English to French Translation Costs?

[no pepper]

We just closed a software sale to a company in Mali, Africa. They require all our technical documentation to be re-written in French. The Users Guide is 700 pages with lots of screenshots.

I have two quotes so far via local educational institutions. One wanted $58 per page; the other wants $64 per page. I found a website (www.click2translate.com) and uploaded an excerpt and they quoted $35 per page.

I am just looking for a sanity check. $42,000 to translate this book seems a little high to me. Our other staff thinks it's important to use someone local so they can come into the office with questions or to get a better understanding of the flow of the software.

There is also the requirement of translating all the words on our screens. One of the candidates said she would do that for .20 per word. Does anyone have any experience with a project like this?

 

[dawgball]

We just closed a software sale to a company in Mali, Africa. They require all our technical documentation to be re-written in French. The Users Guide is 700 pages with lots of screenshots.

I have two quotes so far via local educational institutions. One wanted $58 per page; the other wants $64 per page. I found a website (www.click2translate.com) and uploaded an excerpt and they quoted $35 per page.

I am just looking for a sanity check. $42,000 to translate this book seems a little high to me. Our other staff thinks it's important to use someone local so they can come into the office with questions or to get a better understanding of the flow of the software.

There is also the requirement of translating all the words on our screens. One of the candidates said she would do that for .20 per word. Does anyone have any experience with a project like this?

Absolutely do not pay that amount.

For $42,000 why would you need to outsource it?

Quoting by the word and page is somewhat strange for a project of this size.

Where did you get your quotes from? Maybe try Elance.com if you want to outsource, but if you are willing to spend $20K+, then I would have a part-timer in my office next to me and pay them hourly.

 

[dawgball]

For example on Elance.com

This lady is $25/hour. That's 42 weeks of full-time translation for $42,000.

She wouldn't be in your office, but my guess is that it wouldn't take 42 weeks for 700 pages. That would be a pace of 1 page per 2.4 hours.

My guess is that this number is pretty slow.

 

[dunclock]

Being in the publishing industry and looking into some international translations years ago, these numbers are not out of line...I looked into the rights of publishing some of the top poker books years ago into the Asian markets when the poker boom took off and it was like $30 a page back in 2002-03...I even talked to Jack a little about it when he was looking for other investments...there may be more outlets now with the technology advances over the years but the prices you are quoting are not out of line from when I looked into it.

 

[safrank99]

Absolutely do not pay that amount.

For $42,000 why would you need to outsource it?

Quoting by the word and page is somewhat strange for a project of this size.

Where did you get your quotes from? Maybe try Elance.com if you want to outsource, but if you are willing to spend $20K+, then I would have a part-timer in my office next to me and pay them hourly.

I agree with this completely. I think it would be better if you had the person in the office. I don't think this should be a project that takes more then 7 weeks. I speak and write fluent in French and 2 1/2 pages an hour should be standard.

 

[dawgball]

...there may be more outlets now with the technology advances over the years

The key point.

French is a much more attainable language than most Asian languages as well.

 

[1837]

No Pepper,

I'm French canadian and currently translating an English website that will be French too as it is a penny auction and i've been asked to attract the French Market. If you are giving me a deadline not too early, i would be doing it for much less than 42K!!!

Just ask Jack for my email if you want to send me more details. :0074

 

[ryson]

How big was the deal? If big enough 42K should be mice nuts to any company to translate the docs. It's not like they cannot be used with other customers. When we "internationalized" our solution (French/German/Chinese) we used interns for the docs. Is the deal closed or are the docs an acceptance point?

 

[dawgball]

How big was the deal? If big enough 42K should be mice nuts to any company to translate the docs. It's not like they cannot be used with other customers. When we "internationalized" our solution (French/German/Chinese) we used interns for the docs. Is the deal closed or are the docs an acceptance point?

Hmm...

Paying $42K for a service that should be $20K or less (if it can be done for this well) should always matter.

 

[no pepper]

Thanks for all the interesting replies. The deal is done and some here at the office have the attitude we should just sign the check since there is plenty of margin in the sale. As a sales guy, maybe I am more paranoid of wasting cash since it's a bitch to close big sales lately.

I failed to mention an important factor in the contract. We have to have our stuff up and running in production in four months. The idea of hiring someone with translation skills part time won't work. We need a contractor for 12+ weeks, and I expect to pay a premium for overhead, acceleration, etc.

When we met with the one French broad (teacher at the community college) she told me that typically there are 1.5 French words for every English word. On the screen translation she wanted to add up all the words -- both languages -- and divide by two for the payment formula. At first I thought about all the 'le' 'la' articles, but I don't think that's really an accurate ratio.

 

[ryson]

Agree dawg that it matters but it seems like that is the going rate for quality output then it is what it is - a CapEx to the business. Ultimately it depends on how much the organization values the preservation of their brand. Deliver quality or cut corners and deliver less quality. I am all about saving $$ and watching expenses but not willing to sacrifice quality and brand recognition to save a measly 20K.

To no pepper congrats on the deal!

 

[no pepper]

I am all about saving $$ and watching expenses but not willing to sacrifice quality and brand recognition so save a measly 20K.

And that is a valid fear, since no one who knows the application can proofread the docs at the end. I guess it is the old saying, 'you get what you pay for.' Some rogue, back alley translator may save a few bucks yet make us look bad.

Then again, who really reads documentation anymore. The 30-page training guide gets a lot more attention than the 700-page users guide. I think people just get in there and hammer away on new software these days to learn it. No one has the patience to go through a big book.

 

[ryson]

Then again, who really reads documentation anymore.

Women!

 

[dawgball]

The quality portion is exactly why I would hire someone locally on an hourly basis to sit right beside me during the translation. The Elance link was only to show that if you are going to outsource, there are validated yet cheaper options.

If it were my project on this type of cash outlay, the person would be next to me where they could ask me questions during the process.

Good luck, no pepper.