Translation and editing tools I can’t live without: #1 Antidote
If you’re looking for one of the best grammar checkers around, I’d recommend taking Antidote for a spin. I use it like a little office assistant to catch errors my eyes may have read over after I’ve already proofread a document multiple times. It ranks among my most frequently used tools, alongside Outlook, Firefox, and my accounting software. I’ve pinned it to my computer’s task bar, so it’s always within reach, whatever I’m working on.
Antidote's logo
A fellow translator once recommended Antidote to me – it has been around for a long time, but in my experience few other translators or writers/editors have heard of it. I have no link whatsoever (financial or otherwise) with Antidote, but I’m keen to tell you about it because I find it so useful.
I should say upfront that I prefer to stay in the linguistic driving seat in my work, so please remember that tools like this are the buttons on the dashboard getting me to the right destination, which means helping me deliver the best possible work for my clients.
Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at how I use this software to help me to reach the holy grail of clear, consistent, correct and complete English translations and edits.
What is Antidote and how much does it cost?
Antidote is writing assistance software and it’s published by Quebec-based Druide.
It’s a grammar and style corrector, a bit like Grammarly or ProWriting Aid.
It integrates with Windows applications and with CAT tools (useful for translators).
The latest version is 12.
Antidote is compatible with Mac or PC and has a mobile version.
You can use it for English or French (or both).
It costs €59.00 per year (billed annually) and you can add the second language for around €30.
I think there’s a limited free option. Or you can try it free for 30 days.
The details: what does Antidote+ include?
To write this blog post, I had to devote a little time to going deeper under the hood of Antidote’s features, and I came across some other neat little perks I wasn’t already familiar with. The counting and billing feature (more on that later) is one example, but I found that my subscription includes Antidote Mobile. I didn’t even have that app installed on my phone, thinking I would never need it. Thinking about it, it could offer a useful bilingual dictionary when travelling in France or when a work-related idea pops into my head when I’m away from my desk. Plus I didn’t know it offered interactive maps and satellite photos of cities and countries around the world. How cool!
I don’t use Antidote Web either; I use the downloadable version of the software that requires no internet access. That means this post will only cover the features of the downloadable version, because I’m not as familiar with the web version. One of the reasons why I have opted for that version is because I wanted peace of mind that my work will stay only on my local computer and isn’t being used to train AI hosted on random servers.
Dictionaries and reference material
Antidote includes pretty comprehensive dictionaries that are frequently updated with new words, just like my other online dictionary subscriptions. It does not replace my online Oxford Premium dictionaries account, my paper New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, or any of my style guides or spelling dictionaries, which I regard as the ultimate authorities. But it does offer me a dictionary at a click, perfect for early queries while working on a first draft of a translation or a first pass of a copy-edit, before I do further research. The information it gives me includes etymologies, synonyms, hyponyms and antonyms, phonetic transcriptions and audio pronunciation.
Seriously simple
As you can see from the screenshot, the dictionary options are neatly displayed in a left-hand column, with the main information in the middle screen, and further details on the right. This includes further sources of information about the word in context and its origins, plus word frequency – this latter bit of information isn’t something typically found in other dictionaries I use.
A playground for language lovers
If you spend a bit of time exploring the software, you’ll discover language guides, including one on the basics of business writing. How about rhymes for your word query, or even quotations? Tick. And buckle up, because you’ll even find an extensive guide to punctuation and grammar, if that’s your thing (guilty as charged).
A pocket-sized grammar guide
Collocations
One of my favourite and most-used features in Antidote is the collocations dictionary (they call it Combinations). Honestly, if you’re a translator, editor or writer, several times a day you’ll be asking yourself, ‘but do we actually say it like this?’, or ‘that doesn’t sound quite right, can I check somewhere?’. Antidote’s got your back. There are collocations dictionaries online, but I find that this one saves me time.
Can I get a side of verb modifier with that adverb?
