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Poll: How would you like to be paid for review or proofreading jobs?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Charlotte Farrell United Kingdom Local time: 08:11 Member (2013) German to English + ...
By word
Feb 22, 2017
I prefer charging by word, because I don't like having to keep a record of how long I'm spending. I usually charge a rate that means I'm earning quite a bit higher than my normal hourly average if the translation is excellent and I can fly through it, but am still earning well if more edits are needed. I have one client who insists that I charge by hour and always massively underestimates how long it will take, and it drives me mad having to get them to agree to pay for more hours for every job.
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Vanda Nissen Australia Local time: 17:11 Member (2008) English to Russian + ...
It really depends
Feb 22, 2017
It depends on the client and the translator. Sometimes I am lucky to proofread translations done by very good translators, and I do not mind being paid by word, for short texts I prefer lump sums. When editing is required, I charge per hour. But I usually agree on the terms in advance because I never accept editing jobs without having a look at translations first.
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Mario Freitas Brazil Local time: 04:11 Member (2014) English to Portuguese + ...
Fixed rate, but no thanks
Feb 23, 2017
My revision rate is 50% of my translation rate. But I rarely ever accept revision jobs. Only when I really don't have any translations to do. So in 2016, for example, revisions represented less than 3% of my jobs, and only for regular clients.
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AlbaLTD Russian Federation Local time: 10:11 English to Russian + ...
Time-tracking reports will become an industry standard
Feb 23, 2017
No wonder that only 8.6% voted for time-tracking reports. Most colleagues prefer to be paid as much as they ask or to never accept revision/proofreading jobs at all... It was almost the same with CAT-tools some time ago. Many translators refused to accept repetition discounts and now this is an industry standard.
Anyway clients need someone to do this part of the job and if we speak about agencies their budget is always limited by what the end clients pays. So I think that using tim... See more
No wonder that only 8.6% voted for time-tracking reports. Most colleagues prefer to be paid as much as they ask or to never accept revision/proofreading jobs at all... It was almost the same with CAT-tools some time ago. Many translators refused to accept repetition discounts and now this is an industry standard.
Anyway clients need someone to do this part of the job and if we speak about agencies their budget is always limited by what the end clients pays. So I think that using time-tracking "spyware" is the best possible compromise between being paid per word (and thus as much as your client wants, no matter what the quality of translation is) and being paid per hour based on declared time spent (and thus as much as you want). ▲ Collapse
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Hege Jakobsen Lepri Norway Local time: 09:11 Member (2002) English to Norwegian + ...
Trust is currency
Feb 23, 2017
I'm quite astounded by AlbaLTD's answer. Fortunately I do not live in a society where everybody distrusts everybody and you assume people try to screw you. Generally I undercharge when I charge by the hour, because I subtract any break, including bathroom breaks (something I wouldn't do in a salaried position), and most translators I've worked with are the same. Not accepting spyware on my computer is a basic human liberty. And are you not struck by the paradox of not trusting a tr... See more
I'm quite astounded by AlbaLTD's answer. Fortunately I do not live in a society where everybody distrusts everybody and you assume people try to screw you. Generally I undercharge when I charge by the hour, because I subtract any break, including bathroom breaks (something I wouldn't do in a salaried position), and most translators I've worked with are the same. Not accepting spyware on my computer is a basic human liberty. And are you not struck by the paradox of not trusting a translator's self-reported hours, but trusting alien spyware that tracks you, without being able to control in anyway how the information is stored and used later?
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