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julia-planken
Community Member

spanish-german translation, 1,5 Euros for 100 Words, 600 words in 30-40 minutes

Hello Everybody! I am new in up work and I got an offer to translate for 1,5 € / 100 words. The person said that there are around 600-1200 words every day and normally you need to traduce 30-40 minutes.  Please, somebody could tell me what you think about the offer and information?

Thank you very much for helping me. Yours Julia

 

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colettelewis
Community Member


@Julia P wrote:

Hello Everybody! I am new in up work and I got an offer to translate for 1,5 € / 100 words. The person said that there are around 600-1200 words every day and normally you need to traduce 30-40 minutes.  Please, somebody could tell me what you think about the offer and information?

Thank you very much for helping me. Yours Julia

 


 _____________________________

 

Julia,

 

Payment is not made in euros on Upwork, so 1,5 euros per 100 words doesn't make sense - but it's very low if you convert it to dollars. I wouldn't even spend the time reading to the end of an offer like this. 

 

Nobody can give a you a ballpark figure on how long a translation can take. It depends on content, subject, how understandable the source language is - there are so many factors. You need to see the work and to figure out how long you think it would take you. However, the amount offered is extremely low. If you were to take one hour to do 1600 words you would be paid about $16.00 (less after Upwork charges, tax and exchange rates) which is quite a lot less than your hourly rate.

 

People do do translations for this sum, but it is not a realistic amount for anyone living in the West and your client's estimated time is equally unrealistic. From what I have seen on Upwork a better quote would be for $0.04 to $0.05 per word. Experienced translators ask for considerably more.  

 

You should work out a basic business model for yourself. You need to assess your own skills, know what your rates will be, and know exactly how much your take-home amount will be after deductions (Upwork fees, tax and exchange rates).  600 words would net you about $3 to $4. So if you were to take longer than ten minutes on the translation you would be working at a considerable loss (on an hourly basis). 

 

The low offer apart, the client does not sound very professional. I avoid clients who say things like, "this is an easy job", "shouldn't take longer than an hour max," etc. 

 

This is a bit long, but I hope it has helped. 

 

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21 REPLIES 21
silw
Community Member

It unclear to me what you expect the response to be. Shall we tell you to take the job?

Is the price ok? 

 

I never counted words

smileyhappy:? You need  max. 40 min. to translate 600 words to 1200 words.? :

colettelewis
Community Member


@Julia P wrote:

Hello Everybody! I am new in up work and I got an offer to translate for 1,5 € / 100 words. The person said that there are around 600-1200 words every day and normally you need to traduce 30-40 minutes.  Please, somebody could tell me what you think about the offer and information?

Thank you very much for helping me. Yours Julia

 


 _____________________________

 

Julia,

 

Payment is not made in euros on Upwork, so 1,5 euros per 100 words doesn't make sense - but it's very low if you convert it to dollars. I wouldn't even spend the time reading to the end of an offer like this. 

 

Nobody can give a you a ballpark figure on how long a translation can take. It depends on content, subject, how understandable the source language is - there are so many factors. You need to see the work and to figure out how long you think it would take you. However, the amount offered is extremely low. If you were to take one hour to do 1600 words you would be paid about $16.00 (less after Upwork charges, tax and exchange rates) which is quite a lot less than your hourly rate.

 

People do do translations for this sum, but it is not a realistic amount for anyone living in the West and your client's estimated time is equally unrealistic. From what I have seen on Upwork a better quote would be for $0.04 to $0.05 per word. Experienced translators ask for considerably more.  

 

You should work out a basic business model for yourself. You need to assess your own skills, know what your rates will be, and know exactly how much your take-home amount will be after deductions (Upwork fees, tax and exchange rates).  600 words would net you about $3 to $4. So if you were to take longer than ten minutes on the translation you would be working at a considerable loss (on an hourly basis). 

 

The low offer apart, the client does not sound very professional. I avoid clients who say things like, "this is an easy job", "shouldn't take longer than an hour max," etc. 

 

This is a bit long, but I hope it has helped. 

 

Thank you very much for your answer! Kind regards Julia

What a great response!

Julia, what do you usually charge for translations?

 

Can you really translate 600 to 1200 words in thirty to 40 minutes?

 

 

 

Hello Petra,

I cannot translate 600-1200 words in 30-40 minutes.