Spelling treasure trove
Spelling variants are another super useful detail, as seen in the right-hand column in the screenshot below. Sure, other dictionaries can tell me whether a word like ‘program’ is US or UK spelling. But other Englishes exist, too! Multilingual authors writing in English, but for whom English is not their first language, may find they’re not confident about which variant uses which spelling. And remember: Canadian or Australian English may use a spelling variant you might not expect.
Did you know ‘downwards’ (with an ‘s’) is the UK spelling?
Finally, Antidote’s dictionaries offer a few customisation options, so you can also add your words to your custom dictionary (stored locally).
Counting words or characters. And billing, too!
One brilliant feature that I’ve only just discovered, even after using the software for a few years, is the ‘statistics’ tab. This will count a text you’ve written by words, characters or sentences, and even tell you the total reading time. You can get some of this in Word, of course, but you may also want access to these stats when working in a different tool with the Antidote plugin. One example from my own work would be MemoQ – I can use the Antidote plugin to check the word count and other stats without having to first export the file back to its native format. Actually, this would also be a great workaround when working in text within Excel, which does not offer word or character-based statistics.
Stats FTW!
Below the count stats, there’s also a nifty little billing tool that lets you price a piece of work by the word or by characters (with or without spaces), all within the same window. This is a neat timesaver that Antidote doesn’t really shout about. It can also produce a little report for you, if you or your clients like stats!
Writing tools
It depends on the context: checking grammar and sentence structure
Antidote comes with an advanced grammar checker and context-aware corrections. When I’m working, I normally access this feature of Antidote using the Word (or MemoQ) integration.
Here’s two screenshots of how Antidote shows up in my Word ribbon:
Antidote in Word
Clicking on Antidote in the ribbon, then on ‘Corrector’ with the big green tick, will open up the grammar and typography-checking part of the software. Then, in the right-hand toolbar, you can easily select from a menu of ‘errors’ it has caught – and grouped into categories – and click on them to modify them in the text. You’ll see the changes made to the updated text once you close Antidote.
I don’t tend to use suggestions like style improvements because I usually find they flag false errors. Besides, a human brain is better at sensing which words are most appropriate for the text and audience. However, I do use the corrector to detect things like overused or repeated words, filler words, or words that don’t seem to fit.
This part of Antidote is similar to features you see in alternative apps like Grammarly and ProWritingAid, but I find they are deployed less intrusively in Antidote. The main benefit is that I can choose whether or not to look at these suggestions – it doesn’t just underline everything in a sea of colours that take ages to wade through. It sort of defeats the point of using grammar checking software as a time-saver, if you have to spend ages accepting or rejecting false flags. In Antidote, you can also just hover your mouse over a highlighted word to display a tooltip that suggests a correction along with a detailed explanation.
Antidote as an alternative to Word’s built-in checker
So why are the spelling and grammar checking features of Antidote better than what you already have in Word? Antidote’s spelling corrections are more contextual – this goes further than Word’s built-in spellchecker. Meanwhile, the typography and punctuation verification is one of my most used features. I use this to check for non-breaking spaces, date and time formats, and annoying punctuation slips that may have slipped through.
Maybe because it’s made in Canada, it can also support regional language variation, and even spelling preferences within those. I sometimes work on materials written in Canada, and I can tell you it’s not a case of simply assuming they use English in exactly the same way as American English. In projects that are written (or translated into) US or Canadian English, this feature helps ensure I’m using the right spelling variations. It is also useful for style preferences within UK English. For example, when you’re doing a final spell check, make sure you’ve selected UK English with either ‘-ise’ or ‘-ize’ in the settings and do a consistency check.
Six months ago, Antidote introduced sentence reformulation using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), a new feature for subscribers to Antidote+. Druide’s own large language model (LLM) trains the AI, which Druide hosts on its servers. Reformulation mode suggests alternative rephrasing, often with impressive (but also often silly) results. It provides suggestions for shortening or softening your writing at individual word or sentence level, for example. I haven’t really used this new feature yet, but if you want a quick chuckle, try writing something less than polite and watch it reformulate your ‘abrasive’ tone.
