New year, new planner!
After getting some solid recommendations from translator colleagues, I've treated myself to a new desk planner. Whoop! 🎉
I'd been using the same desk planner for a couple of years, plodding along fairly contentedly without questioning how it influenced my use of time.
But when 2024 arrived and I reached the final couple of pages, I started asking myself if there might be a better way to organise my goals and my tasks. 🎯
There's nothing like a break to help you see the wood for the trees.
Coming back from a break with a fresh approach, I realised that my planner's 'daily priorities' list was too long. Way too long.
This made me feel obligated to fill that list. But I already know that for us non superhumans it's hard to have more than three priorities per day (h/t Oliver Burkeman). I tended to have a long list of unfocused, never-fully-completed tasks.
Plus it didn't really guide me to set monthly micro goals and then reflect on them at the end of each month, so there was not much consistency or coherence going on.
So now I'm the proud owner of a Clever Fox planner, which is helping me reframe my goals and priorities in more achievable ways.
I'll admit I'm a sucker for buying shiny new things as a way of avoiding JUST DOING THE THING. And I normally tend not to like to set new year resolutions in January (I prefer September).
But something about this January feels like a pretty good time for a planning/goal-setting reset.
It's amazing how one small change can influence every single day.
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.
Freelancer recommendation: Capsule CRM 🗃️
How I use Capsule CRM to manage my translation projects and clients
For a long time my translation project and client management method was fairly basic. I just scheduled each job in my Outlook calendar and set reminders for each project's milestones and deadlines in there. I also set up the projects in FreeAgent ready for invoicing.
This was fine - the simplicity of it was nice. But my Outlook calendar ended up looking a bit chaotic whenever there were a lot of deadlines and appointments on the same day. Plus I felt I had no overview of my partnerships with my clients (or prospective clients). 👀
At some point I got really into the Kanban board way of visualising specific projects and goals. So I started looking for something that would offer that.
Then Capsule CRM came onto my radar and seemed to offer what I needed. 🍾
Here are the top 5 reasons why I like it so much:
Getting started was easy. I could simply import all my client contacts from FreeAgent, which also carried over all historical information about that client relationship, including sales figures to date. There was no need to start from scratch.
It's simpler to use than other CRM tools that I've tried. I'm on the lowest pricing tier, so things like its 'sales pipeline' are pretty basic in my version. But I don't need anything more for my solo business.
The integrations. Integrations with FreeAgent, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are one of the main things that make Capsule great. I didn't want yet another site/tool that just worked in isolation from the rest of my business. For example, on my Capsule home page I have an overview of upcoming projects, tasks, and appointments from my Outlook calendar. I can also add a new project directly from the corresponding email within Outlook with the 'Send to Capsule' add-on.
The 'Project boards' (Kanban) feature for project management. This is quite new and has been a game changer. Once I've set up a project and its deadline, it goes into the 'in progress' board on either the 'translations' or 'copy-editing boards.
I can break down stages of each project. I can set milestones such as copy-editing passes, as well as tasks for things or queries I'll need to finalise before delivering a project. I can also automate my workflow a little, e.g. by setting a date for sending the project invoice. Once I've delivered the project, I can then move it to a 'to be invoiced' board. Once that's done, the project can be 'closed' but will remain in the project history for that client, giving me an easy-to-find record.
I just love this tool and know I could get even more out of it.
Any freelancers out there using something similar?
Contact me at philippa@hammondtranslations.com if you’d like to know more about Capsule CRM.
Decisions, decisions. How do you make yours?
How do you make your buying decisions?
In our house, it’s secondary school decision time for our eldest child. It feels like a big moment.
Thinking about it, although it feels like a big emotional investment, our decision-making process largely mimics other investment decisions. It’s a lot to do with trust, credentials and benefits.
This is the detective work we’ve done so far:
Explored the different schools’ website to get to know them better (trust)
Followed them on social media to get a feel for their ethos and values (trust)
Read their prospectuses (brochures/portfolios/proposals in the business world) (credentials and benefits)
Spoken to other parents (customers) for word-of-mouth feedback (trust)
Run the numbers – their exam results (credentials)
Explored their range of enrichment opportunities (benefits).
Questions we’ve pondered have included why one school has invested more of a presence on Instagram, while another is more active on Facebook. The posts they share are quite different. Does that say anything about them and about their potential pupils/parents (prospects)?
This decision-making process didn’t start this September; we began thinking about it and getting a feel for our options at least a year ago. But now it’s crunch time. It’s only by going to visit the schools and speaking to people there that we’ll be able to envisage whether they would be a nice place for our child.
Doesn’t all this sound similar to the steps customers take when deciding to invest money in professional services?
When you’re looking for a professional translator or copy-editor, what detective work do you do?
Do you check out their social media presence?
What key information are you looking for?
Are their credentials important?
Does it matter if they seem nice to work with?
If you’re currently deciding who to trust with your content, I’d love to speak to you. Why not drop me an email at philippa@hammondtranslations.com and we can book in a no-pressure chat.