Poll: How do you determine your rates? Շարքի հրապարակողը: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How do you determine your rates?".
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| | | | Enrico Zoffoli 
Իտալիա
Local time: 12:06
Անդամ (2013)
գերմաներենից իտալերեն
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What I charge for a job depends on several factors: subject matter, complexity, volume, urgency, source language of the text and other practical circumstances. I set my standard rate using my hourly rate as a reference point. It also depends on the type of service: translation is charged per word, except in cases where there is a minimum fee (equivalent to one hour), or when the client requires a price per project; editing is also charged per word; proofreading is charged by the hour. That being... See more What I charge for a job depends on several factors: subject matter, complexity, volume, urgency, source language of the text and other practical circumstances. I set my standard rate using my hourly rate as a reference point. It also depends on the type of service: translation is charged per word, except in cases where there is a minimum fee (equivalent to one hour), or when the client requires a price per project; editing is also charged per word; proofreading is charged by the hour. That being said, there are exceptions: I may from time to time decide that I'm willing to do a job for less than my normal rate for a bunch of reasons and I do work pro bono at times… ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It depends on the job! | Apr 26 |
I charge per word for any translation, per hour for my Spanish tutoring services, and per project when I edit or proofread spreadsheets of products.
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| Page + knowledge of the market | Apr 26 |
In Italy, rates used to be based on standard typewritten pages that consisted of a set number of lines with the right-hand margin being set to a certain position on the typewriter. So, if you decided on 25 lines and 60 columns, for example, your standard page would be 25 x 60 = 1500 potential keystrokes.
"Potential" because, as in the case of many detective novels, for example, you might find a lot of one-line dialogues, where each line might have only one or two words. Detective st... See more In Italy, rates used to be based on standard typewritten pages that consisted of a set number of lines with the right-hand margin being set to a certain position on the typewriter. So, if you decided on 25 lines and 60 columns, for example, your standard page would be 25 x 60 = 1500 potential keystrokes.
"Potential" because, as in the case of many detective novels, for example, you might find a lot of one-line dialogues, where each line might have only one or two words. Detective stories were paid very little - one famous translator I knew earned only 13,000 lire per literary page (less than 3 eurocents/word) and when computers came in, he continued working on his typewriter and the publisher had someone transcribe his work.
With the advent of computers, the column x line became the total number of keystrokes and there were three standard pages: 1250 keystrokes for legal documents, 2000 keystrokes for literary works, and 1500 keystrokes for everything else.
The word-count in Word 6 didn't include spaces, which messed things up a lot and then the Internet made things worse as agencies started taking jobs from the US or Germany, for example, and counting in words or lines rather than standard pages. The biggest agency in Italy started using the 55-keystroke line, and one of the translators' associations had already made things even worse by introducing standard pages of 1800 keystrokes and then, when the Italian lire was abandoned, they went for a ridiculous 1350 keystrokes. So, the situation in Italy is a free-for-all and a total mess.
I have stayed with the standard 1500-keystroke page and all my clients have got used to it, whatever they themselves normally use.
How do I determine my rates? I study the market and have a fair idea of what it can afford: agencies and publishers don't normally reach my minimum (26 euros per 1500 keystrokes - just over 11 eurocents per word) so I don't work with them any more, except on very rare occasions, but museums and some galleries will pay more than that. Advertising work goes off the charts if they like you. Still, I've lost most of my galleries and some big museums are looking to save money, so I don't think I'll be working for much longer as a translator. It was good while it lasted. ▲ Collapse
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