But what if you meant to be abrasive?
Either way, you remain in control of the decision-making; it simply offers you ideas that you can accept or reject, or even refine...or use for your entertainment.
Integrations
As I’ve mentioned, Antidote integrates with Microsoft applications and with LibreOffice, as well as InDesign and most web browsers. I started using a new notes tool recently and was delighted to find it even integrates with that. It’s also compatible with email clients and, importantly, with CAT tools like MemoQ and SDL Trados Studio.
Even without integration, the Antidote Toolbar lets you access all its resources from a floating toolbar, if you click on the flask icon in the system tray next to the clock (on Windows computers).
Right-click on the flask for a swig of grammar checking
There are also keyboard shortcuts for correcting copied text, which you can then paste back into the tool you were originally working in.
The verdict: is Antidote worth it?
As with everything, it depends on what you want it for. If you’re someone who works with words every single day, then I would heartily recommend Antidote for giving your work a little glow-up. Or even if you’re someone who just needs a reliable grammar checker for writing business reports and emails, I’d still recommend it over other alternatives I’ve tried.
Pros:
You can easily learn how to use Antidote without yawning through hours of videos or user manuals.
I like that it’s not another monthly subscription; it’s a smart alternative if you prefer to buy software as a one-time purchase. Being able to use the software offline is a HUGE benefit when so many other tools depend 100% on an internet connection.
There are also very few French grammar checkers on the market, so it’s a good option if you write or translate mainly in French.
These days there are few professionals in any field still trying to work with paper dictionaries alone. This software makes me more efficient, thanks to its ability to group categories of errors together so that I can review them in one go instead of constantly switching between errors.
Cons:
Druide released an update recently, and it’s now faster, but Antidote can still be a little slow to check longer or more image-heavy documents.
I’d love to see a few extra features in Antidote, such as a plagiarism checker and a citation manager. It would also make sense for it to offer integration with major style guides.
Let me know if you decide to give Antidote a try, and how you get on. We could create our own little fan club. 🤩
Small is Sublime: What Buying From A Big Brand Taught Me About Customer Service
The power of small
Just imagine. You know your purpose and your mission. You care deeply about the message you want to share with the world, and you know the impact you want to make.
You find a translation or editing professional who has the same values at heart and who wants to help you achieve results.
You seem like a good match, and you’re tempted to trust them with your content.
But hang on, is a solopreneur or micro-business really a safe pair of hands?
Wouldn’t it be more reassuring to work with a bigger company that can offer lots of hands?
What if the freelancer is uncontactable for hours? What if they make a mistake? What will you do if that happens?
Let me reassure you that, in lots of cases, you’d be wise to trust a small business over a bigger player. By staying purposely small that teeny business might just offer the agile response and flexibility you need.
Easy is not always effortless
I’ve been there. I’ve often gone with a bigger company because I thought that would make things easier.
This summer, we ordered some shutters to be fitted in our home. We were pressed for time and we didn’t want to spend time researching different local businesses, so we just went with a big brand offering shutters (along with 101 other things). We popped into their store and went to their dedicated ‘shutters, blinds and curtains’ desk. You’d think that desk would be staffed, right?
It wasn’t. With nobody on the desk (which seems a wasted opportunity, given how much retail space this dedicated area was taking up), we had to try to get someone’s attention.
Who cares wins
When we finally found a reluctant sales rep, she told me she didn’t really know anything about shutters or any of their fitting service. Erm, OK.
She asked other staff, but they just shrugged. Making the best of a less-than-ideal situation, the sales rep stuffed some brochures into our hands, saying we should go online and place an order.
We continued on this path because we still didn’t want to invest time in finding an alternative. We wanted to save ourselves the hassle.
