Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3 4 5] >
General Audio transcription/translation rates
Thread poster: GregSmith
Diego Achío
Diego Achío  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:57
English to Spanish
+ ...
So what's the recommendation? May 23, 2013

Marcel G. wrote:

Some agencies try to lure you with "just a transcription (if this wasn't exacting enough..it's tough work), but you have to transcribe it in another language", which means that you actually have to translate the whole text AFTER having transcribed it. They think (or pretend) you can do it one the fly while transcribing, which is, of course, impossible. And a one hour group discussion for example will result in many, many pages of text.


So, when offering transcription services, should professionals charge the transcription and the translation per word afterward?


Muhammad Yaseeen
 
xxLecraxx (X)
xxLecraxx (X)
Germany
Local time: 10:57
French to German
+ ...
@Diego May 23, 2013

Yes, I would do it like that. I would charge the transcription and the translation separately. With some experience, you will know how much time you need for certain recordings (depending on its quality etc.). You can then calculate what you want to charge per minute of the recording.

Many people underestimate the difficulty of transcription work. You should reckon with at least the five to six-fold of the recording time, especially if you're not the quickest writer. In many cases,
... See more
Yes, I would do it like that. I would charge the transcription and the translation separately. With some experience, you will know how much time you need for certain recordings (depending on its quality etc.). You can then calculate what you want to charge per minute of the recording.

Many people underestimate the difficulty of transcription work. You should reckon with at least the five to six-fold of the recording time, especially if you're not the quickest writer. In many cases, the eight- to ten-fold is realistic (group discussions, bad recordings, very difficult, technical language, dialects, transcription rules to be followed...). When you have to transcribe a long recording (i.e. more than, say, 30 minutes), you will not be able to produce the translation on the same day, since transcribing is more than energy-sucking. At least I couldn't do it (I have been doing transcriptions for quite a few years now).

Transcribing recordings in a foreign language is even more difficult. It can be quite challenging even if your language level is high. It is really necessary to have an outstanding listening comprehension.
Collapse


Muhammad Yaseeen
Norbert Masal
Jean Echevers
 
Sian Cooper
Sian Cooper  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:57
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Realistic rates: they generally faint or fall over laughing May 23, 2013

I thought Diego's chart was great.

I spent some time when I was setting out calculating audio minute/hour rates, LANG A-LANG A and LANG A-LANG B. I based them on what hourly rate I thought I should be getting, using average-good standards per word/per hour, as per my research here.

The result seemed to be massive. I thought, no-one is EVER going to wear that! which has indeed been the case. So far my foot-pedal has not been a worthwhile investment!

I'm s
... See more
I thought Diego's chart was great.

I spent some time when I was setting out calculating audio minute/hour rates, LANG A-LANG A and LANG A-LANG B. I based them on what hourly rate I thought I should be getting, using average-good standards per word/per hour, as per my research here.

The result seemed to be massive. I thought, no-one is EVER going to wear that! which has indeed been the case. So far my foot-pedal has not been a worthwhile investment!

I'm sure all agencies cannot be unaware that audio transcription is both skilled and time-consuming; nor can they be unaware that LANG A-LANG B transcription is a dual task, transcription and translation. Yet these jobs always seem to be offered at even less than a straight translation task.

Interestingly, when I first, long, long ago, learnt to type on a typewriter, and was looking into bi-lingual secretarial jobs, I found that they were paid LESS than normal mono-lingual ones. Like, yeah, that'll teach ya to be so clever. Your poor brain must be so full of this lingo stuff, you must be crap at the rest. Anyway, you enjoy it, so we know we can pay you less.

Nothing changes, apparently.
Collapse


 
Shwetha_Kannada
Shwetha_Kannada  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 15:27
English to Kannada
+ ...
Confused! May 24, 2013

For the first time I am doing some transcription work. These are just 10-15 minutes audio files. Task is not exactly transcription but to translate the Kannada audio in to English. But I was offered this as a transcription job. 3-4 minutes of recordings turn in to nearly 1000 words when I translate. My quote was USD 1.00/minute of audio. But now I am finding this job is consuming too much of time. If I translate 1000 words I earn much much more where as this task pays me just USD 4.00 for 1000 w... See more
For the first time I am doing some transcription work. These are just 10-15 minutes audio files. Task is not exactly transcription but to translate the Kannada audio in to English. But I was offered this as a transcription job. 3-4 minutes of recordings turn in to nearly 1000 words when I translate. My quote was USD 1.00/minute of audio. But now I am finding this job is consuming too much of time. If I translate 1000 words I earn much much more where as this task pays me just USD 4.00 for 1000 words transcription and translation. Client says he has got too many files in this assignment. But I am totally worried now whether to go ahead or not. Any suggestions?


[Edited at 2013-05-24 04:38 GMT]
Collapse


 
Diego Achío
Diego Achío  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:57
English to Spanish
+ ...
Another victim! May 26, 2013

Shwetha

You were just another victim of this service. I recently posted here because I got my first transcription job. I charged $3.00USD/minute. It was a 16mins police video tape of an interview with a convict.

