"What's Your Rate?" Thread poster: Alex Farrell (X)
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Alex Farrell (X) 
Japan
Local time: 22:06
Japanese to English
If you’re a freelancer like me, you’ve probably been asked about your rate too many times to count. Of course, it’s an important one and you need to have a good answer. You also have to be sure of your answer, confident that you believe this is a fair price to charge for your services.
But how do we get the answer in the first place?
I've published an article that is based on my more than 10 years of experience as a Japanese-to-English translator, freelancing full... See more If you’re a freelancer like me, you’ve probably been asked about your rate too many times to count. Of course, it’s an important one and you need to have a good answer. You also have to be sure of your answer, confident that you believe this is a fair price to charge for your services.
But how do we get the answer in the first place?
I've published an article that is based on my more than 10 years of experience as a Japanese-to-English translator, freelancing full-time for my entire career. I hope community members will find this information helpful.
Read the article here: https://thekyotolinguist.svbtle.com/what-s-your-rate ▲ Collapse
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maybe, if you have no other translators competiting with you, you can rate higher prices.
Otherwise, many agencies would rather to hire cheaper translators.
So, negociation is the king.
| | | | Alex Farrell (X)
Japan
Local time: 22:06
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Negotiate from strength | Oct 7, 2019 |
It also depends not only on what language pair you work in, but your expertise. Just as there are different levels of pay between language pairs, there are different levels of pay between fields within each language pair. By identifying those fields in your language pair where the demand is higher than the supply, you can then negotiate from a position of strength.
Otherwise, you don't have much to negotiate with.
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| Added value: Your rate is how highly very you value your job | Oct 7, 2019 |
Watching most colleagues, I come to the conclusion that some people ignore all the explanations and warnings--it's a lost course, so they really must get into deep sh*it, suffer badly for awhile to get sick of absurd assumptions and practices, and only then they may realize their foolish mistakes...
A simple question kills all the arguments as if by magic: Why it's ok that agencies (middlemen) charge $0.25-$0.50+/word in advance, whereas freelancers should allegedly ask no more than the iconic $0.10/word, offering "best rates", "discounts", "after 45+ days", "free support", and other ploys--easily making it $0.01/word net or lower? What exactly makes the difference to the end clients?
However, I'm glad there are still a few highflyers smart freelancers ([1]specialists in a field with decent [2] biz and [3] foreign language skills) also charging $0.25-$0.50+/word and working on their own terms, unlike timid bottom-feeding humble "pure" translators aka non-businesspersons.
If your translation job doesn't pay your bills, then it's but a hobby--find a real job or get real!
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Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 15:06
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
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| Great comments | Oct 8, 2019 |
Alex Farrell wrote:
It also depends not only on what language pair you work in, but your expertise. Just as there are different levels of pay between language pairs, there are different levels of pay between fields within each language pair. By identifying those fields in your language pair where the demand is higher than the supply, you can then negotiate from a position of strength.
Otherwise, you don't have much to negotiate with.
In other words, find your niche.
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