Agency Rates Thread poster: Olivia Oddy
|
|---|
Olivia Oddy
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:15
Spanish to English
As a beginner, what price per word (GBP) should I be charging when applying to agencies or jobs posted on ProZ?
My language pair is Spanish - English and I do not have a translation degree. Thank you.
| | | | Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 08:15
Member
English to Turkish
| Translation degree | Oct 8, 2020 |
I wonder if having a translation degree helps one's rates in any way...
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 07:15
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Olivia Oddy wrote:
As a beginner, what price per word (GBP) should I be charging when applying to agencies or jobs posted on ProZ.com? My language pair is Spanish - English, and I do not have a translation degree.
Start by quoting the global average of USD 0.10-12 per word (GBP 0.075-0.09 per word). After a few months, you'll start having an idea of what agencies consider fair rates. The specific language combination has less of an impact on the rate than the location of the agency (so be prepared to adjust your rate accordingly). The fact that you're a beginner or that you don't have a translation qualification should not affect your rate -- it should only affect how likely it is that you are chosen for the job.
| | | | Florencio Alonso
Uruguay
Local time: 02:15
Member (2013)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| $0.05 - $0.06 | Oct 8, 2020 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Olivia Oddy wrote:
As a beginner, what price per word (GBP) should I be charging when applying to agencies or jobs posted on ProZ.com? My language pair is Spanish - English, and I do not have a translation degree. Start by quoting the global average of USD 0.10-12 per word (GBP 0.075-0.09 per word). After a few months, you'll start having an idea of what agencies consider fair rates. The specific language combination has less of an impact on the rate than the location of the agency (so be prepared to adjust your rate accordingly). The fact that you're a beginner or that you don't have a translation qualification should not affect your rate -- it should only affect how likely it is that you are chosen for the job.
I agree with Samuel in that it's important to pay attention to the location of the agency, although that general rule does not always apply. But, e.g. agencies from India or China tend to pay lower fees.
However, my experience is quite different from Samuels, and I've rarely been able to charge USD 0.10. It may be the case that English-Afrikaans is a more competitive pair with less linguists. I would think that probably Spanish to English pays a little bit more than English to Spanish as is my case, but in your case, with no degree or experience under your belt, I would start much lower, around $0.05 for a general text, because I don't think it would be hard to find a more experience translator to do it for $0.07. Of course it will also depend on what particular experience you can bring to the table that might help you stand out for a particular job, or if it's the case that the company contacted you instead of the other way around. I think that as a beginner you'd be better off adding positive WWAs to your profile than waiting for that big break.
I'd love to know if other here agree with this or not. This is only from personal experience and from talking to a couple other translators in my pair, but I accept that I don't have a lot more datapoints to base my opinion on.
Good luck, be patient and try building up some KudoZ points in your main areas of expertise.
| | |
|
|
|
| Don't accept peanuts for professional work on the global market | Oct 8, 2020 |
@Olivia directly:
Don't start as a bottom-feeder. You don't earn enough and you hurt the market.
Suggestions to start as low as $0.05/word are really bad. That's what you get on the job board a lot. Completely unacceptable. Go do something else then that doesn't require translating skills. I can't believe all the people continuously giving in to these scam artist agencies destroying this market.
Just because there seems to be a busy bottom-feeding market on the job board... See more @Olivia directly:
Don't start as a bottom-feeder. You don't earn enough and you hurt the market.
Suggestions to start as low as $0.05/word are really bad. That's what you get on the job board a lot. Completely unacceptable. Go do something else then that doesn't require translating skills. I can't believe all the people continuously giving in to these scam artist agencies destroying this market.
Just because there seems to be a busy bottom-feeding market on the job board doesn't mean you should participate. There's other more rewarding ways to make a living.
@ Samuel
Samuel Murray wrote:
Start by quoting the global average of USD 0.10-12 per word (GBP 0.075-0.09 per word). After a few months, you'll start having an idea of what agencies consider fair rates.
Fair. But do look up suggested rates on https://search.proz.com/employers/rates - Remember they are suggestions and for professionals they are on the low end of the rate range - they mix up agency as well as translator rates.
Samuel Murray wrote:
The specific language combination has less of an impact on the rate than the location of the agency (so be prepared to adjust your rate accordingly).
If anything, your own location should matter most. This is where you live and this is the money you must make.
Just because a company is located in India, doesn't mean you need to abide by "Indian rates."
The end client might be an American company. Same goes for any other country. You don't know what the agency charges their end client. All that matters is that you earn a fair remuneration where you are.
Be careful of many many bottom-feeding agencies. The less they are willing to pay, the more likely it is they pay late or not at all.
Samuel Murray wrote:
The fact that you're a beginner or that you don't have a translation qualification should not affect your rate -- it should only affect how likely it is that you are chosen for the job.
Yes. But being a professional translator means you can do your job accurately from day ONE. No professional client is interested in an excuse like "Well, I just started as a translator." So try to convince clients that you are a good/the best choice. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I don't agree with low rates for agencies from India, China etc. | Oct 8, 2020 |
Florencio Alonso wrote:
I would start much lower, around $0.05 for a general text, because I don't think it would be hard to find a more experience translator to do it for $0.07. Of course it will also depend on what particular experience you can bring to the table that might help you stand out for a particular job, or if it's the case that the company contacted you instead of the other way around. I think that as a beginner you'd be better off adding positive WWAs to your profile than waiting for that big break.
I'd love to know if other here agree with this or not. This is only from personal experience and from talking to a couple other translators in my pair, but I accept that I don't have a lot more datapoints to base my opinion on.
Good luck, be patient and try building up some KudoZ points in your main areas of expertise.
Time's a waste if you don't start with respecting your skills.
Don't give in to crappy rates.
See my comments to Sam's post.
[Edited at 2020-10-08 20:28 GMT]
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 08:15
Member
English to Turkish
| Location matters? | Oct 9, 2020 |
Bernhard Sulzer wrote:
If anything, your own location should matter most. This is where you live and this is the money you must make.
Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with everything you say. However, this is something I've been wondering for a long time: the entire South and Central America speaks Spanish except for a few countries. I'm not an expert in world economy, but I think the cost of living would be more expensive in Spain than in Costa Rica or Colombia. Now I see that Florencio, living in Uruguay (again I have no idea what the GDP of Uruguay or the exchange rate of their currency is, in fact I don't know much about Uruguay other than Luis Suarez), translates from Spanish to English while Olivia, living in the UK, does the same job. Perhaps Florencio makes a decent living in Uruguay charging his clients 0.06 USD per word, but I very much doubt Olivia would live on that rate (unless she's prepared to work night and day to pay for her rent). Now wouldn't you say location matters in this case and Florencio is more likely get more jobs than Oliva if she were to increase her rate to, say, 0.09 GBP per word?
Another thing I don't understand is the Italian translators who charge 0.03 USD per word and are quite content to work with Indian agencies. There is a good number of them here on Proz and as far as I know Italian is only spoken in Europe and it's not a poor country.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Agency Rates | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
