A question our team often hears is how much translation costs. Whilst it’s understandable to want a clear-cut figure, there sadly is no one-size-fits-all response. Just like in many other industries, there are a whole range of factors that influence the pricing. In this article, we outline some key considerations.
This is usually the most influential aspect to pricing. The long and short of it is that the more words involved, the higher the price. For requests of a very small scope, a minimum charge will most likely apply. Such minimum charges cover the administrative work – email correspondence, formatting and preparation of files, any certification, and invoicing – and ensure fair remuneration for all those involved.
Transcreation projects are an important exception to this rule. Transcreation, often used for marketing slogans and taglines, takes things up a notch and strays away from the original to achieve a desired emotional response. You’re not so much swapping out words as conveying their underlying essence – and this can require a complete rewording.
Even a tiny string of words can take serious brain power. Think of “Just Do It”. The slogan comprises a mere three words, but its impact has been phenomenal. We don’t even have to tell you what company is behind it, you already know. Its developers surely took their time in picking exactly the right phrasing to successfully reflect their brand – and to of course avoid any negative connotations. So when a text calls for transcreation, the word count is not a very reliable benchmark for pricing.
Subject matter
If your text covers a specialist subject, as is the case with medical regulatory documentation, you cannot entrust it with just anyone. That is because if you didn’t understand, say, physics, you would have a very hard time translating Einstein’s book on relativity: You could certainly read the words, but the in-depth meaning of the text wouldn’t make much sense. That’s why linguists need to know their onions.
Becoming a professional translator takes a fair bit of training – many of our suppliers possess both an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in the fields of linguistics, translation and/or interpreting. We are also proud to count doctors in (bio)chemistry, biology and medicine among our linguists.
The immense effort ploughed into training the linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge required for specialist translations calls for appropriate remuneration. This is why a very technical translation will cost more than a basic text.
Timescale
The age-old saying “time is money” also applies to translation, but not in the way you might think. If you have a very tight deadline, the price of the translation is likely to go up. In such cases, translation providers will often need to apply a heightened rate or a one-off urgency fee to account for the resulting weekend or evening work. That’s why it’s sometimes best to wait.
Language combination
The simple truth is that some languages are more expensive than others. This is partially down to the comparatively higher cost-of-living standards in certain countries, such as the Nordics, which mean many linguists need to charge higher rates.
What’s more, compared to lingua francas such as English, Spanish and French, there are fewer professionally trained linguists available for niche languages. Take Icelandic as an example, which only counts around 350,000 speakers – of this number there are of course even fewer professionally trained translators. This scarcity of supply also results in higher pricing.
Lastly, if you need to translate between two vastly different languages, such as from Kurdish-Sorani into Japanese, you will most likely need to translate into English first before translating into the actually required language. Once again, this is due to the lack of translators covering such an uncommon language pairing. This extra step naturally bumps up the cost.
Reference material
Providing reference material is generally a good idea. It helps your translation provider get a flavour of what your business does and how you talk to your readers. This in turns helps ensure a consistent tone of voice in your corporate communications across multiple languages. However, if there is a lot of reference material to go over, e.g. lengthy style guides, then the additional time spent will be reflected in the pricing.
Formatting
As standard, we will ask our clients to send files in an editable format such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet. Sometimes, however, this just isn’t possible. This is usually the case for solicitor client paperwork for court cases or printed batch manufacturing records featuring handwritten notes. If the translator therefore needs to recreate the original formatting of the source document, e.g. strings of tables or intricate graphs, there will likely be extra typesetting effort and thus expense involved. You can read our blogpost on file formats for translation to learn more about this.
Don’t believe everything you see on the web
Last but certainly not least: If you see a translation agency promoting a fixed universal pricing for all language services from A to Z, it is quite possibly pie-in-the-sky marketing to lure you in. In the same vein, it’s also wise to consider the adage of “buy cheap, buy twice”.
A reliable translation quote requires the provider to know, at least roughly, the scope involved. As standard, our First Edition Translations team will ask to review the file in question before quoting. We may also ask for background information and whether there is an urgent or fixed deadline to adhere to. That’s because the last thing we want to do is overpromise and underdeliver – a sure-fire recipe for customer dissatisfaction.
How First Edition Translations can help
We’ve been offering certified translation services in over 30 world languages since the early 80s, so we know a thing or two about the costs involved. If you want to know more about our pricing, our friendly project managers are always happy to give you some advice and provide a non-obligation quote. Simply email us under enquiries@firstedit.co.uk