How A Translation Project Is Quoted
Understanding how your translation project is going to get quoted is very important when looking for the right company to help you. Knowing how a translation project is quoted will help you understand what will increase or decrease the cost of your project.
To help you understand the quote of a translation project, here are some common determining factors that you will see.
Project Due Date
Usually, the date in which you need your project completed and delivered plays a major role in cost. The faster you need your project completed, the more it’s going to cost you especially if it’s an extremely tight turn around. But not for Language Marketplace. We believe that that turnaround time should not be a significant determinator for cost increase or decrease. We either can accommodate the deadline or not. This is because with some companies when these types of projects are done, it means that someone else’s project is being pushed to the side, which is unfair. Now sometimes we do need to work longer hours to accommodate a tight deadline. In that case, we may charge a small rush rate, but this is never at the expense of someone else’s project.
Although it is better to request a project for translation to be done in advance, it’s still possible to get short turn arounds based on your needs.
Fee Determination
Each language translation company or freelancer will have a specific way that they calculate how much your project will cost based upon the content itself. This means that you may see your project calculated by the total word count, page count or even just a flat fee.
The industry standard though is the per word cost. Some services providers give the word count in the target language (language in which the document is being translation into). However, we find that can be the unknown, as one can translate the same thing with added words. The best practice is to provide cost estimates on the source language (the language in which the document is written in). This way everyone knows from the get-go, what it is going to cost to translate that particular document.
File Type
Translators can work from many different file types, but without the source files your project may cost more. This means that if you do not have the original file of the project and it’s been converted into a PDF or other type of document, your translator may have difficulty pulling the data. They will need to convert the file back before starting which will cost you more.
It’s also important to note that the formatting of the file can also change your quote. For example, if your file has a lot of tables that need to be formatted, your quote can be adjusted to accommodate the time it will take to do the formatting.
Type of Content
In today’s age there is a ton of different content that can be translated to accommodate our audience. This can include, but is not exclusive to blog posts, social media, technical documents, government documents, pamphlets etc.
Each one of these types of content can be priced differently by some service providers. Language Marketplace does not.
Languages
Of course, the number of languages or the type of language you need your project translated to will be included on your quote. If you are looking to have your project translated into 3 languages instead of 1, it’s going to cost more.
Another determining factor is the type of language. If the language is less common and it’s harder to find a translator to do the work, it may cost you more.
Project Size
Lastly it comes down to your project size. Usually, companies have a minimum charge to translate a project which is typically for a small number of words. If your project is less than that threshold, you will get charged for those minimum number of words. But a larger project does not necessarily net a lower rate. This is because a larger project just means the translators will have to spend more time on it.
No matter what type of project you are looking to have translated, Language Marketplace is your go to for all of them. Language Marketplace provides clear, concise and straight forward cost estimates, free of charge, to all its clients. Contact us today to get started.