SDL Language Cloud Plans

Robert Rietvelt wrote:

But one thing I noticed in the whole marketing attack of SDL, is that the focus for 2017 is on MT, hence my question.

Personally I don't use MT, because A) in my language combinations it gives terrible results, B) clients don't like it or forbid it, and C) of your reasons.

SDL_David_M wrote:

Hi,

Just wanted to clarify, there is indeed a $10 basic package for Language Cloud MT. Full details of this and all the packages can be found here http://www.sdl.com/languagecloud/machine-translation/pricing.html

When you upgrade to the basic package you not only get more characters, but also the chance to incorporate your own personal dictionaries - the benefit here is that you can start to get custom results MT results, as Language Cloud will review your personal terminology before providing the result.

You can find a quick intro video to using LCMT & dictionaries half way down this page http://www.sdl.com/languagecloud/machine-translation/

Thanks

David

David Pooley wrote:

I would ask why you want to use MT in the first place? Using MT is typically associated with a "post-editing" workflow which is generally accepted as have a productivity boost; if not, you wouldn't be using it I guess. The numbers for the actual productivity increase vary and here in SDL we've seen improvements of up to 40%. With this in mind, I'm going to run a quick calculation based on some (what I believe are) conservative figures:

Current words per hour: 250
Average price per word: $0.02
Revenue per hour: $5.00 (= 250 * $0.02)
Package cost: $10
Productivity increase: 20%
New words per hour: 300 (= 250 * 1.2)
New revenue per hour: $6.00 (= 300 * $0.02)
Hours taken to recover the cost of the package: 10 (=10$ / ($6.00 - $5.00))

I think that $0.02 per word is conservative and I've also halved the productivity boost here. Similarly the $35 package would take 35 hours to get your return on investment using the above figures. With this in mind, does the price tag still seem so high?

Regards,

David (SDL)

That's all very nice and neat. I like calculations based on numbers taken from anywhere only to confirm your thesis.

The thing is that first of all I meant the 35 dollar package, the cost of which is simply too high for a freelancer like me. I didn't see the 10 dollar before, that's why I complained a bit.

Now, as for the calculations. I don't think that Language Cloud increases my productivity by 20 per cent. 5-10 perhaps, but 40 for sure not. In combination with other MT engines the number may, perhaps, reach 20-25.

Having said that, I like to have several MT engines at my disposal, but I think I can live without Language Cloud, I might want to pay for it when my language pair for adaptive MT will be supported. But for the time being I consider it a waste of money, because the results produced are similar if not worse to what Google and Bing offer.

Honestly? To increase my productivity by perhaps more than 30 per cent, I prefer to spend 25 dollars a month for a gym membership. It's healthier and, boy, way more fun.

David Pooley wrote:
Current words per hour: 250
Average price per word: $0.02
Revenue per hour: $5.00 (= 250 * $0.02)
Package cost: $10
Productivity increase: 20%
New words per hour: 300 (= 250 * 1.2)
New revenue per hour: $6.00 (= 300 * $0.02)
Hours taken to recover the cost of the package: 10 (=10$ / ($6.00 - $5.00))

Siegfried Armbruster wrote:



Wait a moment, something seems to be wrong here.

ok, assuming that as a translator, you re still hobbling away at 250-300 words per hour. Previously, we were told that the use of Studio would increase our productivity by at least 30 %, this brings us to 390 words per hour. We were also told that AutoSuggest would increase our productivity by about 35 %, wow, we just reached 526 words per hour. Now you are telling us that your new adaptive MT feature will boost this by another 40% up to 736 words per hour. Multiplied by 6 hours per day, this will give us 4416 words per day. This might sound impressive, but to be honest, I am already translating > 5000 words per day with my current workflow, why should I pay for your solution.
The 2nd point that does seem wrong here is your average price of $0.02 per word. You must be joking. I know from discussions on other platforms that SDL is known to offer their freelancers very low rates, but I am really surprised to learn that you are calculating with rates that are even lower than anything else we have seen from low paying LSPs. A revenue of $6.00 per hour (that you seem to find ok) is a frivolity and a reason not to buy any SDL products in the future.

David Pooley wrote:
Current words per hour: 250
Average price per word: $0.02
New words per hour: 300 (= 250 * 1.2)
New revenue per hour: $6.00 (= 300 * $0.02)
I think that $0.02 per word is conservative and I've also halved the productivity boost here. Similarly the $35 package would take 35 hours to get your return on investment using the above figures. With this in mind, does the price tag still seem so high?
Regards,
David (SDL)

Wojciech Matyszkiewicz wrote:

Having tried the Language Cloud MT first and then moving to the Free plan, I've noticed that recently the 600,000 character limit has been decreased to only 400,000.

Now, I would be willing to use a paid plan, but the cheapest one is... 35 dollars. Really?