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Estimate for a 230 pages book
Thread poster: aivars
aivars
aivars  Identity Verified
Argentina
Local time: 03:44
English to Spanish
+ ...
Feb 4, 2003

A friend of mine, who is an anthropologist, asked me for advise on what to charge for an anthropology book from an American/Argentinean author. Author lives in the US and my friend in Argentina. First I suggested our much resisted low rates and the result was still something upwards of 2,000 USD. Then I consulted with a manager of one of the most prestigious publishers in Argentina for this kind of books, and I couldn\'t believe my ears:



\"Depending on complexity he can ask ... See more
A friend of mine, who is an anthropologist, asked me for advise on what to charge for an anthropology book from an American/Argentinean author. Author lives in the US and my friend in Argentina. First I suggested our much resisted low rates and the result was still something upwards of 2,000 USD. Then I consulted with a manager of one of the most prestigious publishers in Argentina for this kind of books, and I couldn\'t believe my ears:



\"Depending on complexity he can ask from 3.5 to 6.5 USD every....1,000 words!!\"

This is no science fiction story.

Can these be the translation rates when you work with publishers? (Consider the ingredient that the publisher lives in Argentina)

What should I advise my friend to charge his colleague for the 230 pages book? We never translated whole books so far, and in view of all this it seems we never will.

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Herbert Fipke
Herbert Fipke  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:44
English to German
+ ...
6.5 cents per word seems realistic Feb 4, 2003

Hi,

For 230 pages (which will have lots of general language passages), 0.065 USD per word seems realistic to me (and I live in Germany which is not a low-level country).

If your friend knows the internals of this branch (which he does, I presume), he should consider to use a dictaphone and have the translation typed down by a secretary.

This is far more quicker than typing himself and it ends up with considerable hourly fee...
 
Madeleine Pérusse
Madeleine Pérusse
Local time: 01:44
Member (2003)
Spanish to French
+ ...
Far from being realistic Mar 11, 2003

Hi Kipke,

You forgot a zero. When dividing US6.50 into 1000, the result is 0.0065 a word.



I know the situation in Argentina is pretty bad, but this seems exaggerated to me. Maybe instead of contacting a publishing house, you should try to find rates directly from translators. One tool I use is Google to search over the web. I would search for example: traducción, tarifas, Argentina.



I work in Peru. I don\'t know if fees here can be used for c... See more
Hi Kipke,

You forgot a zero. When dividing US6.50 into 1000, the result is 0.0065 a word.



I know the situation in Argentina is pretty bad, but this seems exaggerated to me. Maybe instead of contacting a publishing house, you should try to find rates directly from translators. One tool I use is Google to search over the web. I would search for example: traducción, tarifas, Argentina.



I work in Peru. I don\'t know if fees here can be used for comparison, but I would think so. A normal fee for would be 0.04 a word, and in exceptional cases could go down to 0.035 a word.



I found a page in Argentina (B.A Translators Ltd) and they charge 0.032 a word.



Hope this helps





On 2003-02-04 21:04, Fipke wrote:

Hi,

For 230 pages (which will have lots of general language passages), 0.065 USD per word seems realistic to me (and I live in Germany which is not a low-level country).

If your friend knows the internals of this branch (which he does, I presume), he should consider to use a dictaphone and have the translation typed down by a secretary.

This is far more quicker than typing himself and it ends up with considerable hourly fee...

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Estimate for a 230 pages book







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