Money

I've just recently signed up with another agency, which is the reason this post is late but more on that another time, and one of the things they wanted to know was how much I charge. As I was thinking about this I decided that, where feasible, I would be charging by source character rather than target word. There are a number of reasons for this, the primary one being that it is fairer.

I think it is fairer to charge according to source rather than target because it means that both myself and the client know what the costs will be in advance and also the client knows that I am not trying to rip them off. In a target word model, the client needs to hope that I am honest enough not to pad out the word count (which I am) but it also means that I lose out if the word count is less than I expect. As a translator I am always aiming to improve and produce more concise translations, should I be punished for trying to become better? This also makes it easier for both sides to plan because the client knows exactly what it will cost before hand, instead of a rough figure, and I know exactly what I will get for it (admittedly there may be arguments about the character count, but that's a different issue).

A third way of doing things is to charge by the hour, which many people do for proofreading and the like. This wouldn't work for me for two reasons. The first being Parkinson's Law, work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. I can drag out a driver's licence to take all day if I have nothing on. The second reason is that I have slightly erratic work habits and don't always work at a consistent pace. How can I charge by the hour in good conscience if I know I am likely to spend longer than is necessary?


To me, it makes more sense to charge by the source character. At least this way, the client gets a reliable figure and they know that I am not trying to rip them off. After all, if they don't trust me, they won't come back to me.