To be fair, the online ordering process was quick. What we didn’t yet know was that this was just a placeholder. We would need to have three Teams calls to explain what we wanted. And only then would a fitter come out to measure up.
Fess up, don’t mess up
The person who measured up was a nice guy, and that part was simple. But then, lo and behold, another Teams call was needed to discuss the order further. Every time we ended these Teams calls, my husband and I would exchange bewildered looks, unsure of the call’s purpose. The priority, it seemed, was full payment up front.
The fitting day finally arrived (about three weeks AFTER paying in full, mind you). The fitter went about their work, only to discover at the end that the final panel of shutters was in a completely different colour. So now we have two-tone shutters that look ridiculous.
At least our neighbours have something to laugh about.
Mistakes happen. I get that. Somewhere in the ordering process, a ball got dropped. People are only human. But here’s the thing: after the mistake happened, we heard nothing further from this company.
We felt this was a pretty big mistake. We hadn’t received what we had ordered and paid for.
But we didn’t feel like anyone was owning it, which in turn meant that we didn’t feel valued as customers.
I emailed to politely ask what would happen next. The reply came in the form of a four-word sentence explaining that the replacement shutters were on order. The end. The tone was ‘please go away now’ (the sender probably had another Teams call 😂). There was no apology or promise of a personal assurance that the mistake would be rectified.
The result for us? We don’t even know when we will receive what we actually ordered. Plus an unwelcome dose of frustration and hair-pulling despair.
Responsiveness + passion = results
One thing that always hits me hard about this sort of customer experience catastrophe is that a small business in my industry just wouldn’t let this happen. It’s not that minor mistakes don’t ever happen but, as I said in a LinkedIn comment recently, solopreneur translators and copy-editors are incredibly responsive when it comes to correcting mistakes. If a mistake happens, we fess up and we fix it. It really is that simple. How’s that for easy?
Plus, when you work with an experienced freelancer or a small business, you usually get to deal directly with the person actually doing the translating or editing. This means that, if you have a question or a problem, you get direct access to the decision-maker in the business: no endless calls to arrange the next call, no robotic emails disclaiming any responsibility.
We freelancers take responsibility for every single project we work on because we ARE our business. The buck stops with us.
Someone who actually cares
Your own organisation may be big, medium or small, it doesn’t matter. A small business or freelancer is often a safer pair of hands and they care deeply about getting things just right.
A crucial advantage that smaller businesses have over larger companies is their ability to connect one-on-one with their clients and then customise their services. We’re the flexible, responsive antidote to a one-size-fits-all service, making things easier.
You can easily reach us at the end of the phone to discuss things. No need to wait for someone else to ask us to call you back. Or join a Teams call.
The result for you? Perfectly pitched English that hits the exactly right note with your English-speaking audience – whether that’s donors, investors, partners and other stakeholders.
Your message goes confidently out into the world, working its magic. ✨
I’m Philippa and I’m a translator and copy-editor.
I take Spanish, French and Portuguese (and English!) content and transform it into snappy and 100% engaging English.
I love to bring clarity to other people's writing and helping to share it with the world.
I love to work with people who are making the world a better place.
Interested in English writing tips, updates and insights? Why not sign up to my newsletter.
Everything you need to know about my copy-editing service
You may have noticed that, as well as translation, I also offer copy-editing as a service. This service helps customers sharpen their sentences and make sure their message is consistent and compelling, and is for English-speaking customers and for multilingual authors writing in English.
Investing in copy-editing services can feel expensive and risky when you’re not completely sure what that editing service will involve. You may ask:
Will the editor go too far?
How long will they take to complete the edit?
This blog post will help you understand everything you need to know before buying my copy-editing services.
I want you to make the right choice, so this article will cover:
What a copy-editor does
What a copy-editor doesn’t do
Why you may need to work with a copy-editor.
