:26
Mitglied (2008)
Italienisch > Englisch
smarinella wrote:
.... Italy unfortunately belongs to the countries with VERY low rates...
Indeed it is. Believe it or not, Italian agencies consider the rate of 0.10 quoted above by Helen and Jay almost unthinkably high. You have to really big yourself up to prevent those agencies from forcing you downwards - or simply refuse to work for them.
For charging, I always assume a "cartella" is 250 words. Is that wrong?
[Edited at 2020-05-03 10:15 GMT]
| | | | | This is not correct | May 3, 2020 |
Tom in London wrote:
For charging, I always assume a "cartella" is 250 words. Is that wrong?
As Marie-Hélène and others have explained, a cartella is volume-based and has always 1500 characters w/space (except book translations AFAIK), and is intended as output, i.e. target text.
In German speaking countries BTW, until not too much time ago, everyone used to count per lines, with 50 - 60 characters, but mostly 55 (target text as well). I still invoice many of my customers per line and continue to get inquiries for a quote per line, although charging per source word is now probably more diffused.
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