| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | MPTE current prices Thread poster: Cristina Bejan
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Hello there,
I apologize if it has been discussed before, but after a quick search, I only found information from a couple of years ago, and I am afraid that the prices are not relevant today.
Can I ask what the current rates are among freelancers who do MTPE?
Thank you!
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 00:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Cristina Bejan wrote:
Can I ask what the current rates are among freelancers who do MTPE?
40-70% of your translation rate.
| | | | Jean Lachaud
United States
Local time: 18:57
English to French
+ ...
| Anything the market can bear... | Mar 22, 2023 |
... is the universal formula for setting prices.
| | | | Jose Ruivo
Portugal
Local time: 23:57
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Less than 50%?? | Mar 22, 2023 |
I am surprised that anyone would accept less that 50% of his normal rate for MTPE work.
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 00:57
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
I've said it before, I'll say it again. There is only one rate that will cover the time and effort you might end up having to put into any MTPE project: you hourly rate.
Even if you charge 0.15 cents per word, if the MT is bad or confusing or makes you wonder what might be meant by it, then you might have to work 10 - 20 minutes on a few words.
| | | | | 66% is standard | Mar 22, 2023 |
I was told by a PM in a large agency recently that 66% is becoming standard for MTPE.
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Hourly rate, just as Thayenga said.
In the end MTPE is a kind of proofing, for which I charge my hourly rate, so why not for MTPE?
[Edited at 2023-03-22 17:12 GMT]
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
In the end MTPE is a kind of proofing...
MTPE is a type of translating. The reason why one would charge by the hour for proofreading is that you have no idea how good or bad the human translator was, but the MTPE, as long as you know which engine the client used, the machine translation is always the same quality, so it's predictable, and thus chargeable by the word.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:57
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Samuel Murray wrote:
MTPE is a type of translating. The reason why one would charge by the hour for proofreading is that you have no idea how good or bad the human translator was, but the MTPE, as long as you know which engine the client used, the machine translation is always the same quality, so it's predictable, and thus chargeable by the word.
| | | | | @ Samuel I disagree | Mar 22, 2023 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Robert Rietvelt wrote:
In the end MTPE is a kind of proofing... MTPE is a type of translating. The reason why one would charge by the hour for proofreading is that you have no idea how good or bad the human translator was, but the MTPE, as long as you know which engine the client used, the machine translation is always the same quality, so it's predictable, and thus chargeable by the word.
Sorry Samuel, but I have to disagree with you.
This is the story I get from the agencies (our machine is great!), and maybe those stories will fly in a perfect (translation) world, but unfortunately, that world doesn't exist.
- "For proofreading is that you have no idea how good or bad the human translator was"-
Same goes for MT. Sometimes MT delivers a "readable" text (as do some translators), or it makes a mess of it (as do some translators). And the agencies? they charge whatever they want.
In short, it is everything except predictable, and I won't trust the quality either, whatever they say.
In this case an hourly rate is the only reasonable outcome (although the other side might think different).
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:57
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Hourly MTPE rates are a utopia | Mar 22, 2023 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
In this case an hourly rate is the only reasonable outcome (although the other side might think different).
Perhaps you will be able to find some rare exceptions, but the large majority of agencies will never accept an hourly rate. So I think this is bad advice, to be honest. Hourly rates are without a shadow of a doubt not the future of MTPE rates.
@Cristina: if you are willing to train yourself in MTPE you will notice after a few months that 60-70% of your normal translation rate will allow you to earn as much money as with your normal translation activitey at your full rates. In my experience you can't go lower than 60%, though, without compromising quality.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:57
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Perhaps you will be able to find some rare exceptions, but the large majority of agencies will never accept an hourly rate.
Some do actually offer an hourly rate, but then they also tell you how many hours you are allowed to work on the job (-:
[Edited at 2023-03-22 21:04 GMT]
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 00:57
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| Only if we permit it | Mar 23, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Perhaps you will be able to find some rare exceptions, but the large majority of agencies will never accept an hourly rate. So I think this is bad advice, to be honest. Hourly rates are without a shadow of a doubt not the future of MTPE rates.
We, the translators, should determine our own future and rates. If we let agencies get away with paying us peanuts for any type of work, then they will - of course - lower our rates as much as they possibly can in order to increase their profits. Not that I could blame them for it. Unfortunately, there will always be someone willing to work for pennies and who thus sets the market prices. And with it the value of their time and work.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:57
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Samuel Murray wrote:
Some do actually offer an hourly rate, but then they also tell you how many hours you are allowed to work on the job (-:
[Edited at 2023-03-22 21:04 GMT]
You can't say they aren't creative. 
[Edited at 2023-03-23 06:37 GMT]
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:57
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Thayenga wrote:
We, the translators, should determine our own future and rates. If we let agencies get away with paying us peanuts for any type of work, then they will - of course - lower our rates as much as they possibly can in order to increase their profits. Not that I could blame them for it. Unfortunately, there will always be someone willing to work for pennies and who thus sets the market prices. And with it the value of their time and work.
Translators who are able to post-edit texts with their usual productivity (so not losing money doing it) while maintaining the same quality standards have a serious competitive advantage compared to translators who refuse to post-edit at post-editing rates (meaning giving a discount of at least 30%). That's what you should remember because any translator who is able to do that, will take advantage of it and you eventually will be left with clients who no longer will be prepared to pay what they used to pay you. You can be unhappy about it and even resist against it, but it will happen.
"Translators determining their own future and rates" is just a fairy tale. Not 1 general professional is able to determine his own future and rates (in the long term) without taking into account new technology and trends. But good luck with that. People who refuse to adapt will be among the first to disappear from the market (I know, there will always be exceptions so you can always hope you will be one of them).
It's not that I'm a machine translation fan as such. I adore conventional translation work and that is still for at least 80% what I do and I hope keep doing it for many more years. But I will be ready for an MTPE driven future of translation, I can tell you that.
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