Hopefully the information in this article will help decide whether my copy-editing services are right for you.
What exactly is copy-editing?
Everyone wears a different hat in an editorial project team
It’s possible you may not have even heard of copy-editing. Plenty of my friends ask me what exactly it is, even though they know I’ve been copy-editing for years now. Most people are aware of the importance of copy-editing in a publishing workflow.
You may have heard of proofreaders, but you may be surprised to learn that, although copy-editors and proofreaders are involved further along the publication chain, the scope of their work is different. I’ll explain this further below.
“In text terms, a copy-editor is your structural engineer.”
Let’s imagine you’ve built a house/car/other important asset that requires multiple professionals to get the final product through to sign-off. You can probably see where I’m going with this!
The architect will have designed the house, and a construction company will have built the house. But will you receive that house in its raw state, directly from the builder? I hope not!
Before you collect the keys, you’ll want someone to check the construction is structurally sound. Someone who can ensure the house will perform as it was intended and carries no risk. For a construction, this would be a structural engineer. In text terms, that person is a copy-editor.
What a copy-editor does
Language guardian angels are out there if you know where to look
David Crystal describes editors as ‘language guardian angels’. This analogy is my personal favourite.
Inside Book Publishing says that the ‘role of the copy-editor, who may be the only person other than the author who reads the book before publication, is to ensure that the text and illustrations are clear, correct, and consistent for both the printer and the ultimate readers.’
You may expect a copy-editor to check the nuts and bolts of punctuation and grammar at sentence level, but did you know that they also take a broader look at your document?
“Copy-editors have experience of a wide range of writing genres.”
Copy-editors usually work as part of a wider project team that may include commissioning editors, marketing teams, proofreaders and typesetters. Like other editorial professionals, copy-editors will need to be well read and have experience of a wide range of writing genres.
The specific tasks of a copy-editor include:
Labelling (with codes/tags) all the features of the text.
Correcting literal errors (typos).
Monitoring factual content and spotting internal contradictions or inconsistencies.
Reading the text for sense and clarity e.g. logical argument, tidying up expression and word use, checking for inappropriate use of terms.
Checking the structure of the writing is sound.
Checking for omissions, inconsistencies and potential legal issues
Ensuring consistency and clarity at sentence and whole-text level, for example by removing redundant words and phrases.
Formatting any tables and figure captions.
Checking consistency against house style,
Checking and troubleshooting the consistency of the content itself (e.g. factual inaccuracies).
Awareness of redundancy, ambiguity.
Delete irrelevancies, unnecessary repetitions and infelicities.
Checking references – a fiddly process that requires specific knowledge and expertise.
Fact-checking (if agreed with the author/client).
A copy-editor will also usually produce a style sheet for their customer so they can see what top-level changes have been made/suggested and why.
What results can you expect from my copy-editing service?
Copy-editors help readers see things clearly
My copy-editing service is tailored to what you need. I’m not prescriptive about language – I understand that language is constantly changing, and that writers are free to play around with language to get a message across in a particular tone of voice.
The focus is to make your writing easier for readers to digest – readers shouldn’t have to spend time reading and re-reading sentences until they make sense. Checking for and removing redundancies can also enhance the style, clarity and readability of your writing.
“Readers shouldn’t have to spend time reading and re-reading sentences until they make sense.”
Copy-editing gets your text ready for publication by ensuring that it’s clear, consistent, correct and complete, and that it reads well for its intended purpose. The types of documents I’ve worked on include project evaluation reports, education policy briefs, annual reports, newsletters and non-fiction books. I can also edit for plain English and edit digital content for education publishers.
Keeping things tidy
Some of the individual tasks of a copy-editor involve ‘tidying up’ a text, and this sort of task may not be visible to an author/customer. For example, ‘silent’ changes like converting two spaces to one, or making sure heading styles are consistent throughout, are helpful tidying tasks that a customer will appreciate but probably doesn’t want to have to worry about themselves.
