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Palache
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I make my living primarily as a translator. I've always charged per page and used one of three methods for determining the number of pages: 1) word count - 250 words 2) bytes without spaces - 1500 bytes 3) bytes with spaces - 1800 bytes There is some difference in the above computing methods, but they all come out roughly similar. I've always thought that these computation methods were industry standards for translators, and indeed I've never heard otherwise (although some countries use a rate per-word, but that's relatively rare). I just negotiated a large deal with a company and we agreed on my rate per page. When I went to sign on the dotted line, I saw that, according to them, a 'standardized digital page' is 300 words. I have no idea from where they got this calculation, but before I discuss it further with them I would be VERY APPRECIATIVE if anyone here on the site has any information about industry standards for a so-called 'standardized digital page'. If I simply cave in and agree to their method of computation, I will be surrendering 20% of what I thought was agreed upon. But before I 'stand on my rights' I'd like to know if anyone has ever heard of a 'standardized digital page' and in what context. I've tried to find this info on the internet, but with no luck so far. Since time is short, I thought I'd try to pick the brains of my kind colleagues on the site. Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed any light on this.
This post was last edited by Palache, 20 Dec 2011, 00:41
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Malcolm
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This is all I could find on word counts, and I'm not sure it helps. Sorry. Apparently the 250 word standard dates back to the days when people used typewriters, and word counts COULD be standardized because font choices were limited.
No stars. No charts. Just crits.
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PERRY
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I don't know about commercial standards, but I decided to check their word count against a dialogue-heavy page of my novel @ 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced. 309 words, even with my inclination towards polysyllables.
20% of something is better than 100% of nothing, and if it's a big contract it's a foot in the door. Perhaps there is the possibility of getting them to guarantee an extended contract to balance the "misunderstanding"?
I know nothing, but just a thought.
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notleyab
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Quote: Palache, Tuesday, 20 Dec 2011 00:40I make my living primarily as a translator. I've always charged per page and used one of three methods for determining the number of pages: 1) word count - 250 words 2) bytes without spaces - 1500 bytes 3) bytes with spaces - 1800 bytes There is some difference in the above computing methods, but they all come out roughly similar. I've always thought that these computation methods were industry standards for translators, and indeed I've never heard otherwise (although some countries use a rate per-word, but that's relatively rare). I just negotiated a large deal with a company and we agreed on my rate per page. When I went to sign on the dotted line, I saw that, according to them, a 'standardized digital page' is 300 words. I have no idea from where they got this calculation, but before I discuss it further with them I would be VERY APPRECIATIVE if anyone here on the site has any information about industry standards for a so-called 'standardized digital page'. If I simply cave in and agree to their method of computation, I will be surrendering 20% of what I thought was agreed upon. But before I 'stand on my rights' I'd like to know if anyone has ever heard of a 'standardized digital page' and in what context. I've tried to find this info on the internet, but with no luck so far. Since time is short, I thought I'd try to pick the brains of my kind colleagues on the site. Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed any light on this. Sounds like something was lost in written translation. Why not try spoken translation, & explain how you worked out yr bid? I do a few translations, & nobody's ever quoted a standardized digital page to me. If you quote by the word, there is no confusion.
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yellowchair
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The Wiki about translation fees:
http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Determining_your_rates_and_fees_as_a_translator
You will need to join proz.com (no cost) to see it, I think.
Katie
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Palache
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Thank you all for your help, and Malcolm and Katie for the websites, which unfortunately offer no definitive resolution to my dilemma. I've also contacted some translation agencies and organisations. The bottom line appears to be: 'It's a free market.' Everyone can charge and/or agree to what they wish, and there are no industry standards. Having said that, here in my neck of the woods most translators use the computations I offered in the original post. But none of them agree to me using their names publicly as a representative example. I'm also trying to determine how the EU computes the number of pages it translates, but the EU has a (strange) tendency to treat all its information as 'top secret' so I'm not optimistic about obtaining this info. So I have to figure out how to 're-negotiate' in a positive way, keeping in mind that I want the job but don't want to get locked into a new and disadavantageous calculation method. My proposal will probably be 'split the difference' and keep our agreement confidential (which is ironical given the fact I'm posting it on this website, but hey-ho, life is full of ironies.) Thanks again to all you kind persons.
This post was last edited by Palache, 20 Dec 2011, 13:49
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Palache
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Just to close this thread, and in case anyone's still interested, I did learn that the EU computes a 'page,' for translation purposes, as 1500 characters, without spaces. Given that the EU is far and away the world's largest translator, that seems to me to be a pretty strong argument for treating the calculation as an 'official' standard. Whether my potential employer will agree remains to be seen.
my website
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Help urgently needed (page count)
20 Dec 2011, 00:40
