Friday, September 28, 2012

Translation at Reasonable Rates

Everywhere you look, individuals and companies are trying to lower costs and save money. Translation is no exception. Private individuals in need of document translation (secondary school, vocational school, or university transcripts and diplomas; marriage, birth or death certificates; proof of divorce; proof of military service; various other short legal memoranda and all sorts of other immigration-related documentation) need to be sure that they are receiving quality work at reasonable rates. Today's sense of "financial insecurity" means that people are less inclined than ever to take a chance with their money on a poor translation outcome. This may be especially valid for a PhD candidate or academic who is trying to get his or her research published and first needs it translated into English. Grant money is hard to come by and there may not be much allocated for translation.

This is true not only of individual consumers but also of companies and large customers of translation services. The following blog entitled, "Planning a Realistic Budget for Your Translation Requirements," was written and posted by Sajan (www.sajan.com) on September 19, 2012, and specifically addresses concerns that large customers might have over cost containment. Sajan's blog posts are always such high quality, so I am re-posting the link below and hope that my readers find it useful:

http://www.sajan.com/blog/planning-a-realistic-budget-for-your-translation-requirements/

Remember that www.RELTranslations.com can always be your "go-to" source for complete document translation at reasonable rates. We can assign linguists to a project in any language pair, and your initial consultation/rate request is completely free.

You can also find this blog post at http://www.reltranslations.com/1/post/2012/09/translation-at-reasonble-rates.html.

4 comments:

  1. I have been trying to outsource a lot of my direct marketing to other countries. I need a translator who specializes in document translations. What is a good asking price for translation? I need some advice on this and you seem very knowledgeable of the business.

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  2. Mike, thanks so much for the post. The asking price for translation depends mainly on two factors: the language pair and the type of document being translated.

    The language pair refers to the language you are translating from, or the source language, and the language you are translating into, or the target language. For example, my translator working from English into Urdu charges less on a per word basis than my translator working from Spanish into English. It may have to do with the fact that the former is living in India where the cost of living is relatively low compared to the U.S., where my Spanish to English translator resides.

    If the document type is highly specialized, like a medical journal article or legal document, for example, a translator will usually charge more than if it is something very general, like a pop culture magazine article.

    The third factor that will often affect the asking price for a translation is the deadline. If the job is needed in a hurry, there is likely to be a higher charge for a “rush job.”

    I hope this helps. A single translator may have a whole range of prices that he or she charges, depending on the parameters of a given job, so it is difficult to answer your question directly and simply.

    Please let me know if there is any other way I can be of assistance.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thank you "Translation Legal Documents" for your kind words. I very much appreciate your feedback.

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