Although I’m not prescriptive about it, I am a grammar and punctuation nerd expert. So my service can include advice on grammar and punctuation issues if needed, and/or producing a style guide for your organisation.
What a copy-editor doesn’t do
Copy-editing can get confused with other writing services
Copy-editing isn’t just about spotting literals and showering your text with red ink. Copy-editing is not about deleting lots of paragraphs or criticising an author. You shouldn’t expect to receive a surgically altered text from your copy-editor.
Copy editing is also not:
Rewriting
Proofreading
Revising translations
Copywriting or content writing
Journalism
Although a copy-editor may also offer these, all of them are separate services that demand related but different editorial skills.
For example, proofreading tends to come later in the publishing workflow, after the copy-editor has worked their magic and once the text is in layout. It’s the final quality check.
“Good copy-editors should not get bogged down in providing some sort of grammar police service.”
Revising translations, meanwhile, is a different service. It requires the reviser to check the translation against the original source. This means reviser is looking at two texts at the same time to check the translation is accurate and that it conveys the same tone of voice as the original.
When I revise translations, I do also check for errors in grammar and punctuation. This makes it similar to editing, but it’s definitely not copy-editing as copy-editors know it. That’s why I call this a ‘revision’ service, rather than an editing service.
What if an editor goes too far?
You don’t want someone to come along with a verbal bulldozer and drive it right through your text.
Authors are naturally close to their text. It’s their baby and nobody else’s. Once they’ve finished the hard work of their first or second draft, they need a second pair of eyes. What they don’t need is an editor who takes liberties with their carefully crafted writing and distorts their voice or message.
“Copy-editors are there to enhance the writer’s work.”
Good copy-editors should not get bogged down in providing some sort of grammar police service. Instead, they are there as the writer’s ally. They are there to enhance the writer’s work, not to impose their own style on an author’s work. If you’re working with an experienced and sensitive editor, the editor-author/client relationship is a partnership.
Going back to our house-building analogy, you don’t want someone to come along with a verbal bulldozer and drive it right through your text.
An experienced editor will have the training and experience behind them to know a zombie language rule when they see one, and to judge how far to go with any suggested changes to the text.
Why you may need to work with a copy-editor
Grammar and readability apps can be a blunt instrument
You may be thinking, ‘OK but couldn’t I just use a spelling, grammar, punctuation and readability checking app to save time and money?’
Or you may feel equipped to check your own writing, or get a colleague with great spelling skills to do it in-house.
Why apps just aren’t enough
Judgement calls flow from decision-making processes
Grammar and readability checkers can be useful for checking routine errors that might otherwise get missed. I sometimes use this type of tool like an office assistant that takes care of some of the more repetitive errors for me. I also use tools like PerfectIt to do some of the heavy lifting with more tedious and repetitive tasks (e.g. checking spelling consistency), saving time.
“You may expect a copy-editor to check the nuts and bolts of punctuation and grammar at sentence level, but did you know that they also take a broader look at your document? ”
However, these types of apps are a pretty blunt instrument. They can’t make an editorial judgement call. When I use them myself, it’s only in the initial or final tidying-up/consistency check stages, and I do need to review each suggestion individually. I remain the decision-maker.
To achieve the desired results – clear writing that conveys the author’s message loud and clear – a good editor must focus on the detail AND the big picture to sharpen a piece of writing. That’s something an app just can’t do.
A copy-editor also needs a systematic mind to keep tabs on myriad points, together with mastery of the subtleties of language and meaning (and, usually, specialist subject knowledge). Another thing that no app or online tool can offer alone.
Slay those zombie language rules
If you ask someone without copy-editing training or experience to check your text, they may not have the ability to judge how far to go. They may relish the challenge of getting out the proverbial red pen and spattering it all over your writing, but you may find this ends up creating more back-and-forth than you have the time or budget for.
