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Lingua 5B 
Босния и Герцеговина
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2009
английский => хорватский
+ ...
I worked as a PM and you’re probably right. The higher was more common in the reverse pair, EN>DE. One of the first telltale signs to me was when the German translators started panicking re. AI, then I realized the situation was serious. Because overall, traditionally, they used to be able to impose very high rates, typically over 0.12. And this coupled with a very high volume of work.
[Edited at 2025-03-11 21:21 GMT]
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Бельгия
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2020
французский => голландский
+ ...
ADIE Translations wrote:
Certainly between 2006 and 2010, 0.10 EUR was not possible in my language combinations working with agencies. I'm sure there were some exceptions, but the reality was less.
I started in 2005 as a freelancer, at an (agency) rate of 0.07 EUR. I've never known of agency rates of 0.10 or more in those years.
| | | | Baran Keki
Турция
Local time: 16:45
Член ProZ.com
английский => турецкий
| Sounds like you did | Mar 12 |
ADIE Translations wrote:
I've been here since I started translating under a different, now deleted, profile. I don't remember such discussions. Perhaps you could remind me of the threads? How old do you mean by "old timers"?
Certainly between 2006 and 2010, 0.10 EUR was not possible in my language combinations working with agencies. I'm sure there were some exceptions, but the reality was less. Maybe in the US this was different; most of my experience relates to the UK and Spain.
Maybe I just missed the golden years...
Perhaps I should've worded it better. I meant those who were around since the inception of Proz.
I think Kevin Fulton provided a good answer. I remember reading a number of posts where the FIGS translators turned up their noses at 0.08 EUR per word during those years. I'm afraid you'll have to make the effort yourself to dig up those posts, I don't have the time for it right now.
It's kind of amazing that some people starting at 7 cents per word have increased their rates by only 2 cents in the last 20 years. Talk about inflation.. certainly puts things into perspective.
| | | | Baran Keki
Турция
Local time: 16:45
Член ProZ.com
английский => турецкий
Lingua 5B wrote:
I worked as a PM and you’re probably right. The higher was more common in the reverse pair, EN>DE. One of the first telltale signs to me was when the German translators started panicking re. AI, then I realized the situation was serious. Because overall, traditionally, they used to be able to impose very high rates, typically over 0.12. And this coupled with a very high volume of work.
[Edited at 2025-03-11 21:21 GMT]
You say you charged 16 cents per word for Bosnian at a time when German translators charged 12 cents (and you call that "a very high rate"). Wow.. math has never been my strongest subject, but it feels like there is something wrong here. Perhaps German colleagues working during the years 2000 and 2010 would be good enough to provide some insight and clear things up for us?
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Lieven Malaise
Бельгия
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2020
французский => голландский
+ ...
Baran Keki wrote:
It's kind of amazing that some people starting at 7 cents per word have increased their rates by only 2 cents in the last 20 years. Talk about inflation.. certainly puts things into perspective.
To add to your perspective: my already viable income from the year 2006 (my first full business year) has been doubled since then, which is the reason why I don't care about inflation yet. Not raising my rates has been part of my business strategy since many years now. No doubt some will find this crazy, but I have no reason to believe that this decision isn't partly responsible for me being still very well alive and kicking today. I'm pretty sure I have a strong price/quality ratio and ultimately there is only one thing that matters: I earn what I need to earn.
| | | | | German over 12 cents? | Mar 12 |
I started translating full-time into German in 2007, and I have never been able to get "over 0.12" Euros from agencies. Even 0.12 has been extremely rare.
Baran Keki wrote:
Lingua 5B wrote:
I worked as a PM and you’re probably right. The higher was more common in the reverse pair, EN>DE. One of the first telltale signs to me was when the German translators started panicking re. AI, then I realized the situation was serious. Because overall, traditionally, they used to be able to impose very high rates, typically over 0.12. And this coupled with a very high volume of work.
[Edited at 2025-03-11 21:21 GMT]
You say you charged 16 cents per word for Bosnian at a time when German translators charged 12 cents (and you call that "a very high rate"). Wow.. math has never been my strongest subject, but it feels like there is something wrong here. Perhaps German colleagues working during the years 2000 and 2010 would be good enough to provide some insight and clear things up for us?
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Do translators really raise their rates with agencies? This has only been possible with one client of mine. All the others I tried it with quickly dropped me. What usually happens is that I quote a higher rate to new agencies and drop the lower paying ones.
| | | | Zea_Mays
Италия
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2009
английский => немецкий
+ ...
| big changes between 2000 and 2010 | Mar 12 |
Baran Keki wrote:
at a time when German translators charged 12 cents (and you call that "a very high rate"). Wow.. math has never been my strongest subject, but it feels like there is something wrong here. Perhaps German colleagues working during the years 2000 and 2010 would be good enough to provide some insight and clear things up for us?
