Hourly Rate for a Bilingual Native Translator (ENG/SPA)? Thread poster: Joanna Guerra
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[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2020-07-31 02:02 GMT]
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule | Mervyn Henderson (X) 
Spain
Local time: 22:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
If you touch-type, you know your subject and your computer, and you can concentrate for long periods, of course you can notch up 1K an hour.
Over the years I got pretty used to the 1,000 words/hour thing. I would think to myself, 3K this morning and 3K this afternoon, 6K today. Maybe 4-5K if it's tough stuff, or you have to check some annoying EU Directive, but more or less that's my rule of thumb. If it was a cinch, sometimes I could do 1,500.
Especially with translat... See more If you touch-type, you know your subject and your computer, and you can concentrate for long periods, of course you can notch up 1K an hour.
Over the years I got pretty used to the 1,000 words/hour thing. I would think to myself, 3K this morning and 3K this afternoon, 6K today. Maybe 4-5K if it's tough stuff, or you have to check some annoying EU Directive, but more or less that's my rule of thumb. If it was a cinch, sometimes I could do 1,500.
Especially with translation memory, in the days when it actually helped the translator, and not everyone but. One job I sadly miss was every Friday morning, months and years of it, putting more or less the same text through Studio, watching those greens roll down and down and down towards 100%, and earning 120 euros in one minute. Nobody asked me to use Studio, but they rumbled me after a full five years of it. They can't take away what I've already danced, as the Spanish say - I know it's a crap rendering, but nobody's paying me for this one.
And Lucy, you should know about rates after all this time, too. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 14:57
Dutch to English
+ ...
LucyRomanov wrote:
I'm a native bilingual translator. English and Spanish are both my first languages. I've been translating for over ten years, I get outstanding feedback from clients, and I'm highly dependable and communicative. Overall, I strive to be a great freelancer and make clients as happy as possible.
Considering that I also translate 1000 words per hour, I'm not sure what I should charge as an hourly rate, and as a per-word rate. I often suspect I'm not charging as much as I could be for the premium-quality, error-free work that I deliver.
I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you, in advance!
As a start, you could compare yourself to these average rates on the proz website: https://search.proz.com/employers/rates These are just average rates, maybe a bit outdated, and do not take into account the different specializations or geographic differences. But, if you're as good as you say you are, you could go up from there.
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| Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule | Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 04:57
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
I've said this before, but I'm willing to bet $2000 that I can translate 1000 WPH on a text of my choice. I won't claim zero typos though.
[Edited at 2020-07-27 17:23 GMT]
| | | | Erik Freitag
Germany
Local time: 22:57
Member (2006)
Dutch to German
+ ...
| Not this again. | Jul 27, 2020 |
Tom in London wrote:
Nobody can translate 1000 words an hour. Pull the other one.
Not this again. You can't.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 22:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I too regularly do 1000 words per hour in my chosen field, if I use machine translation and my CAT tool of choice, but that is only 99% error-free, so I do end up spending additional time re-reading the text and doing all kinds of QA on it, and let's not forget text preparation, which brings down the average considerably.
LucyRomanov wrote:
Considering that I also translate 1000 words per hour, I'm not sure what I should charge as an hourly rate, and as a per-word rate.
The fact that you can sometimes or often translate 1000 words per hour doesn't mean that you should do your calculations based on that. You should assume no more than 300 words per hour, even if you can manage 1000.
It is tempting to want to calculate an hourly rate based on your per-word rate, or vice versa, but the fact is that some clients balk sooner at a high per-hour rate than a high per-word rate, or vice versa. This means that a marketable hourly rate is likely to be much more or much less than equivalent to what you would have earned if you charged per word. Also, clients in different markets (e.g. different countries) are resistant to different things.
So, ultimately, if you want to charge a rate that a client will accept willingly, you should figure out what rates are considered fair in the various markets. This will take time, however.
Personally, in my language combination, I have trouble convincing clients from anywhere in the world to pay more than USD 20 per hour (even though I typically quote USD 30 to begin with), but some countries' clients are willing to pay USD 0.13 per word, others only USD 0.10 per word, and still others only USD 0.07 per word. Other professional non-translator freelancers just shake their heads in disbelief and wonder how anyone can charge less than USD 75 per hour.
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| Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule | Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 13:57
Member (2006)
Norwegian to English
+ ...
| WPM (words per minute) | Jul 27, 2020 |
Lincoln Hui wrote:
I've said this before, but I'm willing to bet $2000 that I can translate 1000 WPM on a text of my choice. I won't claim zero typos though.
OP
“Hourly Rate for a Bilingual Native Translator (English/Spanish)? 1000 WPM”
[Edited at 2020-07-27 17:23 GMT]
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member because it was not in line with site rule | patyjs
Mexico
Local time: 14:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Above average, I'd say | Jul 27, 2020 |
Tom in London wrote:
Nobody can translate 1000 words an hour. Pull the other one.
I can translate 3000 - 3500 words a day (finished, checked, and given a final polish), and I'd say that's about average.
[Edited at 2020-07-27 14:50 GMT]
Tom, I'd say your count is probably above average but obviously much depends on the text and also whether you're using CAT. If Michele is talking about customer surveys or some other bland subject matter, I can perhaps do 5000-6000 per day. Scientific papers or year-end reports are more likely around 1500-2500, if I'm honest. No CAT.
[Edited at 2020-07-27 17:15 GMT]
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expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 21:57
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Important steps in translation that should not be ignored | Jul 27, 2020 |
Samuel Murray wrote:
I too regularly do 1000 words per hour in my chosen field, if I use machine translation and my CAT tool of choice, but that is only 99% error-free, so I do end up spending additional time re-reading the text and doing all kinds of QA on it, and let's not forget text preparation, which brings down the average considerably.
Now you're talking, and I totally agree!
All these steps count and one hour can last many more.
| | | | Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 04:57
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Michele Fauble wrote: Lincoln Hui wrote:
I've said this before, but I'm willing to bet $2000 that I can translate 1000 WPM on a text of my choice. I won't claim zero typos though. OP “Hourly Rate for a Bilingual Native Translator (English/Spanish)? 1000 WPM” Somebody needs to slow down.
You're right, though it doesn't seem like anyone else caught that either.
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