Variation in rates depending on type or content of subtitle?
Thread poster: Emilie Fahlenkamp
Emilie Fahlenkamp
Emilie Fahlenkamp  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:08
English to Danish
+ ...
Dec 30, 2014

Hello everyone,

A company for which I have translated subtitles before has now asked me for a more detailed rate structure, depending on the type of subtitles to be translated. I have previously charged them per minute of footage for the translation of the subtitles only, usually in the form of a Word document. These are movies and TV shows.

Now, they have asked me for the following rates:

Translation of Feature and Bonus:
Translation of Audio Comment
... See more
Hello everyone,

A company for which I have translated subtitles before has now asked me for a more detailed rate structure, depending on the type of subtitles to be translated. I have previously charged them per minute of footage for the translation of the subtitles only, usually in the form of a Word document. These are movies and TV shows.

Now, they have asked me for the following rates:

Translation of Feature and Bonus:
Translation of Audio Commentary:
Simulation of Feature and Bonus:
Simulation of Audio Commentary:
Correlation/Simulation:
Transcription/Simulation:
Spotting/Simulation:



How would you charge for the other services? Would you charge a different rate (maybe a higher % of your per minute rate, due to higher word count) for, say, translation of the audio commentary than for the feature movie? What about a simulation rate?

Any input is welcome! The PM mentions their own rate card but I would like to return to her with a suggestion of my own, rather than to rely solely on their rates

Many thanks in advance!
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Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:08
Member (2016)
English to German
more for commentaries Dec 31, 2014

If the company offers this option, I would definitely charge more for translation of commentaries -- they often turn from translation jobs into hellish creative writing jobs when multiple actors are babbling in a race for attention or when it becomes absurdly technical.
(But be careful the company doesn't use this as leverage to lower your regular translation rates.)
Spotting and Simulation are something else altogether; you might want to consider charging by the hour.

W
... See more
If the company offers this option, I would definitely charge more for translation of commentaries -- they often turn from translation jobs into hellish creative writing jobs when multiple actors are babbling in a race for attention or when it becomes absurdly technical.
(But be careful the company doesn't use this as leverage to lower your regular translation rates.)
Spotting and Simulation are something else altogether; you might want to consider charging by the hour.

Why not have them send you their rate card and work it over?
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Josephine Cassar
Josephine Cassar  Identity Verified
Malta
Local time: 11:08
Member (2012)
English to Maltese
+ ...
Quality of audio Dec 31, 2014

Hello, what immediately springs to mind is the quality of the audio. Have you taken that into consideration? There are agencies that send you the text as you said, via Word document, but there are agencies that have software that enables you to write the translation of the subtitle directly beneath the movie/video itself, so you see it directly, can check, and this means you are able to avoid a lot of turning over, etc. In this case, rate is per subtitle as each subtitle can only consist of X ch... See more
Hello, what immediately springs to mind is the quality of the audio. Have you taken that into consideration? There are agencies that send you the text as you said, via Word document, but there are agencies that have software that enables you to write the translation of the subtitle directly beneath the movie/video itself, so you see it directly, can check, and this means you are able to avoid a lot of turning over, etc. In this case, rate is per subtitle as each subtitle can only consist of X characters. But, to me, what counts more in your case, is the quality of the audio as you are going to do the transcription as you said.Collapse


 
Emilie Fahlenkamp
Emilie Fahlenkamp  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:08
English to Danish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Audio quality is a good point Dec 31, 2014

Thanks, Josephine and Jan, for your suggestions. I hadn't given the audio quality a second thought since I usually receive a clear video along with the Word document, and it would seem that any work to be done post-translation is done using their software with a running video. And the suggestion to charge more for commentary is welcome, as it confirms what I already suspected. So, back to the drawing board to try and calculate a per/subtitle rate.

 


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Variation in rates depending on type or content of subtitle?







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