1. They used the worst Spanish I've ever heard.
2. I specialize in Mexican and Costa Rican Spanish, they were cuban or dominicans or something so it was really hard to understand their accent and speaking manners.
3. I worked on t
... See more
Shwetha

You were just another victim of this service. I recently posted here because I got my first transcription job. I charged $3.00USD/minute. It was a 16mins police video tape of an interview with a convict.

1. They used the worst Spanish I've ever heard.
2. I specialize in Mexican and Costa Rican Spanish, they were cuban or dominicans or something so it was really hard to understand their accent and speaking manners.
3. I worked on the video from 14:00 to 23:30 and I got paid $51.00USD.

They were talking in Spanish and I was supposed to deliver an English transcription.

You can swear I will NEVER accept another job of this kind per minute, and my suggestion is for the whole translators community to agree to charge this service the following way:

If your costumer ask for just a transcription: Charge per minute, no less than $1.50USD/minute

If he ask for a transcription in a different language: Charge the transcription per minute, and then the translation per word.

You will find transcription more attractive this way, and if we all cooperate we can finally get rid of clients who reject us because "We're crazy, other translators charge 3.00USD for the whole service".
Collapse


Nesrine Echroudi
Muhammad Yaseeen
Josephine Cassar
Eloisa Simon dos Santos Thomas
Márcia Francisco
María Toresani
BA AMIDOU
 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:57
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
A great plan May 26, 2013

Diego Achío wrote:

Marcel G. wrote:

Some agencies try to lure you with "just a transcription (if this wasn't exacting enough..it's tough work), but you have to transcribe it in another language", which means that you actually have to translate the whole text AFTER having transcribed it. They think (or pretend) you can do it one the fly while transcribing, which is, of course, impossible. And a one hour group discussion for example will result in many, many pages of text.



Good thinking, Diego. This would only be fair to both the translator and to the clients (though they might not see it this way).

After all, these are 2 different tasks. The transcription should be charged either per audio minute or per hours, while the translation (and this is exactly what a transcription into another language is. No more, no less.) should be charged per word.
So, when offering transcription services, should professionals charge the transcription and the translation per word afterward?


 
Arianna Tropea
Arianna Tropea  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:57
Member (2011)
English to Italian
+ ...
I actually like it.. May 27, 2013

I do quite a lot of transcription translation, only directly into the target language though because I find that monolingual transcription is boring and I am sure that transcribers would type much faster than me anyway. Also, I only transcribe from my native language (audio) to avoid wasting time re-listening to bits of audio in case there are difficult accents or poor audio quality. What I like about this type of job is that you listen to a conversation, which often is more fun to me than trans... See more
I do quite a lot of transcription translation, only directly into the target language though because I find that monolingual transcription is boring and I am sure that transcribers would type much faster than me anyway. Also, I only transcribe from my native language (audio) to avoid wasting time re-listening to bits of audio in case there are difficult accents or poor audio quality. What I like about this type of job is that you listen to a conversation, which often is more fun to me than translating from text to text. Another positive is that while there is a LOT of competition in my language pair, few translators are specialised or interested in doing this type of work. I find that a decent rate is around 2 USD per audio minute. With practice I got faster, which is important because if you look at the word count the price per word is not very rewarding, as others mentioned here! But it does not take me as long as translating from text, and I find it more interesting - just personal preferences, of course.Collapse


 
monica paniccia
monica paniccia  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:57
English to Italian
+ ...
Rate Feb 4, 2014

Good morning to everyone,
I have just received an offer for a transcription job, but, considering the large quantity of material, I was asked to write a rate per hour.
do you think I should consider the rate per minute anyway in order to obtain the final rate or I should apply a "discounted" rate?

Thnak you in advance.
Monica.


Eunike Angela
 
Petra Fischbäck
Petra Fischbäck  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:57
English to German
+ ...
Translating and transcribing at the same time Mar 4, 2014

It's not impossible to translate while transcribing. I've been doing it for years. I get a German interview and create an English transcription of it. I charge an hourly rate for this, and my average is about 7 audio minutes per hour.

It's hard work, though.


 
3ADE shadab
3ADE shadab
Local time: 15:27
Member (2008)
Hindi to English
+ ...
Thanks for sharing wonderful chart Mar 4, 2014

Diego Achío wrote:

Hello all,

I am new in the transcription world! I've been looking for information regarding how much should I charge per minute and after reading your post I worked on a price chart.

But first of all, I'd like to ask you all something... For what I've read it is very common to charge 2 rates. The first is a per minute rate for the transcription, and after having the audio down on paper, you charge a second per word rate for the translation of it. Is that right?

At first I came up with the following prices to start offering transcription services. But it is a 1 rate service, so for the translation+trascription it would be a per minute rate for delivering a translated transcription. Please let me know your opinion!

Oh and by the way, it's in Spanish, not hard to understand for non-Spanish speakers but anyway...

 photo PriceChart_zpsff50d230.jpg

[Editado a las 2013-05-21 22:53 GMT]


I must say thank you for sharing this wonderful chart. Please allow me to download for future reference.


