| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: How do you calculate your proofreading rate? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| It greatly depends | Mar 1, 2012 |
I'd put "other" because it obviously depends on how good the translation is.
I tend not to count by hours, even though I've done so and sometimes it would be more convenient.
But I often wonder how a client could rely on your good faith in counting hours.
If it's possible, I prefer to see an example of the text and count from 30 to 40% of the translation fee if the text is good and only requires checking some typos, commas, and light changes in style in the target... See more I'd put "other" because it obviously depends on how good the translation is.
I tend not to count by hours, even though I've done so and sometimes it would be more convenient.
But I often wonder how a client could rely on your good faith in counting hours.
If it's possible, I prefer to see an example of the text and count from 30 to 40% of the translation fee if the text is good and only requires checking some typos, commas, and light changes in style in the target language, while I consider up to 60% for texts that require an extensive work due to big interpretation mistakes or total tweaking/rebuilding of the text in a fluent Italian.
I'd add that proofreading/revising/editing/checking, or whatever the name, are a task of great responsibility, because one should avoid the attitude "I would have written/done it this way...", while one should maintain a neutral attitude towards the text and change/correct exclusively the things that are wrong or really to be corrected.
This isn't always obvious.
Happy translating to all of you,
Pierluigi ▲ Collapse
| | | | Oleg Osipov 
Russian Federation
Local time: 11:50
English to Russian
+ ...
I don't do proofreading very often, because as some colleagues have already pointed out, you may find yourself in a situation when you are most likely will be expected to redo a lot of in the translation submitted for proofreading, including style, grammar, terms, sentence restructuring, etc. and that will take more time and effort than expected initially.
| | | | Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 10:50
English to French
+ ...
Pierluigi Bernardini wrote:
If it's possible, I prefer to see an example of the text and count from 30 to 40% of the translation fee if the text is good and only requires checking some typos, commas, and light changes in style in the target language, while I consider up to 60% for texts that require an extensive work due to big interpretation mistakes or total tweaking/rebuilding of the text in a fluent Italian.
Pierluigi
When do you make the decision? After reading a 2 pages sample (the best pages, the only ones they sent you) of a 67 pages below average translation?
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:50
French to English
Pierluigi Bernardini wrote:
But I often wonder how a client could rely on your good faith in counting hours.
How do you rely on what the garage mechanic says?
You may leave the car with him for three hours, but unless you actually stay there, there's no way of knowing whether he worked non-stop on your car...
If you track your changes you show the extent of your work
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| I don't do this work | Mar 2, 2012 |
For the reasons already given, I have found that "proofreading" (read: revising) never pays enough to justify the effort. Plus, I don't enjoy correcting other people's work. Increasingly I see, like Neil, that agencies are giving the original translation to entry-level translators and expect the professional ones to clean it up for a pittance. They think it saves money, but it's wrong-headed. They would do better to hire a good translator for the original translation and a newbie to do the proof... See more For the reasons already given, I have found that "proofreading" (read: revising) never pays enough to justify the effort. Plus, I don't enjoy correcting other people's work. Increasingly I see, like Neil, that agencies are giving the original translation to entry-level translators and expect the professional ones to clean it up for a pittance. They think it saves money, but it's wrong-headed. They would do better to hire a good translator for the original translation and a newbie to do the proofreading. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | To see the whole text | Mar 2, 2012 |
Interlangue wrote: Pierluigi Bernardini wrote:
If it's possible, I prefer to see an example of the text and count from 30 to 40% of the translation fee if the text is good and only requires checking some typos, commas, and light changes in style in the target language, while I consider up to 60% for texts that require an extensive work due to big interpretation mistakes or total tweaking/rebuilding of the text in a fluent Italian.
Pierluigi When do you make the decision? After reading a 2 pages sample (the best pages, the only ones they sent you) of a 67 pages below average translation?
Yes, I said an example but I correct myself, the best thing would be to see the whole text, obviously.
Assuming that, to me, a translator isn't much likely to deliver a text in which a portion is excellent and the rest is to be entirely redone from the beginning, anyway ok, if the client agrees, I see the whole text before, which is the best practice.
But this isn't always possible.
For example, the other day an agency asked me to quote for a proofreading, but the translation would have been delivered only later, and the deadline was very strict.
Even though they assured me that the text would have been quite good because they knew well the translator (and this agency is serious) I informed them that the rate might be higher in case of a bad text. They accepted my circumstance. But this wasn't the case and everything was ok in the end.
[Modificato alle 2012-03-02 13:02 GMT]
[Modificato alle 2012-03-02 13:04 GMT]
[Modificato alle 2012-03-02 13:08 GMT]
| | | | | Matter of personal choice | Mar 2, 2012 |
Texte Style wrote: Pierluigi Bernardini wrote:
But I often wonder how a client could rely on your good faith in counting hours.
How do you rely on what the garage mechanic says? You may leave the car with him for three hours, but unless you actually stay there, there's no way of knowing whether he worked non-stop on your car... If you track your changes you show the extent of your work
Yes, you are right, the comparation with the mechanic is appropriate.
Anyway I prefer a way to count which is more "words at hand" and less woolly than hours, but this is just my opinion.
| | | | | "Bad" and "normal" scenario | Mar 6, 2012 |
I usually get a proofreading query by email, with a file attached. Then I can tell the PM how much it will cost (some prefer quotations on hour basis, a couple of others prefer 0,25%-0,35% of a translation word rate). If I have not seen a representative sample of the document to be proofread, I usually operate with good and bad scenarios. That means that I tell the agency how much it can cost in case the quality is reasonable, and how much it can be if it is not. These are the borderlines, and t... See more I usually get a proofreading query by email, with a file attached. Then I can tell the PM how much it will cost (some prefer quotations on hour basis, a couple of others prefer 0,25%-0,35% of a translation word rate). If I have not seen a representative sample of the document to be proofread, I usually operate with good and bad scenarios. That means that I tell the agency how much it can cost in case the quality is reasonable, and how much it can be if it is not. These are the borderlines, and the eventual actual price usually lies somewhere in between (e.g. I tell the agency that it can take between 12 and 16 hours depending on the quality, and charge for those 14 I have used on this job).
Proofreading is not so profitable with one exception: in case you have a regular customer who sends you jobs at more or less equal intervals, so you are well acquainted both with their terminology and the style of the regular translator, - and they give you a regular rate. This is as economically sound as it can be. I love this customer... ▲ Collapse
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| Proofread by word, only native translators | Mar 8, 2012 |
I generally charge half my translation rate for proofreading translations that have been done by other translators who are native speakers of the target language, and only accept jobs after I've seen them and assessed the work involved.
No machine translations and no translations done by non-natives who are just trying their hand at it - these generally involve a re-write, in which case I offer to re-translate it at my usual translation rate.
| | | | | Specific fee structure | Mar 8, 2012 |
One should never accept a proofreading job before having a look at the texts.
However, a good way to get rid of the risk factor and charge a fair fee would be to charge a reading fee per page plus a unit fee per correction (revisions count found in the MS-Word Reviewing pane).
If no correction is necessary, the proofreading is cheap (reading fee alone). The more work the proofreader has to do, the more expensive it becomes.
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