What is the best rate for MTPE? Thread poster: Yong ZHANG
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Yong ZHANG
China
Local time: 06:00
Member (2022)
English to Chinese
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90% of the rate of manual translation?
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:00
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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| Probably too high | Dec 1, 2022 |
Eric ZHANG wrote:
90% of the rate of manual translation?
You can always try, but in my experience (and in my language pairs) you won't find clients (who offer you MTPE projects) that will accept that rate.
I apply 60-70% of my manual translation rate and I'm pretty sure that already excludes me for a lot of agencies working with MTPE. Personally I don't mind, because first of all I still focus on manual translation (at least 80% of all projects and word count-wise probably well over 90%) and secondly I believe anything under 60% of your normal rate won't be sustainable (nor for the agencies, nor for you as a translator) because it will lead to hasty work, hence poor quality translations.
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Hayley Wakenshaw 
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:00
Member (2018)
Dutch to English
| If you find anyone willing to pay that, let me know! | Dec 1, 2022 |
I get about 50% of my usual rate, but it depends on what level of edit the client wants.
A full edit to publishable standard? That's 40-50% of my standard rate. But prices start at 10% of the standard rate just for making a bad MT understandable. Theoretically. I haven't done that yet and probably wouldn't because I know I'll overedit and be underpaid.
Most MT I edit is of excellent quality and just needs to be made to sound more natural.
I'm curious to see... See more I get about 50% of my usual rate, but it depends on what level of edit the client wants.
A full edit to publishable standard? That's 40-50% of my standard rate. But prices start at 10% of the standard rate just for making a bad MT understandable. Theoretically. I haven't done that yet and probably wouldn't because I know I'll overedit and be underpaid.
Most MT I edit is of excellent quality and just needs to be made to sound more natural.
I'm curious to see what our colleagues have to say on this! ▲ Collapse
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| How long is a piece of string? | Dec 1, 2022 |
Surely the time needed varies hugely so it should be paid by the hour?
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:00
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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| Piece of string? | Dec 1, 2022 |
Ice Scream wrote:
Surely the time needed varies hugely so it should be paid by the hour?
What do you mean by 'piece of string' ? MTPE is done in a CAT tool (the agency provides you with a pre-translated CAT tool document), so it works with the same segments and word counts as for manual translation done in a CAT tool.
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Jianrong Sun
China
Local time: 06:00
Member (2019)
English to Chinese
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| Depends on the end customer's requirements for the quality of translation and the source content. | Dec 1, 2022 |
Lieven Malaise wrote: Eric ZHANG wrote:
90% of the rate of manual translation? You can always try, but in my experience (and in my language pairs) you won't find clients (who offer you MTPE projects) that will accept that rate. I apply 60-70% of my manual translation rate and I'm pretty sure that already excludes me for a lot of agencies working with MTPE. Personally I don't mind, because first of all I still focus on manual translation (at least 80% of all projects and word count-wise probably well over 90%) and secondly I believe anything under 60% of your normal rate won't be sustainable (nor for the agencies, nor for you as a translator) because it will lead to hasty work, hence poor quality translations.
The RATE of MTPE depends on the end customer's requirements for the quality of translation and the source content.
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Lieven Malaise wrote: Ice Scream wrote:
Surely the time needed varies hugely so it should be paid by the hour? What do you mean by 'piece of string' ? MTPE is done in a CAT tool (the agency provides you with a pre-translated CAT tool document), so it works with the same segments and word counts as for manual translation done in a CAT tool.
How long is a piece of string is an English idiom used when something can’t be measured with the information available.
The point is, the time it takes to edit a text varies, whether MT or not, so a fixed rate per word makes no sense.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 00:00
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| My translation speed also varies. | Dec 1, 2022 |
Ice Scream wrote:
How long is a piece of string is an English idiom used when something can’t be measured with the information available.
* takes note *
Ice Scream wrote:
The point is, the time it takes to edit a text varies, whether MT or not, so a fixed rate per word makes no sense.
My translation speed also varies according to the subject. Yet my translation rate remains the same (one exception : spare parts lists and the like). But I've never perceived that as a problem: sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some. The same goes for post-editing.
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Lieven Malaise wrote:
My translation speed also varies according to the subject.
Fair point. I find editing speed is much less predictable, so I always charge by the hour. I’d much rather be caught out by a tricky source text than a crappy translation…
Normally, though, I see the source before agreeing to translate it, whereas review jobs seem to be booked before the translation is ready, giving you no way of knowing what you’re getting😱
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 18:00
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| What is your actual hourly income? | Dec 1, 2022 |
It makes sense to accept MTPE jobs only if your hourly income is at least the same as what you make from your HT jobs. Otherwise, you are selling yourself cheap.
[Edited at 2022-12-01 22:27 GMT]
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 18:00
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| For the English to Chinese pair | Dec 1, 2022 |
For the English to Chinese pair, even a 10% discount is too much, because the MT output is generally very poor. It may save you some time if you or your client don't care much about quality. I guess most of the MTPE clients wants both cheap prices and good quality, and it is the MTPE editor that suffers.
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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For clients that clearly intend to purchase mostly MTPE services (if they ask for MTPE rates at all), just quote a HIGHER rate for regular translation.
Quote what you actually usually want to get as your "MTPE rate", and ~125% of that number for "translation".
Then quote 50% of the MTPE rate for "revision".
Also, don't forget to set a minimum corresponding to your rate for 1-1.5 hours for clients that seem like they could be regulars (and more for randos th... See more For clients that clearly intend to purchase mostly MTPE services (if they ask for MTPE rates at all), just quote a HIGHER rate for regular translation.
Quote what you actually usually want to get as your "MTPE rate", and ~125% of that number for "translation".
Then quote 50% of the MTPE rate for "revision".
Also, don't forget to set a minimum corresponding to your rate for 1-1.5 hours for clients that seem like they could be regulars (and more for randos that are unlikely to send you further business).
Done.
[Edited at 2022-12-02 02:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 00:00
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Hourly vs. per-word rate | Dec 3, 2022 |
The most sensible way to charge would be by the hour.
However, many customers don't like that because they want to know how much they will have to pay beforehand.
Per-word billing has its drawbacks but seems to be more common.
One attempted solution I've seen is for the customer to agree to a per-word rate, and afterwards have the translator fill out a short questionnaire about how good the quality of the MT was. With that information they hope to gain bett... See more The most sensible way to charge would be by the hour.
However, many customers don't like that because they want to know how much they will have to pay beforehand.
Per-word billing has its drawbacks but seems to be more common.
One attempted solution I've seen is for the customer to agree to a per-word rate, and afterwards have the translator fill out a short questionnaire about how good the quality of the MT was. With that information they hope to gain better precision in their pricing.
[Edited at 2022-12-03 21:26 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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