How Much Do Professional Translation Services Cost?

If you are starting on the multilingual journey for your website, then perhaps your first doubt revolves around the cost of professional translation services. We know that this is a determining factor when it comes to choosing the right partner: One that understands your needs and meets your expectations while at the same time providing transparent rates.

In other words, it is about finding a provider that delivers valuable results, offering clear terms and conditions for their services. However, setting up fees depends on several considerations, which can be confusing for any client or prospect. 

Are you feeling dizzy? No worries, we are here to help you better understand the different cases and the factors that play a role in establishing translation prices. Shall we start?

Pricing for Translation Services: A Few Determining Factors

Before going any further, dispel your doubts, if you have any, about the importance of relying on professional translation services.

When considering how much it costs to translate a website, you might have weighed up options such as employing machine translation, outsourcing the service to a professional freelancer or teaming up with a language service provider—LSP or translation agency. Before deciding, you should consider these details:

• Machine translation: Free and instant. Sounds tempting, right? Let us say you know the risks of merely using these tools, so you want to rely on a professional to do the proofreading and editing, thus saving you some money. The first thing we have to tell you is that… all that glitters is not gold. Often, the quality of the results provided by this type of software is far from desirable and hinders intelligibility—even leading to misunderstandings. You might fail to reduce the professional translation service cost and delay the time it takes to get it done.

• Freelance services or LSP: Outsourcing to a professional freelancer is always a good option. And when it comes to translation prices, you probably will not find a big difference between them and an agency. But first consider: How much do you need to translate? For how many languages? What is the field of expertise of your texts? How soon do you need to have them ready? If there is no easy answer to all of these questions or you are not ready to deal with specific details, we suggest you work directly with an LSP. The project manager will take care of the concrete specifications and any challenges that may arise.

Learn more about outsourcing translation services.

#OptimationalTip: A perk of LSPs is that no matter the project’s length, the PM will ensure deadlines are met. Moreover, the professional translation services cost will include not only translation but also localisation (if necessary), editing, and proofreading.

Professional Translation Services Cost: The Pricing Models

Here are the different fee structures you can find on the market. Disclaimer: This is not something you can freely choose but is mostly in response to external regulations.

Translation Rate Per Word

This is the most common unit you will find, as it is probably the fairest model for all stakeholders. The translation rate per word enables keeping the fees for a project under control, regardless of how long it takes one professional or another to translate the same number of words. In addition, with the use of translation memories, you can obtain a significant reduction in translation prices, as you are no longer charged the same for repeated words.

Translation Rate Per Page

This type of pricing for translation services is suitable for legal documents, which usually have a standard word count, and also for those texts where LSPs cannot obtain an electronic word count. For example, documents scanned into a PDF file, such as medical or academic records. Plus, the content may be handwritten. The professionals determine the page rate by estimating the number of words each page can contain.

Translation Rate Per Hour

This is one of the least frequent models for setting the professional translation service costs. LSPs typically use this model for editing and updating content. For example, materials that have already been translated and need revamping. Alternatively, it is the usual scale for interpreting services. 

Flat Fee for Translation Services

This is another model the LSPs rarely use and the one they resort to only for certain projects when other models do not make sense. For example, to translate languages with different writing systems, such as from Chinese to English—in which it would not be entirely fair to establish a professional translation service cost per word or page. In any case, it is a model that professionals try to avoid since it is complex to demonstrate transparency in the process and fees.

#OptimationalTip: When defining a translation rate per word, consider if you will pay according to source or target word count; this may vary depending on the structure of each language. For example, English to Spanish translations usually results in a 20% increase in the word count. Check this beforehand.

Final Thoughts: About Professional Translation Services Cost 

If you cannot find a simple answer to the question of “how much does it cost to translate a website?“, do not panic. It is not about finding a comfortable solution, but a fair one, with clear and consistent information. The LSP you team up with must clearly state the professional translation service cost to meet your project requirements. At the same time, it should foster your confidence and trust. In other words, they must show you a transparent process that leaves nothing to chance.

Are you ready to start your multilingual website? Book a meeting with us today to talk about the details.