Planning Your Budget for Content Translation

by Harish Kumaresh

I hear a lot of complaints from job providers as well as translators. People requesting for a translation complain about the prices for translation being too high while translators complain that the provider isn’t paying them well. There are many good translators that quote an unreasonably high price, and there are those who aren't as good, and try to win customers by charging dirt cheap rates. If you've been on the receiving end of this problem, you have probably wondered what should the right budget for your translations be and how you can decide whether the translator is not ripping you off? Language: You will have noticed that most of the translators or translating service providers charge different prices for different languages. Translation into languages such as French, German, Spanish are available at a comparatively lower cost than translation into uncommon languages such as Danish, Malaysian or Slovakian. This is because you will not find many providers who are proficient at these uncommon languages. Therefore, if you plan to translate your content into, say Slovakian, you cannot set a budget based on what you paid for translation to French or Spanish. Furthermore, odd combinations such as Hindi to Greek or French to Japanese can be even more expensive. Type of content: If you are looking to translate legal documents, medical journals, or something else that requires the translator to possess in-depth knowledge of a particular subject area, you will have to shell out more, even for a commonly available language. For example, we have seen a translator charge $0.25 a word for translating a legal document into Dutch. This translator has been in the industry for a very long time and is always loaded with work Translation software: if you are looking for translators proficient in certain translation software such as Trados, they might charge you slightly higher. Qualification: The difficulty level of your project might demand a qualified translator, probably someone who is certified or sworn. These translators are very expensive and I suggest that if your job requires a qualified translator, do not compromise on quality to keep your cost low. Experience: You will also find that a translator new to the industry might agree to work at a lower rate as compared to a translator who has several years of experience in the field. An inexperienced translator focuses more on building their profile and getting more credits. Therefore, if you're satisfied with the quality of work seen in a translator's samples, then by all means, go ahead and hire them. You will receive great value and loyalty for trusting a new entrant To sum it up, before you go looking for a translator, you need to understand your requirements better such as the type of content you, the kind of translator you are looking for, cheaper alternatives without compromising on the quality, etc. If you do not want to go through the hassle of sorting translator resumes, verifying them, interviewing them, and then negotiating with them, you can always contact a good translation service provider. They usually have a huge database of translators who have expertise in various fields; they are more than capable of appointing the most suitable translator to work on your project.