excuse my English! Thread poster: Kelly Gill
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Kelly Gill
Italy
Local time: 23:49
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Hello Danish members.
Sorry for writing in English but I don't know Danish. I am actually writing for a friend of mine who use to be a part-time translator a long long time ago and recently she has had a few requests for translations so she is thinking about getting back into the business.
She asked me how much she should charge.
I have no idea. I translate from Italian to English so I am sure that my rates are lower than the going rate for Danish - Italian... See more Hello Danish members.
Sorry for writing in English but I don't know Danish. I am actually writing for a friend of mine who use to be a part-time translator a long long time ago and recently she has had a few requests for translations so she is thinking about getting back into the business.
She asked me how much she should charge.
I have no idea. I translate from Italian to English so I am sure that my rates are lower than the going rate for Danish - Italian translations.
I would appreciate any info on the "going rate" (more or less) for Danish/Italian - Italian/ Danish translations.
Please feel free to send me an email - kellytree (at) gmail.com if you don't feel comfortable discussing money in public.
On behalf of my friend Pernille thanks for any thoughts on how much to charge.
(I think we are talking about general conversation and slightly technical translations within her field of work --- whitegoods ) ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Never below a Krone! | Mar 1, 2011 |
I don't do Italian, but my rule of thumb is to not go below 1.00 DKK per word source text. Some (serious) agencies will offer large volume work at 0.80 to 0.90 DKK, which some people are happy to do, but I for one have managed to make a living without working for those agencies.
In the end, you adopt the policy you feel is best for you.
As for negotiations, it can sometimes be a struggle to explain the cost of living in Denmark to outsiders, so I'd advise just naming a... See more I don't do Italian, but my rule of thumb is to not go below 1.00 DKK per word source text. Some (serious) agencies will offer large volume work at 0.80 to 0.90 DKK, which some people are happy to do, but I for one have managed to make a living without working for those agencies.
In the end, you adopt the policy you feel is best for you.
As for negotiations, it can sometimes be a struggle to explain the cost of living in Denmark to outsiders, so I'd advise just naming a price and leaving the argument at "I can get this elsewhere, so that's what you'll have to pay".
All the best to your friend. She's welcome in the forum.
Yours,
Mads G ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liset Nyland 
Italy
Local time: 23:49
Italian to Danish
+ ...
| I live in Italy | Mar 1, 2011 |
...and do standard technical IT-DA jobs for Italian agencies for 20 % less than what Mads states (and see a lot of jobs going elsewhere).
I have no problems getting decent rates with direct clients in DK, so it also depends on your marketing focus.
| | | | Kelly Gill
Italy
Local time: 23:49
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for your input. I will pass this info on to my friend. I told her about the proz forums and hopefully she will join soon so she can ask her own darn questions
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| There are fewer words in Scandinavian languages... | Mar 2, 2011 |
I don't know the ratio for Italian, but over large volumes of mixed text you find there are 20 - 25% more words in the English versions than in the corresponding Danish, Norwegian or Swedish texts.
So if people are used to thinking of a rate for 1000 English words, they should pay the same for 800 - 850 source words from Danish, which will translate into about 1000 English words.
A lot of clients complain that Scandinavians are expensive, but that is a slight consolatio... See more I don't know the ratio for Italian, but over large volumes of mixed text you find there are 20 - 25% more words in the English versions than in the corresponding Danish, Norwegian or Swedish texts.
So if people are used to thinking of a rate for 1000 English words, they should pay the same for 800 - 850 source words from Danish, which will translate into about 1000 English words.
A lot of clients complain that Scandinavians are expensive, but that is a slight consolation. The other way of putting it is that Scandinavians may be less underpaid than some other nationalities.
Either way, there are not too many really good translators working with Scandinavian languages. With this in our favour, we owe it to ourselves and the profession in general to insist on rates that allow us to earn a reasonable living.
OK, I'm English, but having lived half my life in Denmark ...
Best of luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liset Nyland
Italy
Local time: 23:49
Italian to Danish
+ ...
| volume conversion | Mar 2, 2011 |
Christine Andersen wrote:
I don't know the ratio for Italian, but over large volumes of mixed text you find there are 20 - 25% more words in the English versions than in the corresponding Danish, Norwegian or Swedish texts.
So if people are used to thinking of a rate for 1000 English words, they should pay the same for 800 - 850 source words from Danish, which will translate into about 1000 English words.
I'd say that variations go from - 2% to 10 % less words or signs in the Danish texts when compared to Italian. But prices are usually given "a cartella" which is a page of 1500 signs including spaces (which corresponds to 220-230 Italian words) or simply pr. source word.
Christine Andersen wrote:
The other way of putting it is that Scandinavians may be less underpaid than some other nationalities....we owe it to ourselves and the profession in general to insist on rates that allow us to earn a reasonable living.
Fully agree, furtunately most Danish professionals have som kind of "professional pride" which make them set minimum fees. The problem with the Italian market is that it suffer from the presence of a lot of "improvised" pseudo-professionals, and many clients are used to paying next to nothing for translation (and they stumble when scandinavian languages suddenly cost 30-40% more than the common languages), but I also think that Italy has felt the crisis more than Denmark, and so the general price level has remained at the 2009 level.
After a couple of clamourous incidents with improvised simultanous interpreters on TV, the italian association of translators has started to move publicly to raise general awareness regarding quality. But there is a long way to go.
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