Do you charge for pdf review if you worked on the project's translation? Thread poster: Elodiiiiye
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Hi There,
I have a question, I work with a company on translation and review eLearnings. They are now starting to ask me my fee to translate manuals, however the workflow is a little different. Usually I translate and review in a CAT tool and it's done. But for manuals, the workflow is translation, review in the CAT tool and then review the pdf when the file is laid out. They aren't expecting for me to review for typo only but they would like me to compare the translation to English... See more Hi There,
I have a question, I work with a company on translation and review eLearnings. They are now starting to ask me my fee to translate manuals, however the workflow is a little different. Usually I translate and review in a CAT tool and it's done. But for manuals, the workflow is translation, review in the CAT tool and then review the pdf when the file is laid out. They aren't expecting for me to review for typo only but they would like me to compare the translation to English pdf as well. Do any of you work on this kind of workflow? Would you charge for the pdf review in that case? How much would you charge for it?
I feel guilty to charge them for another review as I will already charge them on a first review in the CAT tool.
I appreciate your feedback
Elodie, ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jean Lachaud 
United States
Local time: 12:34
English to French
+ ...
| Why work for free? | Apr 5, 2022 |
Extra work needs to be paid.
In my experience, I have repeatedly found errors (including missing words, missing punctuation, missing letters, missing accents, wrong hyphenation, etc.) in
PDF files generated from originals I had delivered.
Although why and how such errors had been introduced would be an interesting story to study, but are irrelevant here.
Proofreading PDF is a cumbersome, tedious and time consuming job.
Ergo, there is no reason t... See more Extra work needs to be paid.
In my experience, I have repeatedly found errors (including missing words, missing punctuation, missing letters, missing accents, wrong hyphenation, etc.) in
PDF files generated from originals I had delivered.
Although why and how such errors had been introduced would be an interesting story to study, but are irrelevant here.
Proofreading PDF is a cumbersome, tedious and time consuming job.
Ergo, there is no reason to not charge for what is IN ADDITION to the translation job.
J L ▲ Collapse
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I always invoice, but two scenarios are possible: either I charge an all-inclusive price, when the client says from the start exactly what the project involves, or I charge a partial price per service when things are added over time...
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 12:34
Japanese to English
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Usually I am strict about extra work. Yet there are exceptions If it is a long-time client, a rich client or I think I can get more work from them in the future, I am willing to bend with the bamboo. Recently I translated a Russian medical book on allergies and vaccines. Obviously they company is interested in the corona. They asked that the bibliography not be translated. Sensing a limited budget and several days after handing in the completed translation, I did translate the bibliography and s... See more Usually I am strict about extra work. Yet there are exceptions If it is a long-time client, a rich client or I think I can get more work from them in the future, I am willing to bend with the bamboo. Recently I translated a Russian medical book on allergies and vaccines. Obviously they company is interested in the corona. They asked that the bibliography not be translated. Sensing a limited budget and several days after handing in the completed translation, I did translate the bibliography and sent it to them saying that there was no charge and that I also be translations for my own research. I indicated that several of the bibliographic entries might prove of interest for future research projects and, consequently, more translation work. They were happy with my extra efforts and said they would definitely be in touch with me for future work. This is what the Japanese would call "saabisu", a "freebie". It works with the Japanese.
In this case, the end-client did turn out to be Japanese. ▲ Collapse
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In many cases I know in advance that I will be asked to do a final PDF review, and I include it in the overall rate for the job.
Many of the jobs I do are in fact quite small, and the PDF check takes less than half an hour. On the other hand, I regularly discover small errors that need to be tidied up. Often these are incorrect word-breaks, where source-language rules have been applied, or little things like that.
If the PDF review takes longer, e.g. for a whole manual ... See more In many cases I know in advance that I will be asked to do a final PDF review, and I include it in the overall rate for the job.
Many of the jobs I do are in fact quite small, and the PDF check takes less than half an hour. On the other hand, I regularly discover small errors that need to be tidied up. Often these are incorrect word-breaks, where source-language rules have been applied, or little things like that.
If the PDF review takes longer, e.g. for a whole manual or tourist catalogue with graphics and so on, then I charge an hourly rate for my time. It may take quite a long time if I have to annotate all the changes with 'yellow notes' or the small blue editing notes that my version of Adobe Acrobat can make.
With the larger jobs, the PDF review usually comes several days after I delivered my translation, and I have moved on, so I set it up as a new task and add an extra line on the invoice. It is not easy to work out in advance how long it will take, as it is far quicker when there are no corrections! If there are many changes, they soon add up, and I do not do several hours' work for free. ▲ Collapse
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After the translation delivery and downstream revision if any, I am usually sent a PO and state the time spent once the target pdf proofreading is completed. But the workflow here is different from yours, as I make any changes needed in the bilingual file and NOT in the pdf with stickies, which is horribly time-consuming.
Compared to the actual target pdf, a CAT tool fails to render the "bigger picture" of a final piece that will be out in the open for all to see.
The scope is to mak... See more After the translation delivery and downstream revision if any, I am usually sent a PO and state the time spent once the target pdf proofreading is completed. But the workflow here is different from yours, as I make any changes needed in the bilingual file and NOT in the pdf with stickies, which is horribly time-consuming.
Compared to the actual target pdf, a CAT tool fails to render the "bigger picture" of a final piece that will be out in the open for all to see.
The scope is to make sure the target content is suitable, and if possible fully compelling, within its layout: proofreading only (DTP experts fix the layout afterwards) with the occasional look at the source, unpaid 100%/locked matches and split segments checked in context (with extra care for column headers, titles, consistency), flow and logical links for readability, untranslated bits, number formats ignored by CAT tools, any rewording that you didn't think about at translation time and/or feel would fit better in the overall brochure/course/report, etc.
For scheduling purposes, I anticipate a throughput of about 2000 (full) source words per hour because I am already in agreement with my translation (while being even more critical about it in context). It can even be higher with running text only.
I feel no guilt at all to be paid for this extra task because it goes beyond a second review of the content in a CAT tool.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 18:34
German to Swedish
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Yes, I'd charge extra.
I assume the proofreading is already done at the CAT stage. So what are you expected to do? Adjust phrasings so they fit the layout, for instance? Or look at what some editor did to the text to make it fit? All of that takes a long time.
Paying lower rates for CAT and then expecting the translator to spend extra time fixing CAT-related layout issues in the final file is... not really fair dealing.
| | | | sazo
Croatia
Local time: 18:34
Member
German to Croatian
+ ...
I charge my hourly rate. But, sometimes I make an exception for my favourite clients, and if the layout check takes just several minutes.
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