If we consider that budgets are calculated according to the number of words in the files to be translated, then there is nothing more difficult than not to see “words” as we are accustomed to seeing.
But when we work with clients from the East, we have to analyze an create a budget for languages such as Arabic, Japanese and Korean.
Consider, then, the rates of contraction or expansion of translation in these language pairs.
English to Arabic: 25% expansion
English to Japanese: 20-60% expansion, depending on the topic (transliteration to the Latin alphabet expands the text)
English to Korean: 10-15% contraction
Arabic to English: 25% contraction
Japanese to English: 10-55% contraction (the safest method is to divide the number of Japanese characters by 1.5)
Korean-English: 15-20% expansion
(Spanish version: https://www.trustedtranslations.com/presupuestos-para-oriente-2010-10-26.html)
