Translation cost per source word

We charge for each word translated.

Simply find the total amount of words and multiply by our price per word below, or...

Use the translation price calculator to get an instant cost per word for your translation. This includes taxes, proof reading and a UK qualified translator working on your text.

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Translation Price
  • Total Cost: £

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European languages

(English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Greek, Romanian, Slovenian, Finnish and others)

Cost: £0.09 to £0.15 per source word (average price: £0.11 per word)

$/EUR 0.10 to $/EUR 0.20 per source word (average price: $/EUR 0.13 per word)

Translated into Cost £ € US$
French 0.10 0.12 0.13
German 0.10 0.12 0.13
Swiss German 0.11 0.13 0.145
Dutch 0.10 0.12 0.13
Italian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Spanish (European) 0.10 0.12 0.13
Spanish (Latin American) 0.10 0.12 0.13
Portuguese 0.10 0.12 0.13
Brazilian Portuguese 0.10 0.12 0.13
Russian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Polish 0.10 0.12 0.13
Estonian 0.11 0.13 0.145
Lithuanian 0.11 0.13 0.145
Latvian 0.11 0.13 0.145
Czech 0.10 0.12 0.13
Slovak 0.10 0.12 0.13
Ukrainian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Hungarian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Romanian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Bulgarian 0.10 0.12 0.13
Greek 0.10 0.12 0.13
Turkish 0.10 0.12 0.13
Danish 0.14 0.16 0.18
Swedish 0.14 0.16 0.18
Norwegian 0.14 0.16 0.18
Finnish 0.14 0.16 0.18
Icelandic 0.15 0.17 0.20

Asian languages

(Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese and others)

Translated into Cost £ € US$
Hindi 0.11 0.13 0.145
Urdu 0.11 0.13 0.145
Farsi 0.11 0.13 0.145
Hebrew 0.11 0.13 0.145
Arabic 0.11 0.13 0.145
Chinese (traditional) 0.12 0.14 0.158
Chinese (simplified) 0.12 0.14 0.158
Japanese 0.12 0.14 0.158
Korean 0.12 0.14 0.158

Cost: £0.10 to £0.16 per source word (average price: £0.12 per word )

$/EUR 0.15 to $/EUR 0.20 per source word (average price: $/EUR 0.15 per word)

The actual price will depend on the complexity of the text, source and target languages, total volume and when delivery is needed. Weekends and texts with a lot of slang (film scripts) or academic texts will be in the upper bracket of the above quoted rates.

What does source word mean? Source Word/Language – Language from which it will be translated from.

Translation cost per page

We normally charge per source word, as this gives an accurate and fair price, although if you want a cost per page, we would average the number of words per page to 250 and multiply this by the cost per source word. Some translation companies in continental Europe charge in this way. For example Czech Sworn translators are required by the Czech Ministry of Justice to charge per 'norm page'.

Translation cost per character

Predominantly for Asian character based languages, see above. It can be difficult for our clients to calculate this or know where to start. We can calculate this for you, or if you prefer a simple word check/count will display the word/character count. For character based languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) one English word is equivalent to roughly two to three characters. This is taken into account when giving a price, so we charge less per Asian character than we do for European words.

Texts to be delivered in different formats, especially .pdf files normally are priced with a surcharge with other translation companies. We do not charge a surcharge for accepting .pdf and delivering in another format or for deliverying in .html.

Format which we cover and do not charge a surcharge:

.pdf

.html

excel

word

Translations are normally delivered in word or excel and the client then copies this to their own format. Mostly the translation will be below each paragraph of the original, so easy for the person copying and pasting to know what paragraph relates to what.

Texts that are in PDF are more dificult for the translator to work from, as the translator will normally work on a text, overwriting the original text or writing below the original text, thereby making it easier and quicker. With PDF documents, they have to constantly switch between the two documents and over a period of time translating makes it time consuming and more dificult. Some translation agencies will charge a premium (around 30% extra) for accepting PDF documents for translation. Courts tend to be the main culprit for this, with often a legal document having been photocopied numerous times and then scanned and saved as a PDF, making them hard to read and impossible to convert to a normal word document.

For websites, it is easier to get the translation delivered in html (with the translation embedded into the html files). Translation companies offer this and it is worth getting this as they will not only translate the text and place it correctly in the right place, but also translate the hidden text on a website, like META tags, alt tags and any forms. They will automatically include this in any quote regarding websites.

Delivery time:

If you needed the translation quicker than the translation company has quoted for, then you will obviously have to pay more. How much more depends on the word count mainly, as well as if it is an unusual language and if it is a technical text type.

Translators normally translate 2000 words (general/simple text) a day or 1500 words (technical, ie: law, engineering, etc..) a day. Sometimes, if it is a large project, the translation company will employ a team of translators who will work from the same glossary of technical terms to try and attain consistency and give the impression that it is the work of a single translator. There is nothing wrong with this and with the right team who have worked together in the same speciality, this can work. For the best results, employ one translator as this will ensure consistency with technical terms and written style, which are both really important.

Repeated words:

Some translation companies offer discounts for repeated words, normally a 30% discount on these words. They should include this in the quote. This normally makes little to no difference in the price and is more of a gimmick to try and think you have saved money (clients like to see the discount word), although normally the client will not make any saving as these translation companies will increase the rate per word to cover the discount. Where it can have an effect is with scientific texts where there can be a lot of repetition.

Normal translation versus Sworn/Certified translation for court use:

If a document is to be submitted to a court/Government department/Academic institution or sometimes an insurance company, it will have to be carried out by a Sworn/Certified translator. This will be expensive, with Prices (minimum charge) from £65, for text less than 400 words and up to £0.16 per source word for texts over 400 words. A sworn translation (for Europe) will be marginally more expensive than a certified translation for UK. See for an explanation between Sworn and Certified.