Plus their knowledge of grammar, punctuation and good writing style may date back to their primary school days, so watch out for those zombie language rules!
Consistency for the win
A piece of text is rarely a one-off. Even if your reports and publications are not released regularly, they will almost certainly follow a house style and you’ll want your style and brand voice to be consistent across all your publications.
A readership may also vary both geographically and in terms of language and understanding. So a copy-editor could also help you to edit to the appropriate language level if necessary.
A winning team
So that’s everything you need to know about my copy-editing services. Hopefully, this post has helped you make some decisions, but if you have further questions about my services drop me an email at hello@philippahammond.net and I’d be happy to answer them.
In this post I’ve outlined:
· What copy-editing services involve
· Concerns about the scope of copy-editing
· What copy-editing is not
· Why you might need copy-editing services
If this post has made you realise that you need the text equivalent of a structural engineer to give your publication the all-clear, click the image below and we can arrange an initial chat to discuss what you need and the outcomes you want to see.
I hope this post has helped you. As a reminder, you can book a free call below to discuss how I can help you.
References
David Crystal (2021). Imagine an Editor. CIEP focus paper: https://www.ciep.uk/resources/fact-sheets-home/fact-sheets-free#IAE
Cathy Tingle. First principles: Using 5Cs with any format. https://blog.ciep.uk/using-5cs/. CIEP blog.
What is Proofreading? CIEP. https://www.ciep.uk/about/faqs/what-is-proofreading/
What is Copyediting? CIEP. https://www.ciep.uk/about/faqs/what-is-copyediting
Inside Book Publishing. Routledge, 2020.
How much do professional English translation services cost?
What budget will you need if you’re buying professional translation services?
Are you looking to commission a translation of your valuable, high-profile documents? Not sure where to start? I know it can be stressful to navigate the maze of information online to decide which service is right for you. It’s hard to know if a translation service provider is going to be reliable or knowledgeable enough to deliver the high standards you need.
You might have done your research and found a selection of translators you would be interested in working with. Yay! But now that big deadline is looming and it’s time to talk costs and get that translation done.
2. How to understand the varying costs of document translation
One of your obvious first questions might be ‘How much is it going to cost to get this translated?’. Because of the huge variation in prices you may be quoted, it’s wise to also spend a bit of time considering a) what exactly you want to achieve with the translated text, and b) how much budget you are willing to invest.
You could save money by commissioning a different service
Few things are genuinely free in this world. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys…. I’m sure you’ve heard all that before. In this post I’m going to provide as much information as I can to explain the levels of investment you can expect to make, depending on your needs and requirements. I’ll even explain how you could save money by commissioning a different service with me.
So let’s get down to it.
3. How are translation services priced?
Translation services are usually priced by the word, or sometimes per standard page, or per hour. On some occasions, you may find that the translator quotes you a project price. This could be because it makes sense for the particular requirements of the translation service you need.
The price of the translation reflects the time and expertise you are benefiting from.
The price of the translation reflects the time and expertise you are benefiting from. Most translators will tend to translate around 2,000 words per day. But, similar to copywriting, sometimes a particularly thorny text comes along and a lot of back-and-forth is needed before the best term or phrase is pinpointed and the most compelling copy is achieved.
4. What different translation services are available and what benefits do they offer?
Option 1:
Machine translation
*A disclaimer: I’m not talking about free services like Google Translate that you might use to understand a street sign, but instead more context-aware, AI-driven, paid-for services such as DeepL, ModernMT.
What you need to decide is whether the initial cost savings of using machine translation will actually pay off, and whether any benefits outweigh the risks.
Pros:
o Low-cost and quick when you just want to get a ‘gist’ of what something says.
o You don’t even need to bother interacting with a human to explain your needs.
