How Much Does Translation Proofreading Cost?
You generally won’t find rates or prices listed for translation proofreading on any company’s website, and there’s a good reason for this. It isn’t that these companies are looking to blindside you with an exorbitant rate for their services, rather that there really are a number of different payment scales which are used to determine the cost of translation proof-reading services.
You might have to pay by the word, by the page, by the hour, or you might have to pay a minimum fee or a flat rate for such services. In some cases, companies have several different payment plans, and these are offered to clients often on the basis of which is most applicable for a given project.
These will often be determined and explained during a standard consultation with the translation proof-reading company.
Translation Editing vs Proofreading
You may have considered translation proofreading and editing to be interchangeable terms, with the involved processes being basically the same. However, this would not be accurate, and the two processes are actually comprised of some very different techniques.
Editing consists of a close examination of any given text for the purpose of improving the quality of the writing, as well as the general flow. This has much more to do with the phrasing and terminology used in the content, rather than its actual form.
People involved with editing will generally be checking for contextual mistakes and inconsistencies, and a good editor often will also take the time to verify facts mentioned, and ensure that proper terminology is used throughout the content. This will often require research to verify that statements made are correct and that the terminology used is appropriate.
In some cases, editors will rewrite entire paragraphs, and possibly even completely change the translation style of the document.
In actual practice, the editor will make no changes herself but will send on recommendations for change to the original author and have that person make the changes. Once the document has been thoroughly edited, it must still be proofread before it has been finalized, because proof-reading is recognized as the last stage of the whole editing process.
Someone who is proof-reading a translated document will be checking it constantly against the original, to ensure that no mistakes have been made. The activities involved in proof-reading generally consist of checking a text for errors in spelling, syntax, grammar, punctuation, and typos.
The proofreading function has nothing to do with terminology or facts, and those areas are not even considered, because the job of the proofreader is simply to focus on having the text correct.
Once a proofreader has thoroughly examined the document, she will return the text to the author with any recommendations, and those will then be implemented by the original writer. While these two processes are intricately related and function best together, they are ultimately different practices and are approached from their own unique perspective.
Why Translation Proofreading is Important
As mentioned previously, proofreading is generally the very last stage of any document translating service. Once the content of a document has been translated, it is the job of the proofreader to thoroughly examine the document so as to spot any errors, so that they may be remedied.
Many of the other areas involved in translating have been automated in today’s world, but proofreading remains one major aspect of the translating process which must still be carried out by humans.
There is no question that automated translations can produce much faster returns, but they are also subject to considerable errors themselves, and human examination is much more reliable. Even the simplest grammatical error can cause the entire meaning of a sentence or paragraph to be altered, even if it still sounds grammatically correct to a non-native speaker.
That means someone who uses the translated language natively, or who has been trained to accomplish the same thing, must be employed to ensure that the original meaning of the text comes through faithfully in the translated version.
For this reason, translation companies will commonly assign two or three different translators to examine a document for errors, and when there are any disputes or disagreements over the text, these will be resolved in discussion between these individual translators.
Cost of Translation Proofreading
There are several different cost schedules that are commonly associated with the translating process to determine final service pricing. One example of a cost per word arrangement, in tandem with a minimum fee, is provided by one of this country’s premier translating services, that of the Etcetera Language Group, Inc.
As you can see from the following schedule, there are different rates applied for different languages, and these generally have to do with the degree of difficulty in the translating requested. There is also often a minimum fee established for each possible language translation, so that very small jobs can still generate sufficient income for the translator.
Remember that this is just one way of charging for translating fees and that other companies may prefer to charge by the page, or by the hour, which will cover the cost of engaging a professional translator for a certain amount of time. When you’re shopping around for a cost effective translating service, one of the first things you should inquire about is how they charge and assess their fees, because there could be a significant difference between vendors in the way of fees.
Keep in mind that larger translation companies have higher overheads; higher overheads translates to higher translation proof-reading rates and more expensive pricing.
By being a small translation company, Etcetera Language Group, Inc. has the advantage to provide very competitive and affordable rates.
Hiring a Firm for your Translation Proofreading
When you hire a firm to provide you with translating services, you’re looking for 100% accuracy, excellent customer support, and affordability so that you won’t have to break the bank to get the work done.
For more than 20 years now, the Etcetera Language Group, Inc. has provided exactly this kind of service to clients all over the world, especially in the region surrounding Washington, DC, where the company is headquartered.
In its two decades of providing high-quality professional services, Etcetera has worked with clients from all kinds of industries, including medical, pharmaceutical, educational, financial, advertising, and legal. Contact us today with any questions you may have about our translating services, multilingual desktop publishing, or any of the other professional services we provide.
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