 I thought that you perhaps can translate them. You are the professionals in the marketplace.

 I am new as a Freelancer and new in  Upwork. Upwork is my first marketplace.

In my private life, my translation price was not fixed. I was translating for my friends etc.  whoever needed something, for the price they offered to pay ...... 

 

Now I want to be a professional Freelancer and to live from the money I earn.

Yours 

Julia

Julia, your profile reads:

 

I would like to translate for you Spanish, English and French to German and General translations to English, Spanish and French

 

I understand that you are beginning it the field of translation, but you cannot do this. You can only translate into your native language. You don't translate into your source language(s). I don't know about your French or your Spanish, but your English is not at a native level at all, which doesn't allow you to translate into this language. If you do, you will get in trouble with clients who are native speakers of English and your profile may take a serious hit as a consequence.

 

You're a native speaker of German, this is your (only) target language. It's great that you have more than one source language. It's a valuable asset.

 

Also, you need to rewrite your profile overview. Clients don't care about where you want to work and about your life. They want to know what you can do for them.

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

Hello Rene, 

 

 There must be a mistake . I am only translating to German.

I will change the mistake in my profil.

Thank you very much for telling me.

 

Kind regards 

Julia 


@Julia P wrote:

 

I cannot translate 600-1200 words in 30-40 minutes.

 I thought that you perhaps can translate them.


 No. I can not.

 

IF it is something I know really well and text I am very familiar with and I have a really good editor I can, on long stretches, get somewhere near the 1000 words an hour, but not always and not consistently. Nor would I want to rush like that. But yes, it may be "possible." But that means never having to work out a word, look something up and the editor will have their work cut out (and gets paid considerably more than what that client is offering for translation.

 

Rene is also right in what he said. Translating for friends as a favour is very different to translating for paying clients who expect flawless work.

 

We all have start somewhere but speaking more than one language alone does not make someone a translator any more than owning a scalpel makes someone a surgeon.

 

 

 

Hello Petra, 

 

Thank you very much for your sincere answer! 

 You are right, only knowing languages doesn't mean that you can be a translator.

 

Kind regards

Julia

 

jr-translation
Community Member

Julia,

this client has approached me as well. I reported them because they "offer ways for you to avoid the fees." Unfortunatelly that offer is not enough effidence that they offer to work outside UW.


@Jennifer R wrote:

Julia,

this client has approached me as well. I reported them because they "offer ways for you to avoid the fees." Unfortunatelly that offer is not enough effidence that they offer to work outside UW.


 _______________________

 

That is really shocking! What sort of evidence does CS want? And I thought Upwork was so ferocious about working off site. I wonder how many freelancers that client has managed to persuade to circumvent the ToS. 

Hello Jennifer,

When a client is trying to avoid the fees –in which section is it possible  you inform UPWORK about it?

When a client wants to have directly your email to write you, is it normal?

 If it is not ok, what is the best  way to avoid it without being impolite ?

Thank you in advance for the information.

Kind Regards Julia


@Julia P wrote:

Hello Jennifer,

When a client is trying to avoid the fees –in which section is it possible  you inform UPWORK about it?

Go to the job description and select Flag as inappropriate then select Client is requesting to work outside of Upwork. Leave a message to UW to conatct you for the screenshots.

When a client wants to have directly your email to write you, is it normal?

Yes, I get a lot of google docs. So you need a google account. I suggest you have one in place just for this situations. Just make sure you have a contract before you start working and have a copy of the file you translate on your computer. Attach this copy to your payment request.

 If it is not ok, what is the best  way to avoid it without being impolite ?

You could say you prefer to keep all communication in one place. But there is no need for that. There are other plattforms that do not permit outside communication but that is not the case here.

Thank you in advance for the information.

Kind Regards Julia


 

e2cad927
Community Member

i am here

 

Is this German into Spanish or the other way around, or both, if I may ask?
And what if you can't do it in that time?

If there are interested ones in some work in German, I am getting many
offers that I can't take. If you let me know, I can send them over.

yes i can do this work ; spanish-german translation, 1,5 Euros for 100
Words, 600 words in 30-40 minutes

I will

I'd say it can be done bare. Without corrections nor punctuation. To
polish, half the time extra will be necessary.
And this, if there is no specialized language involved.