Discussion on Rates Calculations for Beginner Freelancers – Newcomer’s Perspective

When I began to be a freelance translator, I had been confused of how to propose suitable rates. ‘Suitable’ means that I can win my bidding projects while receiving a deserved payment. After several times of trying, I have found my 5 effective tips which I do hope will be useful for your.

Firstly, let’s take time to ask “Mr. Google”. All of us know that modern life has brought us so many conveniences, among them is Google research tool. With Google, we can ask any questions we want to get answers. All we have to do is to type on the key words and wait several seconds to get results. One thing to remember: We have to choose the most suitable links among so many results and then to visit several links and summarize.

Secondly, it is always wise to take advices from the experienced. They are sure to give us much useful information. In case we do not know any experienced translators, we can visit some forums and get their shared knowledge and best practices. Then, it is time to create our experience.

Next, let’s answer the question of how much time we spend on doing the task. Based on your expected hourly rate, and then decide: When we have much spare time, you can take tasks with low or medium rate. In that case, you are sure to get more tasks and experience. Again, one thing to remember: our rate should not be too low because our clients could doubt about our ability.

Fourthly, deadline is an important element to consider. As logically thinking, tasks with tight deadline should be paid with higher rate than relaxed ones as long as we are sure about our translation quality. In other case, we can propose reasonable rate for tasks that can be completed in flexible time.

Finally, level of difficulty is another critical tip for us to decide what rate to propose. The more difficult is the topic, the higher rate is required. Be confident to ask for what we are really deserved. Never feel regret in case we cannot get that task with our given high rate. It only means that task is not suitable for us. Then, go on our way.

In conclusion, our clients always try to offer their lowest rates while they still can get qualified completed tasks. Therefore, we have to equip ourselves with useful information before starting to work. No-one is an experienced translator at start, so newcomers have to do the non-stop learning to be mature and confident to give our translating rate, along with better quality outcomes.

By Trang Bong*

*About author: Trang Bong is a Vietnamese native, who is working with English – Vietnamese language pair. Her favorites are working with languages, and translating, especially translating books for kids. She used to be an editor of a Publishing company in Vietnam. She has experience in translating English books into Vietnamese.