What to charge and what to expect to be paid by an agency Thread poster: Heather Fremont
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Heather Fremont 
United States
Local time: 10:49
Portuguese to English
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Hello,
I am a BRPTEN translator who is trying to get established. In the past I have gotten clients from references and through word of mouth. I am trying to become more established and work with agencies. However, I am unsure of what to expect as far as pay goes. For freelance jobs I have charged about $.10/word, but an agency I recently spoke with pays only $0.03/ word. I would love to hear about other people's experiences.
| | | | | It is a matter of experience | Nov 4, 2022 |
Hello Heather,
I would not demand less than $0.08 per source word. Specialists are paid $0.09 or more but with agencies, the limit lies around $0.10 because they want to earn their piece of the cake, too. I recommend you a proz.com webinar about payment and about working with agencies.
All the best!
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:49
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| It varies by a lot | Nov 4, 2022 |
Heather Fremont wrote:
For freelance jobs I have charged about $.10/word, but an agency I recently spoke with pays only $0.03/ word.
There are agencies that pay only USD 0.03 per word and there are agencies that pay USD 0.10 per word. Just keep searching. USD 0.10 is not unusual (though it's less common than, say, USD 0.07 or USD 0.05).
| | | | Hayley Wakenshaw
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:49
Member (2018)
Dutch to English
| Don't work for less than 0.08 cents a word... | Nov 4, 2022 |
...unless the agency doesn't use match discounts. And even then, I wouldn't work for much less than that. And it depends on the language pair. Some will command quite a bit more than that.
My standard rate is €0.10 per word. (The Proz.com average is 0.11, but I'm assuming that's averaged out by higher rates for specialisms like law and medicine.) I've been offered as little as 4 cents a word though. That's the rate paid one well-known western-European agency in the country of my s... See more ...unless the agency doesn't use match discounts. And even then, I wouldn't work for much less than that. And it depends on the language pair. Some will command quite a bit more than that.
My standard rate is €0.10 per word. (The Proz.com average is 0.11, but I'm assuming that's averaged out by higher rates for specialisms like law and medicine.) I've been offered as little as 4 cents a word though. That's the rate paid one well-known western-European agency in the country of my source language. They aren't cheeky enough to want match discounts, thankfully. I'd have to be having a really, really dry spell with bills piling up before I took work on at that rate.
Most agencies have told me that other translators are working for around 8 cents a word. Some of them pay that with match discounts. Some pay around 8 cents per word and don't work with matches, which puts it decently close to my standard rate. I have been criticised on the forums for accepting this rate, but it's this or be clientless at the moment.
I do have a small number of agency clients who pay my standard rate, sometimes even without match discounts. These are the clients who usually want something closer to transcreation, so they know that 10 cents is damned good value.
Find out what the average rate is for your language pair. Work out what you can reasonably accept below that without hurting your pride or bottom line. Don't accept work from clients who want to pay less. They either don't care about you, or they don't care about quality. Neither is conducive to a good working relationship. ▲ Collapse
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| Rates are set by the professional, not by the customer | Nov 4, 2022 |
Heather Fremont wrote:
For freelance jobs I have charged about $.10/word, but an agency I recently spoke with pays only $0.03/ word. I would love to hear about other people's experiences.
An agency is a customer. It is you who decides your rate, not them telling to you what they pay. They may agree to your rate, reject it, or you can negotiate and agree on a lower rate, but again: it's you who decides your rate, not them.
You should set your rate based on various factors (how much you need to earn, how much time you take to translate x number of words, your experience and specialization, etc.). If a customer cannot pay the rate you are charging, move on and look for other customers.
Personally, I believe that a rate of USD 0.03 / word for translation is ridiculous and offensive: it's about half what I charge agencies for editing, and less than a quarter of what I charge for translation.
ADDENDUM:
I highly recommend Corinne's McKay's presentation at the upcoming (and free) "Innovation in Translation Summit" (https://www.innovationintranslation.com/schedule).
[Edited at 2022-11-04 15:00 GMT]
| | | | Heather Fremont
United States
Local time: 10:49
Portuguese to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your responses. I have to say I was dismayed when the agency owner told me that. Three cents per word is not a livable wage and does truly seem offensive to a professional linguist. However, his reason for that price was based on the rates offered on the website Smartcat, where I was shocked to find 100s of Portuguese/English translators offering rates of a few cents per word. Do any of you have any experience with Smartcat?
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Heather Fremont wrote:
His reason for that price was based on the rates offered on the website Smartcat, where I was shocked to find 100s of Portuguese/English translators offering rates of a few cents per word. Do any of you have any experience with Smartcat?
I've worked for a few customers on SmartCat--at my regular rates. The reason claimed by your prospect for offering you that pittance are bogus. Sue, you can find so-called "translators" working at 0.03/word on SmartCat, and on UpWork, and on a bunch of other places. In the great majority of cases, the fact that they claim to be translators doesn't mean they really are translators, and the quality of their work confirms that.
| | | | Heather Fremont
United States
Local time: 10:49
Portuguese to English
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TOPIC STARTER | thank you---update | Dec 2, 2022 |
I would like to thank you all for your advice.
I stuck to my guns and did not accept working for that low. They offered up to $0.05/word but I said no thank you.
Since then I have signed onto a project that is now paying me $0.09/word.
So thank you for the encouragement!
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