Summary
The question of how much does it cost to translate a document often arises. It is language professionals who translate documents from one language to another. Translating can be done for any document, including marketing documents, birth certificates, citizenship and immigration forms, business contracts, and other written documents.
You can find translation services to translate your documents into different languages, including Portuguese, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Mandarin, and more. In addition, a professional translator can translate text types, including legal, medical, financial, and scientific texts. There are often translators who specialize in one language.
Look for a translation expert who meets your needs. It is vital to understand that the translation of written words differs from the interpretation of spoken words, which often takes place in courtrooms and hospitals.
How is Translation Cost Calculated?
Costs vary according to a document’s total word count. If the translator calculates the page count and charges a standard rate per page for pages with a lot of text, the rate per page can double or triple. In calculating the cost per page, the translator estimates the word count and rounds up.
Price per word models provides more accurate and favorable translation pricing. In my opinion, most of the time, it is more advantageous for the customer to calculate the quote for translation per word than by the page.
Per Word Rate
This is the most common unit of measurement for translators and companies since they charge by the word. Typically, per-word prices are the most equitable for all parties involve. It varies from translator to translator how much effort is involved in translating a document.
An average translation of 2,000 words may take one translator eight hours, while another may only take six. Instead of paying by the hour, paying per word allows you to keep project costs under control. In addition to per-word pricing, your target or source word count contributes to calculating per-word pricing.
Based on the example above, the total cost for 2,000 words is $500 if the rate is $0.25/word. The target word count for a translation from English to Spanish will increase by roughly 20%. After translation, 2,000 English words suddenly become 2,400 Spanish words, and your final bill comes to $600.
Your translation budget may be adversely affect if you use target word costs instead of source word costs. You may sometimes find quotes from companies that refer to a price per thousand words.
Projects larger than 1,000 words often refer to a price per thousand words. The example above would mean you would be paying $250 per thousand (or $0.25/word).
Per Page Rate
The translation rate per page is rare. There is a possibility of translation vendors charging customers based on the pages in a document, but this is rare. A page’s cost can vary dramatically based on how many words are on it. For example, translate cost of a birth certificate of 200 words starts from $20.
Prices vary between $40 and $100 per page in 2022, depending on the language pair, subject matter, turnaround time, and file type (MS Word, PDF, and InDesign).
What are the Average Translation Rates per Word in 2022?
A standard or certified translation in the United States costs approximately $0.15 per word. There will be a minimum rate for translating documents in the United States since most letters with around one hundred words will not charge above $15 due to the standard and fixed cost associated with professional document translation. How much does it cost to translate a document depends on below factors.
Factors of Translation Cost
Translation costs are determined by many factors, including the length of the text, the number of words, and the number of languages involved. It is much more expensive to translate from English to Japanese than English to Italian. The cost of living in Japan is higher than in Italy, and fewer translators are available with rare language combinations.
A translation’s price can also differ significantly depending on the subject, in addition to these two variables. Translation rates rise when terminology becomes more specific and technical. It will cost more to translate an article on nuclear reactor operation than a brochure on the best New York restaurants.
The quote may be different if the assignment needs special formatting, if there is an urgent deadline, or if the translation is specialized. (For example, sworn translations, proofreading of previously translated material, certified translations, etc.).
On average, Translated charges $0.10 per word. Considering 250 words per page or 1,500 characters with spaces, a standard translation page costs about $25.
Three Levels of Translation Service
Depending on the client’s needs, translation services are available at three levels (premium, professional, and economy).
1 – Premium
Translations are provided by this service in a high-quality manner. All translations are performed by native-speaking translators and reviewed by a second native-speaking translator. Similarly, the project manager oversees the final quality check. The glossary and translation memory are available upon request.
2 – Professional
In this service, the document will be translated by a native-speaking professional. A second professional translator assessed it qualitatively. Finally, a project manager checked the final quality. Translation memory is available upon request.
3 – Economy
An excellent translation to help you understand a text or for personal use. Unsuitable for publication. By a native-speaking professional translator, a machine-generated translation can be tweak a little to remove only the most significant errors. The service does not apply to scanned PDFs and images.
How Much Does It Cost To Translate A Document In United States?
The average translation cost in the United States is $0.15/word. Many translation companies have fixed translation rates per page ranging from $20 to $50. But these rates often deceive because they only apply to 200 words or so at most. The amount charged for documents over 200 words is double, even if it’s just a few words.
Usually, translation companies don’t use computer translations or outsource work, but they provide their translation rates per word in advance. In many cases, translation services are available in hundreds of languages without having hundreds of employees. They outsource the task and pass on the cost to the customer.
Hey my name is Logan Jackson and I’m the founder of The Different Languages blog. I have years of experience in digital marketing and in content writing as well.