What has changed most since then is the number of people offering translation services thanks to the internet - the more supply, the more price competition. In the past, translators tended to be graduates (not necessarily in translation) working full-time as freelancers or in-house. Now there are many improvised part-time translators who translate in their spare time / as a side job.
Around 2010 is also the time when MT and CAT tools started to appear, leading to increased productivity in some areas (=lower rates) and to agencies lowering rates based on 'fuzzy matches' of all types.
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Lieven Malaise
Бельгия
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2020
французский => голландский
+ ...
ADIE Translations wrote:
Do translators really raise their rates with agencies? This has only been possible with one client of mine. All the others I tried it with quickly dropped me.
I managed to do it 3 times, I believe, the last time being around the year 2016. They always accepted and none of them disappeared, apart from 1 agency that stopped sending me work during 1 year. Because of that I changed the rate back and work came pouring in again.
Increasing rates is a subtle play that can have severe consequences for translators working with agencies. I say specifically agencies, because if my focus would lie on direct clients I wouldn't hesitate to adjust my rates to inflation. I accept this behaviour from agencies because as far as I'm concerned the benefits of working for (decent) agencies instead of for direct clients outweigh the downsides by a large margin.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Бельгия
Local time: 15:45
Член ProZ.com c 2020
французский => голландский
+ ...
Zea_Mays wrote:
Around 2010 is also the time when MT and CAT tools started to appear, leading to increased productivity in some areas (=lower rates) and to agencies lowering rates based on 'fuzzy matches' of all types.
CAT tools were already well integrated by then. Trados was already part of my translation studies (1998-2000). I remember translating in a simple Word document during my first year in-house, but when I left in 2005 Trados was everywhere. And since 2005 I haven't had customers that didn't use Trados (some have changed to other - online - solutions by now, but the majority still uses Trados).
[Bijgewerkt op 2025-03-12 10:45 GMT]
| | | | Stephen Emm
Local time: 14:45
французский => английский
+ ...
| Wow- same rates as 15 years ago | Apr 2 |
ADIE Translations wrote:
Baran Keki wrote:
What was the main consideration for choosing a translator for a particular job? Was it their pw rate? I bet there were translators in your database who charged 0.08-0.09 GBP per word, would you be going (or encouraged to go) for the ones who charged 0.05 GBP per word?
We had a database but the agency already had its favourite translators for different clients. If they weren't available, we'd look on the database, if that was unsuccessful, we'd look on the databases of the IoL or ITI. I can't remember using translators with a rate of 0.08/0.09, but there was a French one I used regularly who charged 0.06.
We matched up translators with their specialisations; most of them charged 0.05. We didn't have any problems finding translators working around this rate.
All this is about English/FIGS translators; other combinations had higher rates, but I can't remember specifics. Also, my experience is 19 years' ago - I'm sure things have changed.
[Edited at 2025-03-10 12:33 GMT]
I left the translation industry 5 years ago, but I was charging rates of £.065 15 years ago!
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Stephen Emm wrote:
I left the translation industry 5 years ago, but I was charging rates of £.065 15 years ago!
This is from 19 years ago - I imagine the rates haven't gone up much. What rate did you have 5 years ago?
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Baran Keki
Турция
Local time: 16:45
Член ProZ.com
английский => турецкий
Stephen Emm wrote:
I left the translation industry 5 years ago, but I was charging rates of £.065 15 years ago!
What are you doing now?
| | | | William Bowley
Великобритания
Local time: 14:45
испанский => английский
+ ...
On average, with the rise in the popularity of MT/AI, along with the existing use of CAT tools, many jobs are at flat rates. There are relatively few jobs where translators will earn their per-word rate for every single word of a translation.
Also, as there are so many variables in any given translation work (e.g. deadline, complexity, terminology, formatting), a flat rate, though more of an approximation, can work best in many cases as it more accurately and/or more easily reflects... See more On average, with the rise in the popularity of MT/AI, along with the existing use of CAT tools, many jobs are at flat rates. There are relatively few jobs where translators will earn their per-word rate for every single word of a translation.
Also, as there are so many variables in any given translation work (e.g. deadline, complexity, terminology, formatting), a flat rate, though more of an approximation, can work best in many cases as it more accurately and/or more easily reflects the variables. While this will be based on a per-word rate, those who have no flexibility in their rates are leaving a lot of money of the table, missing out on a lot of work in the process, by translating all work at the same rate irrespective of the nature of the job. ▲ Collapse
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