Cons:
o First up are accountability issues – you’re sending your valuable data into a machine, so who is accountable for any mistakes it makes?
o Next is voice. Because a lot of machine translation content draws on past translations, conveying the right tone of voice and unique personality is beyond its capabilities in creative, persuasive, complex or high-stakes copy.
o Even with post-editing by a human translator, the resulting copy will almost certainly read like robotic writing. For the obvious reason that it was translated by a machine.
o Oh, and watch out for random inaccuracies, inexplicable mistranslations that were somehow ‘missed’, language bias, and be sure to check whether it knows the difference between language varieties such as Mexican and European Spanish.
Cost: Low, but DeepL and ModernMT are subscription-based services. Based on my research, translation agencies offer machine translation services from as low as £0.03 per word.
What you need to decide is whether the initial cost savings of using machine translation will actually pay off, and whether any benefits outweigh the risks.
Option 2:
(Large) agency translation services
Pros:
o They can probably handle multilingual projects, so if you need one document translated into more than one language at once, they are often a great choice.
o Agencies often offer more of a full-service solution that could include transcription, voice-over or DTP (although many freelancers also offer these services alongside translation).
Cons:
o Large agencies don’t often specialise in a particular area – if you’re looking for someone who knows your industry and/or organisation inside out, a full-time specialist in that area is probably a better fit.
o Lack of consistency – you may find that your translations are outsourced to different freelance translators each time.
Cost: I’m not totally sure what a translation agency would charge these days, but agencies do have overheads and staff to pay, so you should expect to pay quite a bit. And certainly much more than a machine translation service. I do know that prices vary hugely between countries, and the price is also quite likely to reflect the translation quality you’re getting.
Option 4:
A specialist freelance translator
Pros:
o A specialist freelance translator will work with you as an expert partner to understand what you need.
o They will possess the human experience and judgement needed to carefully adapt cultural references and nuances.
o As a one-to-one partner, they can be flexible enough to accommodate specific requirements and offer a highly customised service.
o If you’ve found a good translation partner, that freelancer will already have invested considerable time specialising in your particular field. So they’ll know the sector’s terminology inside out.
o Consistency: this is a big one. You get to work with the same person every time, which means your tone of voice and brand values remain consistent. Hooray!
Cons:
o Capacity – a freelance translator usually works alone and will translate only into one target language, so they would probably struggle to accommodate a huge multilingual project. However, if they are well connected to their professional network, I bet they’ll be able to refer you to someone who can help you if their own capacity is maxed out.
Cost: You probably know what I’m going to say – ‘it depends’. But if you are looking for a reliable freelancer who can provide premium translations of your important publications, the fees will reflect their expertise, so beware of any quote that comes in at less than something in the region of £100 per thousand words.
Fees will reflect expertise
5. What about hidden costs in translation?
There are sometimes extra costs involved in a translation service, but the translator should always explain these to you in advance. For example, the document you need to get translated might be in PDF format and need to be converted using OCR software. Or, if you’re in a big hurry, an urgency charge may apply. This sort of cost might not add a lot to the total bill, but it’s still worth taking into account in your planning. If you plan your publications with enough time set aside for translation, then you’ll save money on urgency charges.
6. Why is translation so expensive?
As you can see, the cost of translation can vary a lot.
There’s no denying that it will cost more to choose me as your translation service provider over running your document through machine translation. But as a human, I’m accountable for my work. If I mess up, that’s on me (spoiler alert: I won’t mess up).
By working in partnership with you, you also get a more personalised service from me. I will dedicate time to researching your values, your tone of voice, target audience, and the nuts and bolts of what you actually want to achieve by translating your documents.
I’m always happy to discuss your individual requirements when it comes to cost, too. Perhaps it’s not necessarily a ‘full’ translation that you need: could a summary translation/précis fit the bill? I also support multilingual authors with my copy-editing services. This could be another option that might save you money.
What are the next steps?
After reading this blog post, I hope you have a much better idea of how much translation costs.
To find out more about how to work with me for your French, Spanish and Portuguese into English translations, click the link below and let’s schedule a chat.