I’m sure this is the wrong place, but I’m not sure where the right place would be.
Wifie’s family want me to translate a DVD. I’ve transcribed it, and a mate’s offered to translate it. If they don’t like his option, what ballpark figure are they looking at for getting it professionally done? 7,500 words - about 30 typed pages.
I can’t give a quote but I can help remind you of some key questions:
From what language to what language?
What kind of deadline is there?
Is there any technical or difficult content, or is it just colloquial dialogue?
Also note that quotes will vary depending on whether the quote is based on words in the original language or words in the target language.
Thanks.
From what language to what language?
English to Chinese
What kind of deadline is there?
ASAP and free would be preferable! :roflmao: :roflmao: Actually, I would like to know what would be the normal fee, and the normal time expectation, and then another price for a rush job. I was assuming it would be “X” for normal translating, and ($X x 1.5) for a rushed job.
Is that about right?
Is there any technical or difficult content, or is it just colloquial dialogue?
Aaahhh, it’s a parapenting DVD, so that actually depends if it’s a native speaker translating. There are very few truly technical words, such as parts of the glider, or special techniques. On the other hand there’s a lot of words like “thermal,” “pinnacle,” “pitch and yaw,” “light lift,” as well as phrases such as “crank it into the turn” which are pretty understandable to many Westerners, but are not normal colloquial dialogue.
Also note that quotes will vary depending on whether the quote is based on words in the original language or words in the target language.
Original language.
My wife would probably class that as technical. Hell, I’d class it as technical. For someone non-versed in aeonautic terms it would be a major pain in the arse to find workable translations for those kinds of terms. My old lady, for example, would probably turn a job like that down, simply on the basis of the amount of research it would require – she just wouldn’t be able to charge enough to make it worth her while.
IMO you’d need to be looking at somewhere in the region of NT$5 per English word – minimum.
Or put a notice up in the language department of a university and offer NT$0.5. But you get what you pay for, generally. 
standard E to C rate in my office is NT$2 to 2.5. But this sounds a bit technical.
Thanks very much guys.
I told the uncle my friend quoted NT24,000 at mate’s rates, and that the professional services normally charge NT20-50,000, and that this would be at the high end of that due to technical writing.
It is technical, but anyone who has been translating technical material for any length of time shouldn’t find it very difficult to locate those terms. If it were C>E it isn’t something that would give me any particular concern about terms, based on what you’ve said – but I would insist on seeing the actual text before quoting, so that I could refuse if it were not something I felt capable of handling professionally.