General principles for translation fees of documents

The translation fee of a document is usually based on the length of the text being translated or the time spent on the translation. The difficulty, special area and language pair also affect the fee.

The basic requirement is that the text to be translated is clear and easily readable language. The language used in the text is correct and finalised and the content is correct. If the text to be translated is difficult to read or difficult to understand or if the layout is more laborious than usual, the translation fee is naturally higher.

When the translation fee is based on the amount of source or target text, the fee can be counted as word price, standard row price or page price. 

The length of the standard row is usually 60 pickings or 50 characters per row. The measure of a page depends on what model is used. A page can be a standard layout page that has approximately 50 rows and on average 50 characters on one row, so altogether 2500 characters on one page. According to the SF standard, a page has 2487 characters. The so-called translator’s page or sheet has 1560 characters (26 rows with 60 characters each). 

Every translator defines and negotiates his/her fees alone. A translator paying VAT shall charge his/her customers the VAT in addition to the fee. 

The Finnish Association of Translators and Interpreters has investigated the level of translation fees by a questionnaire among their members. Studies for different years can be read at www.sktl.fi.

The difficulty and urgency of the work raise the fees
If the text to be translated is of a special field (e.g. legal, technical, scientific) it requires special terminology and content clarifications from the translator and familiarity with the special field. Then it can be justified to charge a higher fee. Also a text which is difficult to read or understand or a laborious layout of the text raises the fee. 

An urgent job requiring exceptionally long working days raises the translation fee by 50-100%. Also when the translator receives the source text much later than agreed without extending the deadline for the translation, the translation fee shall be higher.

Time-based fee

When a translator is proofreading or typing up a translation, transliterating or consulting, the work can be charged on a time basis. Also the checking of a translation made by someone else requires a time-based fee.

When defining an hour-based fee, one can use the average hourly income based on translation work.

Minimum fee

When the text to be translated is short or the time spent on the work is small, it can be considered that a reasonable job-specific minimum fee is half an hour or half a page.

Other fees

If a translator provides mechanic or technical services related to a translation, e.g. copies or modifies a file, these can be charged based on the time spent and the expenses.