10 Signs That Your Rate Per Translated Word May Be Too Low

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Beginning translators are often not sure how much can translators charge for their work.

That is why I decided to put together a handy list of signs indicating that the rate that you are charging for your expert translations may be too low.

This is not a definitive list. Other rules of thumb are certainly also possible and translators are encouraged to contribute their own guidelines for setting a correct translation rate.

1. Your rate is too low if it is the same as or less than the rates advertised on “portals for translators”.

2. Your rate is too low if it is the same as or less than what large translation agencies pay these days to translators.

3. Your rate is too low if it is the same as or less than what a seamstress in Bangladesh is making per hour.

4. Your rate in cents per word is too low if it is the same as or less than what a typical Wall Street criminal is making in thousands per hour or millions per year.

5. Your rate for your expert translations is too low if it is the same as or less than what qualified experts specializing in finding empty beer cans in garbage can get for an empty beer can at an authorized recycling center.

6. Your rate is too low if it is the same as or less than the cost of a sheet of paper and the cost of the ink used for the lines printed on the sheet of the paper.

7. Your rate is too low if it is the same as or less than what machine translation software would charge for the same translation.

8. Your rate is too low if it is accepted by a translation agency in India.

9. Your rate is too low if you are always working but never have enough money to pay your taxes.

10. Your rate is too low if you are willing to do so much for so little that your client can’t respect you in the morning.

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Related article (meant slightly more seriously than this post): http://thoughtsontranslation.com/2013/10/29/what-is-the-right-rate-for-your-translation-services/