New freelance translators just making a start in the
translation industry often agree to carry out quite low-priced work. There are
several reasons why they are tempted to do this:
1.
Lack of
confidence in their own abilities and a feeling of “I CAN’T charge that much,
surely?!”
2.
A desire
to get their “foot in the door” as they are just starting out.
Let me give you just a FEW reasons why you should NOT
charge prices that are significantly lower than those of your colleagues, at
least in the same field and in the same country (although minimum prices
for quality translation
are in the same range all across the world).
1.
You will
have great trouble raising your prices later. If you start out with low prices, your clients will come to expect
those prices and it will be hard to explain to them at some point in the future
that you need to double them!
2.
You are
probably underestimating the true value of the work. After some experience in translation you come to
realise just how much work a
single project can be! Even if it is half a page of text, you have to read the
instructions if there are any, you have to save the file to a folder, open it
in Word – you think I am joking, that ALL takes time! Then every translation
has its complications – you may have to spend half an hour researching the
exact meaning of a single word, maybe submitting a question to ProZ.com to get
help from your colleagues. Then when the translation is finished you
may have to exchange half a dozen emails with the client to work out the
details, to discuss any ambiguities or questions you need the end-client to
resolve. You may also need to proof-read several times, especially if the client
has somebody else edit the text and then sends it back to you to confirm the
changes. Translation is a LOT of work, DON’T underestimate the cost in your
time and expertise.
3.
You are
probably underestimating the true value of YOUR expertise. How many people do you know who are really proficient in a
second language, broadly educated, generally knowledgeable,
computer/Internet-savvy and all those other things you need to be to become a
translator? It’s not that many. You have studied hard and/or have special talent
in that area and so you are quite a rarity. Your abilities are worthmoney to someone! Why do
doctors and lawyers command such high prices? Because we need them and their
abilities. Maybe translation is not quite in the same financial league, but
don’t do yourself a disservice!
4.
You will
start to get lazy. Once
you start to realise there are people earning far more from you from
translation you will almost certainly start getting sloppy in your work. When
you have to do a 100-page translation that you agreed to do for $200
(exaggeration – you WOULDN’T agree to that, right?!) and it takes you weeks and
weeks and is agonisingly boring, are you really going to put the same effort in as
if you charged a four-figure amount for the work? I doubt it. However, if you
are being well paid for your work, even the most dull translation project gets
easier somehow :)
5.
You will
annoy your colleagues! Because
your more experienced colleagues know all of the above, they will get very
annoyed with you if you come along and offer to do work for half the price that
they offer! “Dumping” prices is bad for the profession and leads to a decline
in the quality of translation and unrealistic expectations on the part of
clients about pricing. Clients will say to your more expensive colleagues, “Why
do you charge X when so-and-so can do it for Z?” But there is ALWAYS an impact
on quality when translation is done cheaply – maybe you can’t appreciate that
now, but you will, problem is that clients can’t always appreciate the
difference either. We DO need competition, like in any market, but it
should not primarily
be on price. Don’t go there!
So to recap – don’t undercharge for translation – it
will come back to bite you. If you get an offer, like I did the other day, to do
some translation work for $0.04 per source word, have a serious think! I don’t care
if that is a small fortune in your country, it is a pittance in terms of
worldwide translation prices and cannot secure a translation of any quality
(no, I did not take the job!). In my opinion if you lose a few jobs
because your prices are too high, well, you are probably better off
without those customers anyway, in all honesty.
Your work is worth more than you think – and you will
come to realise that over time. Of course, at the end of the day it is entirely
down to you, but my message is, be confident, charge industry averages, and you
can start actually building a career as a freelance translator.
What do you think? Are there any other reasons you can
name as to why you should not do low-priced work? Are there any exceptions
where you would agree to this kind of work?
· Some of the material on this site is
based on Mark Daniels’ book, How to Become a
Translator: Breaking into the translation business. You can learn more of
the secrets of the translation industry in
the book, which you can get for a very low price here on the site, in convenient PDF/e-book format,
and get a real head-start in becoming a translator!
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