Translation costs? (take II)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Carla Martinek wondered: <<The low costs Geoff quoted are, in my 
experience, typically from from independent translators.>>

It's true that I've worked exclusively with independents, and I also 
neglected to mention that the low end was for literary translation, 
which pays exceptionally poorly. It's a labor of love, not a way to 
earn a living. But I've also seen very low per-word costs for companies 
operating in China, for example, including a company run by a friend; 
they use machine translation and translation memories heavily, which 
combined with inexpensive local labor rates lets them get away with 
such low costs.

<<Remember -- you get what you pay for, and the costs for an 
independent translator often do not include a review by a second 
translator.>>

Or by a local expert. This is why I noted in my first post that you 
have to specify this kind of quality assurance rather than taking it 
for granted. You'd think such quality control is a given, but for 
smaller firms, usually it's not.

<<The higher costs ($0.20 and above for new translations) usually come 
from translation houses, where you get value added in for that extra 
cost.>>

Fully agreed. In translation, as in technical writing, quality is 
expensive. You get what you pay for.

<<My language translations run in the $0.20-0.30 range, and cover a 
broad spectrum, including European (east and west), Russian, Middle 
Eastern, and Asian.  Total: 16 languages for standard translations, 22 
for a few select guides.>>

Is that you personally, or your company? If the former, may I just say 
"Wow am I envious!" <G>

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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