For this month鈥檚 column, I want to touch on something that I鈥檝e been thinking about a lot: the way we charge for our services.
Traditionally, translation services in the听U.S. have been billed by the source word, so the translator will know exactly how much she or he will charge the client before the process starts. Following this practice also provides the client with an exact figure,听which is helpful. In other markets, billing by听the source line is common.
Changing existing pricing structures can be difficult. Most translation agencies have established processes based on per-word rates, so I speculate that there won鈥檛 be too much change in this area in the short term. That鈥檚 why I鈥檒l focus on direct clients听here.
Not surprisingly, many clients have no idea how many words are on the documents/websites they need to have translated. That鈥檚 because, unlike translators, they鈥檝e probably never thought about their documents on a per-word basis.
On many documents, it鈥檚 easy to count听the words, but things get trickier with PDFs and web-based content. For the past few years, I鈥檝e started quoting many projects by the hour because I feel that an hourly rate is something most clients understand听quite well, as they are used to paying that way for other professional service providers, such听as lawyers and accountants. Many of my听clients have actually requested quotes on a听per-hour basis.
In addition, I also like this approach because it elevates our profession in a way that puts it more on par with other professional services and moves away from the 鈥減iecemeal鈥 approach that sometimes comes with per-word pricing. Ultimately, it鈥檚 all听about making clients happy, and in my (not necessarily representative) experience, I have the impression that clients have been pleased with the hourly approach.
Finally, I like per-hour pricing because it gives the client a clear understanding of some of the surcharges I usually add on manually as percentages. For instance, a scanned image of a document converted into a PDF will take infinitely longer to translate听than a Word document with no tables. (Well, maybe not infinitely, but it feels like it!) I鈥檝e always had a surcharge for PDF processing (which sometimes results in the client locating the Word document), and I think it鈥檚 a very straightforward explanation听that a PDF takes more time to process and is thus more expensive. Ultimately, it all comes down to an hourly charge being something that鈥檚 transparent and easy to calculate and understand. Of course, your clients must trust you not to overcharge them.
Now, what are the potential downsides to this pricing approach? The main one is that the translator has to do an excellent job at estimating how long the translation will take before the project starts. This is relatively easy to do if you have many years of听experience, but it鈥檚 hard in the beginning. That鈥檚 why I would recommend that you estimate on the high end to give yourself some wiggle room. You鈥檒l also have a pleasantly surprised customer if you invoice them for less. On the other hand, I don鈥檛 invoice听more than what I estimated, since this is unfair to the client. You may choose to do this differently, but on the few occasions that I鈥檝e been way off on our estimates I had to absorb the difference, but there are always other ways to handle this.
Another downside is that some clients might potentially perceive your rate, regardless of what it is, as high. Then you can either explain to them that translation is a professional service, or you can simply thank them for their interest. Unfortunately, a听change in pricing structure doesn鈥檛 mean that there won鈥檛 be some clients who will think your work is too expensive regardless of how you charge for it.
While I think charging by the word is a solid pricing structure, I鈥檓 beginning to like some of these per-hour advantages and plan to continue using both strategies. Perhaps it will catch on, and I鈥檝e already heard from many colleagues who have switched听to per-hour pricing and are happy with the results.
Judy Jenner听is a court-certified听Spanish interpreter and a Spanish听and German translator based in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she runs Twin Translations with her twin sister. She is a past president of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association. She hosts the translation blog,听Translation Times听(www.translationtimes.blogspot.com). You can also find her at . Contact:听judy.jenner@twintranslations.com听or听judy.jenner@entrepreneuriallinguist.com.