Proofreading Rates Persoa que publicou o fío: John Colangelo
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John Colangelo 
United States
Local time: 06:23
Membro (2006)
Arabic to English
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Greetings,
I have been approached by an agency for an English proofreading assignment. I have been asked to also give my rates. What would be a competitive rate in your opinion?
Yours,
John
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Michael Kelly
France
Local time: 12:23
Membro (2022)
German to English
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| Ask to see the text first? Otherwise around 1/3 of translation rate in general? | Jul 5 |
The thing is with proofreading that it can be so variable.
I have had highly fluent speakers where I only had to change 2-3 things at most per page.
I have also had native speakers of a rather distant language where I had to change 30-35 things per page (no exaggeration - I counted it with the Word document comparison feature).
It will often work out around a third of your translation rate per word. So if they force you to give an estimate without seeing the texts, that could b... See more The thing is with proofreading that it can be so variable.
I have had highly fluent speakers where I only had to change 2-3 things at most per page.
I have also had native speakers of a rather distant language where I had to change 30-35 things per page (no exaggeration - I counted it with the Word document comparison feature).
It will often work out around a third of your translation rate per word. So if they force you to give an estimate without seeing the texts, that could be a guideline.
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
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First of all, you should ask the agency what exactly they mean by proofreading. AFAIK, many agencies speak of proofreading (monolingual) when in fact they mean editing (bilingual). The latter usually requires more work, so the rate should reflect this. My editing rate is half my translation rate and my proofreading rate is one quarter my translation rate.
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Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 12:23
German to Swedish
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| Never quote on unseen text | Jul 5 |
Michael Kelly wrote:
So if they force you to give an estimate without seeing the texts, that could be a guideline.
Never quote on or agree to a job that you haven't seen.
No exceptions ever.
(well... except for translating recurring jobs of known content, and sometimes proofreading known translators' texts).
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B&B FinTrans
Germany
Local time: 12:23
Membro
English to German
Joakim Braun wrote:
Michael Kelly wrote:
So if they force you to give an estimate without seeing the texts, that could be a guideline.
Never quote on or agree to a job that you haven't seen.
No exceptions ever.
(well... except for translating recurring jobs of known content, and sometimes proofreading known translators' texts).
A classic! Some agencies tend to get "creative", especially if you don't offer MTPE. There are cases where you are asked to "proofread" a supposedly human-made translation that is marketed as "needing only a few tweaks". But you soon find out that it was actually done 100% by electric trickery, and you have to translate everything from scratch for a third of your usual "best rate".
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John Colangelo
United States
Local time: 06:23
Membro (2006)
Arabic to English
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INICIO DE TEMA | Difference between Proofreading and Editing | Jul 6 |
Do you think it is possible that the company might be confusing the two terms?
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John Colangelo
United States
Local time: 06:23
Membro (2006)
Arabic to English
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INICIO DE TEMA | Difference between Proofreading and Editing Part 2 | Jul 6 |
Or that the company believes they are one and the same?
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John Colangelo wrote:
Do you think it is possible that the company might be confusing the two terms?
They shouldn't but they do...
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John Colangelo wrote:
Or that the company believes they are one and the same?
A serious agency should know the difference. Some drect clients might believe they are the same. When in doubt I always ask what exactly they need and as someone else has said I never give a quote without having a good look at the document first...
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:23
Serbian to English
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| The disguise behind the disguise ... | Jul 24 |
B&B FinTrans wrote:
Joakim Braun wrote:
Michael Kelly wrote:
So if they force you to give an estimate without seeing the texts, that could be a guideline.
Never quote on or agree to a job that you haven't seen.
No exceptions ever.
(well... except for translating recurring jobs of known content, and sometimes proofreading known translators' texts).
A classic! Some agencies tend to get "creative", especially if you don't offer MTPE. There are cases where you are asked to "proofread" a supposedly human-made translation that is marketed as "needing only a few tweaks". But you soon find out that it was actually done 100% by electric trickery, and you have to translate everything from scratch for a third of your usual "best rate".
Yes, it can easily happen to anyone too trusting ... To be asked to do "some proofreading", the so-called "proofreading" being in fact a disguise for PEMT, the so-called PEMT itself in turn being all too often only a disguise for "translate this from scratch if it's got to look as anything usable."
If they are cagey about showing you the text to "proofread" BEFORE you give them any quote, and especially if you have to remind them to give you also "the original" of the text whole translation you are asked to "proofread", don't waste a second more of your time on them.
The time you would spend on working at loss for them is better used on looking for other options.
[Edited at 2024-07-24 14:46 GMT]
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