Translation Quotation practices in Norway Thread poster: Marcela Robaina Boyd
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First of all, I'd like to apologise for writing in English in this forum, but my languages are just English and Spanish.
I have been asked to quote on an English-Spanish translation for a Norwegian company and have been informed that in Norway translations are quoted on a page basis. Therefore, I did a quick calculation and "transformed" my quote to a page-basis.
However, they now say it's much more than what they usually pay. They are saying they pay US$14/page. This... See more First of all, I'd like to apologise for writing in English in this forum, but my languages are just English and Spanish.
I have been asked to quote on an English-Spanish translation for a Norwegian company and have been informed that in Norway translations are quoted on a page basis. Therefore, I did a quick calculation and "transformed" my quote to a page-basis.
However, they now say it's much more than what they usually pay. They are saying they pay US$14/page. This is way too low for the kind of technical translation they need.
I would appreciate if anyone in this forum could tell me if these are the fees being paid in Norway, just in case.
If the moderator believes this posting should be forwarded to another forum, it's ok with me.
Thank you all for your comments,
Marcela Robaina ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Not my experience | Aug 8, 2006 |
Dear Marcela,
Is it an agency? Or a regular firm? In either case page-counting hasn't been my experience at all (and that price, by the bye, sounds very low for any kind of translation) with Norwegian companies.
Page quotes, of course, mostly makes sense if the client has box-loads of documents and when the volume would make it excessively burdensome to count words.
Anyway, just my two cents'...
... See more Dear Marcela,
Is it an agency? Or a regular firm? In either case page-counting hasn't been my experience at all (and that price, by the bye, sounds very low for any kind of translation) with Norwegian companies.
Page quotes, of course, mostly makes sense if the client has box-loads of documents and when the volume would make it excessively burdensome to count words.
Anyway, just my two cents'...
Best,
Christian
www.tollund.com ▲ Collapse
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Thank you Christian.
It's not an agency but an important consulting engineering firm. I've done some small translation jobs for them in the past, and never had any problems whatsoever with my fees. However, they have loads of documents to translate this time, and word counting should not be a problem.
| | | | brigidm 
Norway
Local time: 17:05
Norwegian to English
| Possible misunderstanding here? | Aug 8, 2006 |
Hi Marcela
Firstly, to say that in Norway translations are priced on a per-page basis is a sweeping generalisation. Most translators I know work on a per-word basis (source text) unless asked otherwise. Certainly all of my direct clients are happy with that.
And what is their definition of a "per-page basis"? I have had relatively little dealings with Norwegian agencies, but was recently asked to give my price based on a per-page basis. They worked on the basis of one p... See more Hi Marcela
Firstly, to say that in Norway translations are priced on a per-page basis is a sweeping generalisation. Most translators I know work on a per-word basis (source text) unless asked otherwise. Certainly all of my direct clients are happy with that.
And what is their definition of a "per-page basis"? I have had relatively little dealings with Norwegian agencies, but was recently asked to give my price based on a per-page basis. They worked on the basis of one page with 1800 characters with space. I found a very useful converter tool here: http://www.serious.ro/en/convertor.php , and could deliver my rate as requested. The agency was satisfied, and I got the assignment. Ask them to define "page"!
As for US$14 per page - there has to be a misunderstanding here! I just checked the average per-word rate for Norwegian to English, and it's 0.14 US$. And I personally would not accept that price from a Norwegian company for translating a technical text.
Kind regards,
Brigid ▲ Collapse
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| Unfortunately, no misuderstanding | Aug 8, 2006 |
Thank you, Brigid, for your reply. Unfortunately, there is no misunderstanding. I wish it were.
I have seen the document and pages have aprox. 300 words per page. In fact, what I did was convert my per-word to a 300-word-per- page basis to give them my price.
However, I just wanted to have some reassurance from fellow translators more acquainted probably with Norway and you have ll been very helpful. Thank you also for the convertor link.
| | | | | Price is not normal | Aug 8, 2006 |
Marcela Robaina Boyd wrote:
Thank you, Brigid, for your reply. Unfortunately, there is no misunderstanding. I wish it were.
I have seen the document and pages have aprox. 300 words per page. In fact, what I did was convert my per-word to a 300-word-per- page basis to give them my price.
However, I just wanted to have some reassurance from fellow translators more acquainted probably with Norway and you have ll been very helpful. Thank you also for the convertor link.
Marcela,
if the pages have 300 words and they want to pay you USD 14,00/page then it's definitely not normal. I live in Norway, although i don't do much local business as Norwegian is not yet one of my working languages. But the times I have worked with Norwegian translators, the prices were definitely much higher - naturally. It would seriously surprise me if there was anybody in Norway who would accept a rate like this at all, even if it were a non-technical translation.
Good luck!
| | | | | sweeping generalisation | Aug 8, 2006 |
Brigid McCauley wrote:
Firstly, to say that in Norway translations are priced on a per-page basis is a sweeping generalisation. Most translators I know work on a per-word basis (source text) unless asked otherwise. Certainly all of my direct clients are happy with that.
I'm not sure... were you referring to a sweeping generalization that I made?
Best,
Christian
| | | | brigidm
Norway
Local time: 17:05
Norwegian to English
| Wires crossed! | Aug 9, 2006 |
Christian Schoenberg wrote:
I'm not sure... were you referring to a sweeping generalization that I made?
Best,
Christian
No, not at all, Christian. I was referring to the company's claim that this was the case in Norway.
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