Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

204 Translation as a Professionhourly rate will provide a reasonable estimate, to be adjusted according to the timeactually spent on the job.With this kind of calculation, both the translator and the client would get a‘fair deal’. The translator works out a basic rate according to his productivity. Thegreater the productivity, the higher the rate, but in the end, the work providerwill get a good deal because he will get the job done. At the same time, thework provider may reduce costs by contributing input for the translation, i.e.by providing information on the subject, briefing or even training the translator,providing terminology and phraseology resources or even undertaking to carryout some of the operations (as, for example, deciding to have someone on his staffcarry out the technical quality control.Another way of calculating fees would be as follows:1. levy a minimum flat rate service charge for any translation, irrespective oflength, except in the case of special rates for regular clients who pay a monthlyor quarterly set amount,2. work out cost on the basis of specific rates for all the different operations ortasks in the overall translation process (documentation, terminography, qualitychecks, layout, etc.) This highlights the different tasks involved and meansthey are clearly billed for what they represent in the overall translation process.3. count as additional work, at market rates, any task undertaken over and abovethose related to the translation process proper (e.g. creating a glossary, correctingthe source material, having another translator proof-read the translation,aligning texts and translations, setting up a translation memory, making laserprint-outs),4. apply discounts for redundancy or repetition while still charging a minimumamount for repeated segments.This method can serve as a basic framework for quotes and then be adapted foruse for those clients who setup a subscription scheme or by introducing any specialrates which the translator may wish to apply to particular types of clients.From the translator’s point of view, the most rational approach would appearto be to work out the estimated cost of a translation on the basis of an hourlyor daily rate applied to the total estimated time for a given job, including – ifapplicable – pre-translation and post-translation tasks. This implies, of course,that the translator is capable of forecasting how long the job will take, and notsimply recording how long it has taken to complete. In other words, the translatorhas to be able to identify cost centres and work out average times for each type oftask, which will then be invoiced separately, with each cost item including labourand use of various resources (equipment, software, documentation, etc.). Thiswould include, for instance: