| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Is the price for the proofreading of a human translation 1/3 of the price for a translation? Thread poster: Małgorzata Gardocka
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Robert Forstag 
United States
Local time: 12:03
Spanish to English
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| In today's market, "proofreading jobs" seem less appealing than ever! | Feb 7, 2022 |
Given the depressed rates in the more common language pairs involving English, there are likely more jobs than ever that offer 3 to 4 cents a word for what amounts to disaster relief work.
There was plenty of this going on during "the good times" 10-15 years ago. It only makes sense that there would be even more now.
A lot of such jobs are generated from non-native translations and (unidentified or misidentified) machine translations.
It is hard t... See more Given the depressed rates in the more common language pairs involving English, there are likely more jobs than ever that offer 3 to 4 cents a word for what amounts to disaster relief work.
There was plenty of this going on during "the good times" 10-15 years ago. It only makes sense that there would be even more now.
A lot of such jobs are generated from non-native translations and (unidentified or misidentified) machine translations.
It is hard to see the appeal of such work for any established language professional. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Małgorzata Gardocka
Poland
Local time: 18:03
Member (2010)
German to Polish
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TOPIC STARTER | Is the price for the proofreading of a human translation 1/3 of the price for a translation | Feb 7, 2022 |
Robert Forstag wrote:
Given the depressed rates in the more common language pairs involving English, there are likely more jobs than ever that offer 3 to 4 cents a word for what amounts to disaster relief work.
A lot of such jobs are generated from non-native translations and (unidentified or misidentified) machine translations.
It is hard to see the appeal of such work for any established language professional.
This person even didn't want to agree to the price you've mentioned ...
And I absolutely share your opinion about "disaster relief work", because often it looks like that.
| | | | | The same in Peru | Feb 9, 2022 |
Małgorzata Gardocka wrote:
Good afternoon,
I'm establishing a cooperation with a new translation agency from Austria and when negotiating the price for proofreading of a human translation, the owner wrote me that the price for it is 1/3 the price for a human translation and that this is a rule worldwide.
That wonders me, because in Poland the price for the proofreading of a human translation is 1/2 of the price for a translation.
Is the owner of the translation agency right?
Kind regards,
Małgorzata
In Peru it's also 1/2 the price of the translation. It's better to charge like this than to charge per hour, you always earn more.
1,000 word proofreading at USD 20 per hour = USD 20
vs.
1,000 word proofreading at USD 0.035 (half of 0.07) per word = USD 35
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 12:03
Japanese to English
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| Proofreading | Feb 10, 2022 |
40 % for translation from Japanese. They didn't see fit to hire me for the translation, why should I give them a break.
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Peter Bak
Denmark
Local time: 18:03
English to Danish
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| Proofreading | Feb 10, 2022 |
In regards to proofreading, i put up my per word rate for proofreading (1/2 of my translation rate) on the condition that it is a competent, human translation that i am proofreading. If it isn't, there are two alternatives: My hourly rate or my full translation rate, as i will basically have to do the work all over.
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 12:03
Spanish to English
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| The importance of preventive measures | Feb 11, 2022 |
Peter Bak wrote:
In regards to proofreading, i put up my per word rate for proofreading (1/2 of my translation rate) on the condition that it is a competent, human translation that i am proofreading. {...}
The only modification I would make here would be to replace "competent" with "high-quality" (because "competent" implies "barely adequate").
But this is a mere quibble. The sad point here is that it is necessary to make such a stipulation, because of the common practice of passing off defective human translations or (unidentified) machine translations as "proofreading" projects.
| | | | Małgorzata Gardocka
Poland
Local time: 18:03
Member (2010)
German to Polish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Is the price for the proofreading of a human translation 1/3 of the price for a translation? | Feb 13, 2022 |
Thank you all for your advice, you have ensured me in my point of view during the negotiations with that translation agency.
| | | | BabelOn-line
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:03
English to French
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| Point of view of a small agency / translator | Feb 25, 2022 |
I agree with the general opinion that there is no such thing as a universally accepted rate (or fraction of the rate for a human translation) as the quality of the initial translation can vary enormously.
There is probably a range in term of fractions, from 2/10 (20%) for a very good translation down to 9/10 for a terrible one - at which point, anyone with a lick of sense will say "retranslate from scratch". My experience is we tend to pay from 2/10 to 5/10 (we essentially proofrea... See more I agree with the general opinion that there is no such thing as a universally accepted rate (or fraction of the rate for a human translation) as the quality of the initial translation can vary enormously.
There is probably a range in term of fractions, from 2/10 (20%) for a very good translation down to 9/10 for a terrible one - at which point, anyone with a lick of sense will say "retranslate from scratch". My experience is we tend to pay from 2/10 to 5/10 (we essentially proofread our own translations, so quality is normally what we'd expect).
As an agency owner, i find the "by the hour" approach distinctly uncomfortable: we neeed to give the end client a fixed price before we start the project. For want of a better tool, our pricing will be based on a per word rate. Therefore, we need certainty from the proofreader before we can build our pricing.
This being said, I would completely expect the proofreader to ask to see the full text to proofread (or at least a significant sample) before they can offer a proofreading per word rate. They can then do a quick test by sampling e.g. a few hundred words taken at random and see how long it takes them to polish, then calculate a rate per word that they deem fair. In effect, this is equivalent to a per hour job, except quoted in advance. ▲ Collapse
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Paul Lambert
Sweden
Local time: 18:03
Member (2006)
Swedish to English
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| Proofreading | Feb 26, 2022 |
To answer the question asked: I do happen to charge what works out to be 1/3 of my translation rate when I do proofreading; however, that is wholly coincidental. There is no set rule, as many others have explained.
What I want to add here is that at this point I only do proofreading when there is a lull in work, because hour for hour I cannot possibly earn as much money proofreading as I do translating. On average, I say that I can translate about 700 words per hour, including proof... See more To answer the question asked: I do happen to charge what works out to be 1/3 of my translation rate when I do proofreading; however, that is wholly coincidental. There is no set rule, as many others have explained.
What I want to add here is that at this point I only do proofreading when there is a lull in work, because hour for hour I cannot possibly earn as much money proofreading as I do translating. On average, I say that I can translate about 700 words per hour, including proofing my own work before sending it off. I cannot proofread someone else's work at 2100 words per hour, so proofreading as opposed to translation is always a losing proposition, financially speaking. ▲ Collapse
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