Eunike Angela
Zorana Todorovic
 
Tara Salman (X)
Tara Salman (X)  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:57
French to English
This chart is great! Mar 11, 2014

If you don't mind, I'm going to translate the chart into English and French.
I just undercharged for a project of 100 minutes at $1/min per each original recorded minute.
Next time I'm charging double.
And if it's for translation, then $4/original recorded minute!


 
Xicagoana
Xicagoana
United States
Local time: 04:57
Translation/transcription charge rates and time Mar 13, 2014

I'm trained as a legal interpreter but recently was hired to do translation and transcription work for a documentary. This is my first job like this, though I have a little experience with this type of work, I've never been paid for it. The audio file is poor quality and I'm translating Northern Mexico Spanish to English. Each clip I've been given is about 1hr and 15mins long and requires timestamps. The editor of the film claims that it has been taking on average each person 4 hours per 1 hou... See more
I'm trained as a legal interpreter but recently was hired to do translation and transcription work for a documentary. This is my first job like this, though I have a little experience with this type of work, I've never been paid for it. The audio file is poor quality and I'm translating Northern Mexico Spanish to English. Each clip I've been given is about 1hr and 15mins long and requires timestamps. The editor of the film claims that it has been taking on average each person 4 hours per 1 hour of footage to transcribe and translate. That seems absolutely impossible to me. I have been averaging about 5-7 minutes of footage transcribed and translated per 1 hour. I do both simultaneously to cut out the steps, and I can't stop code switching now! The editor has offered me $20USD per hour of work. It took me about 11 hours to transcribe and translate a 72 minute video/audio file. However, I am hesitant to report my real work time as this is a new client and they reported that 1hr footage takes 4 hours of work to transcribe and translate. Are they just outright lying? Should I round my hours down? I'd rather not be paid $80 for a $220 job. Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!Collapse


 
Natalia Mackevich
Natalia Mackevich  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:57
English to Russian
+ ...
Tell the truth Mar 13, 2014

Xicagoana wrote:
The audio file is poor quality
requires timestamps.
However, I am hesitant to report my real work time as this is a new client and they reported that 1hr footage takes 4 hours of work to transcribe and translate. Are they just outright lying? Should I round my hours down?

You must report your actual work time (I report it in the body of email when I send the file(s) stating "Time spent: X hours") and issue an invoice immediately for client A and on a monthly basis for client B (it depends on your initial agreement with the client). My speed usually matches yours as well.
Xicagoana wrote:
I'd rather not be paid $80 for a $220 job.

Absolutely! Just make sure the client actually meant your rate per hour (vs. the rate for 1 hour of audio/video).

By the way, your rate for transcription and translation is less than 4 USD/min (72 x 4 = 288), which is already VERY low (but your hourly rate is good, so the balance is fine). I'd say no more discounts!

[Редактировалось 2014-03-13 19:53 GMT]


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:57
English to German
+ ...
Realistic Mar 13, 2014

pl delete

[Edited at 2014-03-13 21:18 GMT]


 
Bernhard Sulzer
Bernhard Sulzer  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:57
English to German
+ ...
Let's be realistic Mar 13, 2014

GregSmith wrote:

'Audio translation' jobs advertised at '$XX per hour' can be ambiguous.

For an audio 'translation' job offered at, say, $1/min, note that:

- One full hour of continuous speech contains roughly 5000 words in English;

- $1/min generally means $1 per minute OF AUDIO! NOT a pay rate of $60 per hour worked.

- $1/min (up to $4/min for complex recordings) is a common audio TRANSCRIPTION rate, i.e., roughly $1/83 words, or little over $0.01c / word.. So if you type/transcribe at about 42 words/min, including listening & pause/play commands, you stand to earn about $30/h. And that's fast!


You can easily fill a minute with 170 words (=audio/spoken words).
First, you have to make sure you understand everything correctly. You might have to listen to several parts a few times.
You might be able to go directly from the source into the target language (so this is a translation task that would involve listening to a sentence or sentence part, stopping the tape, writing down the translation, and then continue with the next part). All this is far more work than simply translating a written text and thus must pay much more. That's the basic ides.
Sometimes it might be better to do a monolingual transcription in the source language first, if the text is more complicated. Then you have transcription and then translation. That should pay even more.

Now let's say you are a professional and let's say you do regular translations for USD 0.15-0.20 USD. Multiply 170 x 0.20 = 34 USD.
This should give you an idea where that charge for audio translations should be, per minute.

Confirm any rate only after you have reviewed the recordings and know how many words you are dealing with and how good or bad the recordings are and what kind of speech is used - clear, standard, slang (dialect) etc..

PS: if it seems you can't get a fair rate, I suggest telling the client to have someone else do the monolingual transcription - and suggest to translate that then (but also review the transcription first to see how much sense it makes - without listening to any audio). If it doesn't make any sense/contains many mistakes, don't do it.


B

[Edited at 2014-03-13 21:53 GMT]


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3 4 5] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

General Audio transcription/translation rates







Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »
Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »