Poll: Do you charge extra for translation/edition with character restrictions? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you charge extra for translation/edition with character restrictions?".
This poll was originally submitted by Oriol Vives. View the poll results »
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I haven’t had many projects with character restrictions. Word restrictions are more usual and these are not easy to handle as Portuguese tends to be “wordier”. If the text is rather difficult to handle, I usually don't charge extra, I quote a higher rate, and if the client is willing to pay it, I will do the job.
| | | | Jan Truper 
Germany
Local time: 18:43
Member (2016)
English to German
A lot of the projects I work on have character restrictions (subtitle jobs always, game jobs often).
I translate from English to German, and German words/phrases are on average 30–40 % longer than their English source.
Therefore, I usually have to do quite a bit of truncating.
When I was starting out, this often meant trying out various wording options to get the desired result (i. e., short enough, but maintaining all relevant content and tone).
But havin... See more A lot of the projects I work on have character restrictions (subtitle jobs always, game jobs often).
I translate from English to German, and German words/phrases are on average 30–40 % longer than their English source.
Therefore, I usually have to do quite a bit of truncating.
When I was starting out, this often meant trying out various wording options to get the desired result (i. e., short enough, but maintaining all relevant content and tone).
But having gained a lot of experience, I am now able to comply with limits without futzing around too much -- therefore, I do not lose relevant time to justify an extra charge.
On a side note: MT is totally useless for jobs with character restrictions. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Nestor Irabaruta
Rwanda
Local time: 18:43
Member (2021)
English to Kinyarwanda
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| Kinyarwanda Translator | Jul 4, 2022 |
Actually I do not charge extra for translation/edition with restrictions, and I have never thought of this before. But this give me another perspective to think about it wisely because it obviously takes a long time to work on it.
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| Not so far, but I have discussed it with the client | Jul 4, 2022 |
Normally, like Jan Truper, I can formulate a text to fit the restrictions without spending too much extra time on it, as long as I know in advance what is required.
I did once translate the ´bubbles´ for a cartoon strip - the story extended over a large number of pages, and there was no extra space for the translations. I was sorry for my German colleague, because it was quite difficult to fit the English in at times!
The client offered to pay extra, but allowed me to short... See more Normally, like Jan Truper, I can formulate a text to fit the restrictions without spending too much extra time on it, as long as I know in advance what is required.
I did once translate the ´bubbles´ for a cartoon strip - the story extended over a large number of pages, and there was no extra space for the translations. I was sorry for my German colleague, because it was quite difficult to fit the English in at times!
The client offered to pay extra, but allowed me to shorten text if necessary, and could reduce the type size just a little, so in practice I did not need to charge extra.
I certainly charge for formatting if it involves more than checking that everything is tidy, i.e. if I have to spend time on it, and I would certainly charge for character restrictions if they took a lot of extra time of effort. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 18:43
Member (2020)
English to German
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Depending on the job, there is sometimes either a length verification within the QA settings or an XML file with a stylesheet for length verification. If I get those, I treat length verification as part of my normal QA process and do not charge extra. On the other hand, if there is simply an Excel spreadsheet with character restrictions entered as unformatted numbers (bonus points for not even implementing a check for the actual length), I do absolutely either charge extra or refuse to check for... See more Depending on the job, there is sometimes either a length verification within the QA settings or an XML file with a stylesheet for length verification. If I get those, I treat length verification as part of my normal QA process and do not charge extra. On the other hand, if there is simply an Excel spreadsheet with character restrictions entered as unformatted numbers (bonus points for not even implementing a check for the actual length), I do absolutely either charge extra or refuse to check for any exceeded limits. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 18:43
French to English
Since I tend to brevity, and my target language is naturally more concise than my source, it's mostly not a problem for me.
I used to have two post-its on my screen at work, reminding me to "cut the crap" and "if in doubt, leave it out" - this was also for my colleague who always wanted to make sure that every last nuance had been catered for. Like insisting on specifying "children in the first four years of secondary school" to translate "collégien" (collège being the school you attend... See more Since I tend to brevity, and my target language is naturally more concise than my source, it's mostly not a problem for me.
I used to have two post-its on my screen at work, reminding me to "cut the crap" and "if in doubt, leave it out" - this was also for my colleague who always wanted to make sure that every last nuance had been catered for. Like insisting on specifying "children in the first four years of secondary school" to translate "collégien" (collège being the school you attend age 11-15), when I just wanted to put "children at secondary school" and who cares if the ages don't match up *exactly*. I think those post-its were invaluable in keeping my translations brief, and thus not having any problems with character restrictions.
[Edited at 2022-07-05 07:55 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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