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E-book translaton cost?

by Adie
13 replies
It's actually a 70,000-word fiction written in German. My bother-in-law asked me for help to find a translator for his sci-fi ebook to be translated to English. I told him to post an offer in elance and freelance but he can't decide about the cost.

Does anyone has any idea about the cost of this job? Translating a fiction work is more difficult because you have to make sure that the emotions, actions, and other feelings are also translated.

Thanks
#cost #ebook #translaton
  • Profile picture of the author tristatemedia
    i used odesk before , i got great rates but it has been a while and i forget exactly what they charged.
    just post job and see what kind of rates you get and as always....haggle with them and you will get the best price.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chaudhary Daniyal
    Being well versed in both the languages, I would say a quality translation job would cost you somewhere around 0.10 - 0.15 US Dollar per word !

    I wouldn't recommend you to go cheaper if you're really serious about it.

    Also if you're going to a freelancing site, be sure to get a demo translation of a tough paragraph to get an idea of the quality you're going to get. German is a tough language and even though I can communicate init easily, translating is not easy so you would want to get the best possible translator.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aji Raman
    Damn it's very expensive

    -AJ
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Aji Raman View Post

      Damn it's very expensive
      It will be, surely, if you think of the number of hours for which you'd be employing someone probably quite highly educated and with specialist professional expertise? I wouldn't expect a freelance professional translator in the publishing industry to charge the same hourly rate as my dentist (nobody charges the same hourly rate as my dentist ) but it's not going to be cheap, is it?

      I'm wondering whether it might be worth looking for a bilingual college student - perhaps a postgraduate one - with experience of writing/editing dissertations, and that kind of thing? It might be possible, and it might save some money?

      The potential difficulty - as often, when you outsource something you don't have the skills to do yourself - is your concommitant lack of ability to estimate/assess the quality of the work done. One way around that problem is to go to a highly recommended professional ... hence the high cost.
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    Agree with the estimate in the $0.10/word range, and that's without proofreading etc. You are talking about a HUGE project. With literary translation you really need to be absolutely sure why you need it, ideally you would have a publishing deal in place. I am also a professional translator and have just completed a translation of similar volume - it's taken almost a year (part-time, admittedly)! That amount of time and expertise does NOT come cheap. Cheap translation is usually a disaster.
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  • Profile picture of the author Davidconstable
    If you post Odesk, there are many freelancer, they will apply with various amount. so after see their amount you can decide what is the perfect rate. you can hire that freelancer, which amount is in various job application.
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    • Profile picture of the author markowe
      Originally Posted by Davidconstable View Post

      If you post Odesk, there are many freelancer, they will apply with various amount. so after see their amount you can decide what is the perfect rate. you can hire that freelancer, which amount is in various job application.
      Yep, and they will ALL do a crap job, whoever you hire. Especially as we are talking about a work of fiction - if you are going to translate fiction you need to have some sort of track record as a writer in your own language, not just be some Joe off oDesk who "knows German", or whatever.

      My advice, DON'T commission a translation of a 70,000-word ebook - create some sort of novella based on the work, a really short book or short story or something, translate THAT (professionally, NOT via oDesk) and see if there is interest, before risking a professional translation of the whole book. There MUST be a market for the work, or you are wasting your money. The translation must be perfect or, again, you are wasting your money. There is no such thing as a "not bad" translation in literary translation - unless it's perfect it's all bad.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Davidconstable View Post

      If you post Odesk, there are many freelancer, they will apply with various amount. so after see their amount you can decide what is the perfect rate. you can hire that freelancer, which amount is in various job application.
      This is the classic and likely route to a disaster, for all the obvious reasons (some of which are discussed above). Definitely something I'd want to avoid.
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  • Profile picture of the author craighakwins
    I would hire a freelancer but it's going to cost a lot because from what I have seen so far, translators over there are asking for a lot. Maybe find people on forums? Or maybe locally? I bet it would be cheaper.
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  • Profile picture of the author KenJ
    Is the book selling in the German speaking countries? If it is will it transfer to the English market with the same level of success? I would market research this before proceeding. If your translation costs $5000 how many copies do you need to sell to break even?

    If you know you need to sell, say, 10,000 copies before you make any money then you will know where you stand.

    Do Not try to save money on translation and have at least two translation auditors check the original work.

    KenJ
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  • Profile picture of the author Adie
    Yes KenJ, the German version is selling well that's why he wanted it to be translated to English.
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  • Profile picture of the author skatir
    What i would do is post project on odesk, freelance ... and have each potential freelancer same paragraph to translate, then pickup the one who is good and with low cost for this project.
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