Forum: Subtitling
Topic: [Subtitling Rates] per minute rates
Poster: Tanja Tilch
Post title: Why do you even bother to think about accepting work for these low prices?
Hi,
One video minute can contain anything between 150 to 250 spoken words.
For 250 words translation with careful re-checking you will already need 1 hour working time.
This does not yet include any time for shortening sub-titles, checking whether the text displays at the proper time, etc.
Thus if someone offers you 3 USD or 4 euros for 1 video minute, you will have earned less than even that with one hour working. You still have to deduct office expenditures, rent, taxes, healh insurance contributions etc. Make sure you are not paying more than you actually receive in terms of money from your client!
It is really high time that 80% of the people here on ProZ take classes about cost accounting.
Just FYI: A cashier working at a supermarket in Germany gets paid 15-16 euros per hour salary if s/he chooses wll - plus the social benefits her/his employer has to pay. Thus they cost the employer somewhere between 30-40 euros per hour. If the employer wants to make a profit himself, he needs to charge more than that to his customers. If he also employs higher-skilled peopele, they will have higher salaries.
=> Anyone with a BA/MA degree etc. from a university should be earning 60-80 euros an hour - not 3 dollars or 4 euros per hour. A low fee like this would even be 3-4 times less than minimum wages in most countries! It's an outrageous offer which should be firmly declined.
Please everyone do your homework:
a) find out how many words you can sensibly translate per hour
b) find out what serious businesses charge you per hour of service (all you need to do is look at the invoices you receive every week)
c) divide that rate by the number of words you can translate per hour - then you have a rate with which you'll start earning money and make a living from it.
d) If you are not salesperson enough to sell that rate, become a salaried translator instead or look for a different line of work.
This is just some well-meant very serious advice if you do not want to ask yourself after 10 or 20 years of hard work why you are (still) scraping to barely survive while all your acquaintances with other jobs/professions have made a great career, own their house etc.
Best,
Tanja
Topic: [Subtitling Rates] per minute rates
Poster: Tanja Tilch
Post title: Why do you even bother to think about accepting work for these low prices?
Hi,
One video minute can contain anything between 150 to 250 spoken words.
For 250 words translation with careful re-checking you will already need 1 hour working time.
This does not yet include any time for shortening sub-titles, checking whether the text displays at the proper time, etc.
Thus if someone offers you 3 USD or 4 euros for 1 video minute, you will have earned less than even that with one hour working. You still have to deduct office expenditures, rent, taxes, healh insurance contributions etc. Make sure you are not paying more than you actually receive in terms of money from your client!
It is really high time that 80% of the people here on ProZ take classes about cost accounting.
Just FYI: A cashier working at a supermarket in Germany gets paid 15-16 euros per hour salary if s/he chooses wll - plus the social benefits her/his employer has to pay. Thus they cost the employer somewhere between 30-40 euros per hour. If the employer wants to make a profit himself, he needs to charge more than that to his customers. If he also employs higher-skilled peopele, they will have higher salaries.
=> Anyone with a BA/MA degree etc. from a university should be earning 60-80 euros an hour - not 3 dollars or 4 euros per hour. A low fee like this would even be 3-4 times less than minimum wages in most countries! It's an outrageous offer which should be firmly declined.
Please everyone do your homework:
a) find out how many words you can sensibly translate per hour
b) find out what serious businesses charge you per hour of service (all you need to do is look at the invoices you receive every week)
c) divide that rate by the number of words you can translate per hour - then you have a rate with which you'll start earning money and make a living from it.
d) If you are not salesperson enough to sell that rate, become a salaried translator instead or look for a different line of work.
This is just some well-meant very serious advice if you do not want to ask yourself after 10 or 20 years of hard work why you are (still) scraping to barely survive while all your acquaintances with other jobs/professions have made a great career, own their house etc.
Best,
Tanja