Educational materials, quoting
Thread poster: Diana Kaplan
Diana Kaplan
Diana Kaplan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:44
English to German
+ ...
Jul 14, 2020

I´ve got an offer for an ongoing project (educational materials) with approx. 20000-25000 words per month.
It´s a direct client and the project is supposed to be for about a year.
I don´t think I can do it all by myself without restricting my other activities.
The client would like to know how much I would charge per unit (about 2500 words), normally I would say 0,10€ per word but considering the amount of work I am not sure if I should not rather quote a flat rate. On the
... See more
I´ve got an offer for an ongoing project (educational materials) with approx. 20000-25000 words per month.
It´s a direct client and the project is supposed to be for about a year.
I don´t think I can do it all by myself without restricting my other activities.
The client would like to know how much I would charge per unit (about 2500 words), normally I would say 0,10€ per word but considering the amount of work I am not sure if I should not rather quote a flat rate. On the other hand it´s also a lot of work.
Could you share your opinion on what would be reasonable and any other thoughts on the subject.

TIA!
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Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 08:44
English to German
In memoriam
Your going rate should be the guideline Jul 14, 2020

Normally it makes not much sense to reduce your rates for bigger projects. You can sell only so much of your time and not expand your operations infinitely, so you should always try to make the best (money) of your time. I would also not use a flat rate for a workload that is not exactly defined.

Your selling point should be the consistent quality you deliver, and your service. Keep the client happy with good work, and charge them accordingly. 0,10 € for a direct client seems quit
... See more
Normally it makes not much sense to reduce your rates for bigger projects. You can sell only so much of your time and not expand your operations infinitely, so you should always try to make the best (money) of your time. I would also not use a flat rate for a workload that is not exactly defined.

Your selling point should be the consistent quality you deliver, and your service. Keep the client happy with good work, and charge them accordingly. 0,10 € for a direct client seems quite on the low end already (depending on the language pair for this project).
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philippe Etienne
Platary (X)
Sheila Wilson
 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:44
German to English
Include costs for editor/reviewer Jul 15, 2020

Depending on the nature of the material, the task may be more akin to literary translation than instructions for a vacuum cleaner, i.e, more time-consuming, so you'll need to estimate your time budget accordingly.

If you're expected to translate 25K words/month, you may not have time to do much more than check the spelling of your translations and make sure the text makes sense. Projects of that size really require a second set of eyes to review the work for clarity and style if not
... See more
Depending on the nature of the material, the task may be more akin to literary translation than instructions for a vacuum cleaner, i.e, more time-consuming, so you'll need to estimate your time budget accordingly.

If you're expected to translate 25K words/month, you may not have time to do much more than check the spelling of your translations and make sure the text makes sense. Projects of that size really require a second set of eyes to review the work for clarity and style if nothing else, especially since this is educational material. Keep this in mind when quoting.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Philippe Etienne
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:44
Member
English to French
And the proverbial warning Jul 15, 2020

Ensure that the offer is legit.

Quote whatever you see fit, and promises remain words until they're firm orders. Training material is not easy and requires very careful work to ensure it's suitable. Your translation is evaluated by management, trainers and trainees, and you don't want to be laughed at.

A client who contributes to 50% of my earnings each year is nothing out of the ordinary (or is it?). I don't have special pricing in place for them, and they don't ask.... See more
Ensure that the offer is legit.

Quote whatever you see fit, and promises remain words until they're firm orders. Training material is not easy and requires very careful work to ensure it's suitable. Your translation is evaluated by management, trainers and trainees, and you don't want to be laughed at.

A client who contributes to 50% of my earnings each year is nothing out of the ordinary (or is it?). I don't have special pricing in place for them, and they don't ask.

And yes, 0.10/word for an end client is really, but really, low, even without any file preparation or editing by a second pair of eyes. I charge all my agency clients a higher amount for oven-ready projects, including those who order more than half my yearly "production". Granted, agencies get CAT discounts, which may not be required with end clients.

Be careful with 'units' if it's not a set amount easily related to a 'unit' you're familiar with. Low-balling can result in hourly earnings below sustainable thresholds. A lump sum perhaps makes more sense to an end client if they're not familiar with translation.

An translation consumer gets translations to enter or stay in foreign markets, and spending 60k for the training material of a machine they'll sell by the dozen at 6M in that market is peanut dust (1% if one machine sold, and the thickness of a hair with a few dozens of sales).
As long as nobody dies from using it, due to cheap translation, cheap skills and cheap commitment.

Philippe
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Kevin Fulton
DZiW (X)
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
Mentoring/Education Jul 15, 2020

Diana, besides what the colleagues kindly mentioned, how about your exp in this field?

For what it's worth, the project may have much to do not only with the collocations/register, optimum pace, optimum load, and other educationese, but much-much more.


 
Diana Kaplan
Diana Kaplan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:44
English to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks, everyone! Jul 16, 2020

I will rethink "charging per unit" as it´s a bit unclear.
I actually do have experience in that particular field, that´s how the client found me´(someone recommended me) and it looks like a very interesting project to me.
Just to clarify why I´m tempted to take it on:)


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:44
French to English
. Jul 17, 2020

I remember coming here with a question about a client who wanted me to charge the same flat rate for each project.
The first time we worked together, I just billed the number of words and it came to about €100.
The second time, I estimated about €500 because the file was much longer. The client told me they budgeted a flat rate for each project, of €250. So please could I just bill that each time? Sure I'd be losing out on this project, but the next might well be smaller and i
... See more
I remember coming here with a question about a client who wanted me to charge the same flat rate for each project.
The first time we worked together, I just billed the number of words and it came to about €100.
The second time, I estimated about €500 because the file was much longer. The client told me they budgeted a flat rate for each project, of €250. So please could I just bill that each time? Sure I'd be losing out on this project, but the next might well be smaller and it would all round out in the end.
A wonderful person here (sorry I don't remember who!) told me to remain firm and bill per word and if they didn't like it, reassure them that it would all round out in the end. I did just that and it worked out fine, I'm in the midst of a project for this client right now in fact.
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Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 08:44
French to English
. Jul 17, 2020

In fact I would say to bill as usual for the first few projects and maybe come up with a flat rate if you see that the files are always similar. If they are of varying difficulty, you might lose out giving a flat rate. And it might be harder to increase the flat rate than your per-word rate (which direct clients don't tend to notice IME)

 


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Educational materials, quoting







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