Translation work can be charged in different ways.
There are certain standards that are used and they can change depending on the text, subject, number of words, size of the document, language pair, etc.
The most common practice is to charge per word, but rates may also be set per hour of work or per page.
When charging per word, the final count is made with all of the words that appear in the text or document.
This can be done by using the total number of words of the source text or by using the words generated in the translated text; this can change depending on the language pair of the project or on the translator’s preferred method of charging.
In general, translation agencies use other methods, since translation memories are often incorporated to analyze the text or document that is to be translated, making a breakdown of the text or document that shows the number of new or repeated words, sentences, or segments. Each of these categories is charged at a different rate: new words, repeated words, full match words, fuzzy match words (between 50 and 99%).
Per Page
Logically, this involves charging by the number of pages that make up the document.
This method is used when the documents are printed or scanned and are not available digitally. It can also be employed if the document is short and thus much more information is included in one page, which has its benefits in terms of cost.
It is usually applied on certain occasions, for projects that require updating , documents that need to be reviewed, etc.
Languages that utilize character-based alphabets, such as Chinese, can also be charged per page.
In order to charge per page, an average of 250 words per page is used, when the following style is applied:
- Page size: A4
- Font: Arial or Times New Roman
- Font size: 12
- Spacing between lines: 1.5
