just started working as translator - I want to ask for more, but should I & how?

[ernest]

OK, my neighbour asked me recently if I could help his company out of a tight spot - they'd had some scriots translated into English but the English wasn't good enough & could I smarten them up? I agreed, tho never done translating work before so had no idea how much charge should be.

Figures all fictional here.

He suggested say £50 cos the work was done I just needed to smarten it up.
I agreed.
His colleauge?boss them mailed me them & the English was really unusable & I had to re do them practically & there were loads, easily 20 hours work, so this meant I'd agreed to practically no money for loads of work and stress as tight deadline.

I asked for more, but only suggested modest increase as thought was a one off helping out a mate.

Now they've asked me to do more.

I agreed but am not a bit unhappy that if this is a regular thing, they're playing really relatively little. I'd say comparable with working on a till, for what they'd normally really pay 10X that much for.

The boss has now also asked me to translate and extra intro bit which i didn't do on the original ones.

Blood hell, I'm waffling.

Point is, I've already asked for more , which they agreed to, can I, dare I, should I ask for more, given it's not a one off and it's a bit more work that I'd thought. but then she might tell me to shove it and I loose the job (not that I really need it). i don't want to be greedy, but it really takes a long time and lots of effort. and I've never had to negotiate money with people before so not comfortable with it all.

You say you don't really need the money and do not under any circs do it for way under. It's always more work than you think & you'll resent it.
Call (or get someone to) a translation agency and ask for quote for similar amount. I've done that when I've done bits for people and have no idea what the going rate is these days.
You need to spell out (bad pun) that the amount i.e. nature of the contract (use Auftrag or whatever - 'tis a business affair not a favour) has changed and you'll do it for X amount. Then see what they say.
You will regret it if you do it for too little - I know!

you should absolutely ask for more

do you have a translation qualification? And what's the language combination?

To give you an idea, I am a fully qualified translator working in a specialised field, and usually average around £35 per hour (I charge by the word though) - I only work through agencies so the actual client probably pays at least 50% more. Your neighbour is clearly taking the piss.

You might like to visit proz.com to talk to other translators.

I would say ask now. If you don't the longer you do it cheap the harder it'll be to change your mind (and price). I do proof reading for dh's colleagues for next to nothing (and they know it) but I've been doing it for so long that it seems hard to suddenly say I want more.

oh thanks. I was feeling bad about asking for more, and yes, I am already resenting the amount of work for the amount of money. I don't have a translation qualification, but am a qualified language teacher, and they're clearly happy the standard is good enough.

I'm translating scripts from German to English.

So the next batch is due today, I did already send them but she's asked me in addition to do this extra intro, so I don't have time for getting quotes, so and ideas, lovely ladies
a. how much to ask for
b. how I phrase it so she still thinks it's reasonable and that I'm not going to ask for a pay rise every 2 minutes. Thanks a lot!

Sorry really can't help with how much without knowing length/word count/currency but as to
b. Say, "It's more than we agreed because there's more text. I did check this was standard practice. I won't always change the fee (pleasant smile) but so we're both clear in future, perhaps you could let me have the whole Auftrag at the start - if you can (understanding look that stops her feeling personally criticised) then we can settle on a fixed sum."

if i emailed you a copy would you be able to suggest an amount. i really have no idea. you might as well as me how much it costst to tile a bathroom

well, that's my language combination too so I can give you some figures on that particular pair

when I started out I would work for any crappy angency(almost regardless of whether they would actually pay me or not ) and was on £0.025 per target word. This is considered an unethical and insultingly low rate (but it's hard to get started so I took whatever I could get).

I am now on £0.08 per target word, that is for clearly legible text, either a very good quality pdf or a Word document. Handwritten material or pdfs of crappy photocopies or scans cost more.

If you like you can email me the document and I'll give you an idea of a fair price.

CAT me for my email address.

Ernest I'd help if I could but am so out of the loop

Didn't someone mention proz.com? Had a quick look & found these:
This is for letters
:Job type: Translation/editing/proofing job
Languages: German to English
Honorar: 0,08 ? pro Wort.
Volume and pricing:
850 words
at 0.080 EUR per word [ TOTAL: 68.00 EUR

One for More technical language
6000 words
at 0.110 EUR per word [ TOTAL: 660.00 EUR

hth

or to make it easier, we're talking more than a side of A4, actually now they also want the intro, about 1.5 sides of A4. I think it's be easier to say by the piece as they're mostly similar lengths, rather than by the word

OMG! Based on that, it should be about (mytghical figures again) £400 but I'm getting more like 25!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I can't go to them and say, I know I said 25, but actually I want hundreds. I mean, while they're obviously happy, I guess there may be a price-quality ratio at play, tho I don't think so, cos they are actually making videos based on these translations, so if they sounded stupid or were just wrong they wouldn't be able to use them at all.

So, bearing in mind my neighbour's somehow involved and I don't want to look totally deranged, this is all done by email, so no nice smiles but I don't want to go from like 10p to £10 then stamp my feet for £100 without looking like a mad woman,

If I've agreed 25 & the fugure is more like 400, what would be fair to ask for?

Start by saying the first agreed price was not for translating but editing & proofreading. Then you suggested a slight increase once Herr X made it clear that it was translating. Apologise that you actually underpriced it which you appreciate was your mistake. Now there's also an intro & it is leider impossible for you to do the scripts with intro etc for less than ? 200.

Also the bit about you've checked the going rate, in future clarifying the Auftrag in advance. Blah standard translation practice.

They want you to do this as a service so be professionally polite but firm and don't do it for peanuts or You Will Seethe for Days and stress is not good for knitted babies. Don't feel you have to undersell yourself to avoid annoying your neighbour - isn't that a Swiss pastime anyway
If they're that desperate let them go to an agency.
Actually maybe you should check an online Swiss forum, may be larger discrepancies in pay.

Gosh you earn a lot in the UK, I earned about a quarter of that in Italy when I translated.
Ernest, you must ask for more as tidying up a badly translated text is often harder than translating from scratch as sometimes the wording is so bad you have no idea of what they wanted to say.
Also, I don't know what type of translation this is (technical, literary, advertising?) but it is often mind numbingly boring work that will take you longer than you expected, especially if you're not used to doing it much.

brangelina, you are totally right! When I got sent the english versions to correct they were laughably, bizzare and made no sense whatsoever, and in some cases, completely incorrect. I had to ask for the German originaly and do it from that as the english versions were too weird to make any sense of!

I've decided to just knock it on the head.

I'll complete these ones then that's it. You've made me see how laughably underpaid I am, and it's not worth the agro. And I'll have to sort out nat insurance blah blah blah otherwise it's dodgy and with me leaving the country it just makes it too complicated. I don't need the money or the hassle so I won't bother mentioning the money and I'll just leave it at these. Ta. you helped me decide that.

At work I just got a letter from German to English translated through an agency - it was about 2 sides of typed A4 and they charged £50 (must have taken them no more than an hour I suppose, although they did have to email some questions to understand the subject matter a bit better).

Think you're wise. These things always seem straightforward and end up being more trouble than they're worth.
Concentrate on knitting your baby

I'm knitting, I'm knitting