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Invoicing question for an interpreting job
Thread poster: Philippe Oubelhaj
Philippe Oubelhaj
Philippe Oubelhaj
Belgium
Local time: 13:06
French to Dutch
+ ...
Nov 2, 2010

Hello,
I have a question concerning the invoice. I have had a large interpreting job (several days on site) and now I'm calculating the total number of hours, but what do you do with the lunch breaks and dinner breaks? Do people also add those hours as well or only the other hours. A colleague of mine here said that he always counted the hours from the time he had to be on site until the time he could go home again, so including the breaks.

Best regards,

Philip... See more
Hello,
I have a question concerning the invoice. I have had a large interpreting job (several days on site) and now I'm calculating the total number of hours, but what do you do with the lunch breaks and dinner breaks? Do people also add those hours as well or only the other hours. A colleague of mine here said that he always counted the hours from the time he had to be on site until the time he could go home again, so including the breaks.

Best regards,

Philippe ▲ Collapse
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 07:06
Romanian to English
+ ...
Hi Philippe, Nov 2, 2010

From personal experience (over 15 years of interpreting), your friend is right .
 
Patricia Charnet
Patricia Charnet
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:06
Member (2009)
English to French
hmmm Nov 2, 2010

I've never added them I must admit but I've heard of some people doing it.
 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 13:06
Spanish to English
+ ...
No day rates? Nov 3, 2010

For jobs like these I'm surprised day rates aren't applied. The only jobs I know that pay by the hour are police, court and public institution functions on line item schedules (and then waiting time and "dead time" are paid).
 
Williamson
Williamson  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:06
Flemish to English
+ ...
Per day Nov 3, 2010

At Lessius College, the head of the interpreting department is an AIIC-interpreter/E.U.-accredited interpreter and the college is very selective about whom they grant the degree of conference interpreter. Surely, they must have told you that interpeters are paid per (half)-day or per day, per diems not included, whatever the duration of the assignment.

[Edited at 2010-11-03 07:46 GMT]
 
Cécile A.-C.
Cécile A.-C.
United States
Local time: 07:06
Member (2010)
Portuguese to French
+ ...
Hello Philippe, Nov 3, 2010

It depends on the country you're doing the job as these practices changes from place to place. They are country specific and related to local labor laws and regulations.

Cécile
 
Bogdan Petrovic
Bogdan Petrovic  Identity Verified
Serbia
Local time: 13:06
English to Serbian
+ ...
yeah Nov 3, 2010

lee roth wrote:

From personal experience (over 15 years of interpreting), your friend is right .


Your friend is right.

Let's say they call you to the site and then you wait for say five hours before interpreting for one hour.

It's not your problem, you should charge from the moment you are requested to be present until the moment you leave.

That's how I've been doing it for 15 years.

Cheers
 


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Invoicing question for an interpreting job







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