Rates for editing job Thread poster: StuartLHoneyman
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Hi there, I'm new to the industry and I was wondering if anyone could give me some guidance on what kind of rates I should be charging for this job.
It is a long document in English (180000 words) and it requires editing and proofreading. It was translated from Spanish so I will be editing and proofreading with reference to the Spanish original. The English document I will be given was translated by different authors with differing levels of English and the quality is very variable ... See more Hi there, I'm new to the industry and I was wondering if anyone could give me some guidance on what kind of rates I should be charging for this job.
It is a long document in English (180000 words) and it requires editing and proofreading. It was translated from Spanish so I will be editing and proofreading with reference to the Spanish original. The English document I will be given was translated by different authors with differing levels of English and the quality is very variable throughout. My job will be to generally make the document 'sound good' and provide consistency of terminology throughout. The document is not technical.
If we call 250 words a page this is 720 pages.
As I say I am new to the industry, but I don't want to be charging a ridiculously low figure. What might an entry-level figure be?
Thanks so much in advance,
Stuart ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey 
Canada
Local time: 18:43
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Entry-level? | Sep 23, 2016 |
Why would you charge an "entry-level" fee? Does that mean poorer work than a non-entry level fee?
Revision is a tricky business, and really depends on the quality of the original translation. You are evidently already concerned about the quality.
As a rule of thumb, many translators charge about 1/3 to 1/4 their rate for translation to do a revision, assuming a good quality translation. If the translation is poor quality, it would be higher and possibly an hourly rat... See more Why would you charge an "entry-level" fee? Does that mean poorer work than a non-entry level fee?
Revision is a tricky business, and really depends on the quality of the original translation. You are evidently already concerned about the quality.
As a rule of thumb, many translators charge about 1/3 to 1/4 their rate for translation to do a revision, assuming a good quality translation. If the translation is poor quality, it would be higher and possibly an hourly rate would be more appropriate. If it's a machine translation, revision might be 100% of the normal translation rate.
[Edited at 2016-09-23 14:13 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Thanks for the information, that's very helpful!
It seems unlikely someone with a few small translation projects under his belt can simply charge the same as an experienced editor. Entry-level seemed as good a term as any!
[Edited at 2016-09-23 16:35 GMT]
| | | | | Do a professional job and charge a professional fee | Sep 23, 2016 |
Hi Stuart, and welcome!
As a freelancer, you either sink or swim. You deliver a fully qualified, professional job, or you admit it is beyond your capacity, and turn it down. (Never be afraid to do that - good clients will respect you for it. Let them know at the same time what you are good at, so they can come back with something more suitable.) So you charge full fees for all jobs, unless you really want to help a non-profit organisation or a friend.
You are already C... See more Hi Stuart, and welcome!
As a freelancer, you either sink or swim. You deliver a fully qualified, professional job, or you admit it is beyond your capacity, and turn it down. (Never be afraid to do that - good clients will respect you for it. Let them know at the same time what you are good at, so they can come back with something more suitable.) So you charge full fees for all jobs, unless you really want to help a non-profit organisation or a friend.
You are already CEO, chief cook and bottlewasher in your own firm, and that is all the promotion you are going to get! You get pay rises by finding better clients, gathering experience that helps you work faster and more efficiently, or in specialist areas where you can charge more for your expertise. Otherwise, it is quite difficult to raise rates.
You can see some average rates here:
http://search.proz.com/employers/rates
-- on the Proz.com start page, Community Rates under the Tools tab at the top right.
They may not be high, so try not to go below the average!
Good luck with proofreading and editing - it is a very necessary job. It is also a good way of learning, if you are given good translations to work on, especially if you can discuss them with experienced translators once in a while.
I benefited a lot from doing that as a beginner.
I hope you enjoy it, too! ▲ Collapse
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Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 18:43
Spanish to English
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[Edited at 2016-09-23 21:42 GMT]
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 18:43
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Beware of table-wiping wages | Sep 23, 2016 |
Gauge as best you can the total number of hours it will take you to complete the job, figure out what your bottom-line acceptable hourly rate would be, and multiply the two figures. That will give you the flat rate you can offer for the job.
I cannot imagine that, even as a rank beginner looking simply to gain experience, you would want to work for less than $15.00/hour, so that might be a benchmark as an "entry-level" rate. If you can't earn even that much, I would say turn it dow... See more Gauge as best you can the total number of hours it will take you to complete the job, figure out what your bottom-line acceptable hourly rate would be, and multiply the two figures. That will give you the flat rate you can offer for the job.
I cannot imagine that, even as a rank beginner looking simply to gain experience, you would want to work for less than $15.00/hour, so that might be a benchmark as an "entry-level" rate. If you can't earn even that much, I would say turn it down. You certainly must have better ways to spend your time than cleaning up the messes of non-native speakers in such an interminably long document. (In this connection, you should also factor in the many cases in which you will likely have to communicate with the original writer(s) or project manager to discuss and resolve difficulties.)
My sense is that this project isn't worth your time, and that you would be better off gaining experience in other ways. Don't get tricked into focusing on how big the project is. Concentrate instead on what you will earn per hour. If that figure is perilously close to what you would earn wiping the tables at your local Burger King, then forget it.
[Edited at 2016-09-23 21:44 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ilan Rubin (X)
Russian Federation
Local time: 01:43
Russian to English
| Risk control | Sep 25, 2016 |
Slightly OT but you have to be very careful when taking on huge jobs like this to make sure you are going to get paid at the end of the day. This job is going to take you a few months of solid work. Are you 110% sure that you're not going to get diddled by the client and end up with nothing after your efforts? There are various ways of reducing risks, such as Blue Board, getting paid in stages, etc.
| | | | Tony Keily
Local time: 00:43
Italian to English
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| Proofreading? | Sep 27, 2016 |
This may not be of help, but here goes anyway...
According to standard EN15038, proofreading is "Checking of proofs before publishing". There are two services often called "proofreading": bilingual "revision" and "reviewing", which is examining the target text only for its agreed purposes/the conventions in the domain.
I probably really annoy a lot of PMs who hit me with requests for "quality control", "checking", "reviewing" and of course "proofreading", when they actu... See more This may not be of help, but here goes anyway...
According to standard EN15038, proofreading is "Checking of proofs before publishing". There are two services often called "proofreading": bilingual "revision" and "reviewing", which is examining the target text only for its agreed purposes/the conventions in the domain.
I probably really annoy a lot of PMs who hit me with requests for "quality control", "checking", "reviewing" and of course "proofreading", when they actually mean revision. I know it may sound petty, but if there is a standard and it lays down only a handful of words to cover the various services we provide, it seems strange to mix requests for such services up randomly.
Then there is a whole slew of "added value services", including re-writing.
I think it's also essential to point that in line with EN15038, you can only revise something that's been "translated", which is obviously subject to a series of skill-related requirements. So when you get gobbledygook, you have no option but to say "this needs re-translation".
Maybe what I find most annoying is to be asked to "proofread" texts that are not up to any sort of professional standards and even have sections of missing text.
[Edited at 2016-09-27 10:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Tony Keily
Local time: 00:43
Italian to English
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| And in answer to your question | Sep 27, 2016 |
The important thing in this kind of catch-all assignment is to keep your per-hour rate up. I've done this kind of work often for EU institutions (they don't know what to call it either) and you should be aiming to get through 7-10 standard pages an hour (5 if the stuff is awful). Then charge EUR 25 an hour as a newcomer. Or EUR 20 if you're feeling wealthy. (Or extrapolate a rate if you have to make an offer /word). If it takes you longer, it's you're problem I'm afraid!
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