Price Estimation
The price of translation services depends on a number of factors, such as:
Time needed
Complex nature of language
Structure of the text and specialization
Therefore, standard service rates may not be accurate and may not help you plan your budget. For this, it is better to send us the request directly (in the case of oral translation services) or the documentation itself (in the case of written translation services), and we will provide you with an accurate estimate in the shortest possible time.
Quality varies as well as prices
A recent study we conducted showed that translation companies charge different prices for the same product. But we have to compare similar things.
Some companies charge twice as much as other companies in a particular document. In such a case, price may be an indicator of quality, but not a sufficient condition. The company’s reputation and asking for recommendations from existing clients will give you a clear idea of the quality management of a particular translation company.
Number of words in the primary source
Some companies set the price based on how many words are in the finished, translated document, usually called the target document.
We believe that it is unfair to charge money based on the number of words translated, because you, as a customer, will not know how much you will be charged until the job is done.
We can also consider counting pages by the number of characters (1800, 2000, or 3000 characters, including or without spaces) as an objective method of counting. Naturally, this issue is for a specific company to decide how it will approach its customers.
Deadline
If you give the translation company a realistic time frame for the translation, you will end up cheaper than if you rush the job to be done.
Why ? One language specialist can translate 2000 to 2500 words per day without any tension. If you have a 10,000-word document and a one-week deadline, it might be assigned entirely up to one person to do the work.
If you need the said document by the end of the next day, then the company will have to distribute the work to several employees and finally combine the translated documents of each of them into one document.
At times like this, surprisingly, technology helps us match the terms, but the company has to work harder because it requires the involvement of several employees. This usually requires additional time.
The use of computer translation tools reduces translation time by 20-30%. In the conditions of our practice, the SDL TRADOS computer translation tool is used when the same customer orders our services twice or more, in this case only the programmed system of “translation memory” is used, which allows us to have the same translation of the terms in the customer’s texts in all his documents. This approach also allows our loyal customers to reduce both the time of service delivery and the price of the service and, if desired, to provide a glossary of terms processed in the field of its activity.
Technical difficulties and document format
It is much easier, and therefore faster, to translate a document that does not include technical elements such as a large number of diagrams, drawings or other graphic elements.
Also, it is much easier to translate a document represented by a Word file than to translate hard-to-read handwritten documents.
Some agencies immediately charge additional fees for substandard work, and we will do our best to avoid additional fees. Just send us a copy of the document and get the translation at a competitive price.
Language Pairs
Different language pairs have different prices. It depends solely on demand and supply. It is much cheaper to translate an English document into Georgian than to translate a Japanese document into English.
Also, it is more expensive to translate a Korean document into, let’s say, Dutch, because the number of translators for these languages is much smaller than for standard language translators.
To summarize, given the four parameters above, any company should be able to give you an acceptable approximate price.
Remember, it is necessary to compare similar objects with each other.
Does the price include, for example, editing? You should not waste money on such a high quality that you do not need. For example, we offer: a) translation of documentation for internal use, b) translation of documentation for wide use and c) Selection, Referencing Translation packages.
