The translation industry runs on per-word pricing the way trucking runs on per-mile pricing. It works most of the time and breaks at the edges. The quote that protects your margin uses the right model for the right content, and explicitly handles the edges everyone else hopes won’t come up.
Translators who quote everything per word eventually end up doing $80 worth of work for $14 because the source word count was misleading. The model has to fit the content. The worst job I ever took was an 800-word “marketing tagline” project at $0.18/word that turned into eleven rounds of transcreation over three weeks. Per-hour from the start would have been four times the fee.
When per-word pricing works
Per-word pricing is the right answer for most document translation. The work scales linearly with source words. The pricing is easy for both sides to verify.
Typical per-word rates by content type:
| Content | Per source word (USD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General business documents | $0.10 to $0.14 | Standard fare |
| Marketing copy (translation only) | $0.14 to $0.20 | Higher craft requirement |
| Legal contracts | $0.18 to $0.30 | Terminology + liability premium |
| Medical/pharma | $0.18 to $0.35 | Regulatory + specialization |
| Technical (software, engineering) | $0.12 to $0.22 | CAT-tool-friendly often discounted |
| Patents | $0.20 to $0.40 | Highly specialized |
Common-pair rates (English to/from Spanish, French, German) sit at the lower end. Rare-pair rates (English to/from Japanese, Arabic, Korean) sit higher. Your specialization and certifications shift you within the range.
When per-hour pricing works
Per-word pricing breaks down when the work isn’t really translation. Examples:
- Transcreation (marketing copy that has to land emotionally in the target language)
- Editing or proofreading of someone else’s translation
- Subtitling and voiceover script timing
- Glossary or style guide creation
- Project management for multi-translator jobs
These all scale with brain time, not word count. Charge $40 to $120 per hour, with a 1-hour minimum.
When per-project pricing works
Per-project pricing fits when:
- The scope is well-defined and repeats (e.g., monthly newsletter translation)
- The client wants budget certainty
- You’re working with a long-term client and you know the time it takes
- Localization projects with discrete deliverables (a website, an app, a course)
A translation services quote for a project-priced engagement looks more like a regular consulting proposal. State deliverables, timeline, milestone payments. The number is the number.
The mandatory line items
Regardless of model, every translation services quote should include:
- Source language and target language(s)
- Content type and subject domain
- Source word count (and how it was counted, Word, Trados, etc.)
- Pricing model and rate
- Total quoted amount
- Turnaround in business days, with start date
- File formats accepted and delivered (.docx, .pdf, .xliff, .srt, etc.)
- What’s included (translation, self-review, basic formatting)
- What’s NOT included (third-party proofreading, DTP, certification, voiceover)
- Revision policy
- Rush fee schedule
- Minimum project fee
- Payment terms
- Confidentiality clause
Twelve or thirteen lines. Most translators skip half of them and pay for it later.
The “not included” section that prevents disputes
Specifically list:
- Desktop publishing (DTP), rebuilding the document layout after translation
- Certified or notarized translation, additional fees and turnaround
- Sworn translation for legal proceedings
- Voiceover recording or video subtitling integration
- Glossary creation (separate hourly project)
- Source text editing or rewriting before translation
- Translation memory tool licensing for the client
When a client sends you a 40-page InDesign file with embedded graphics, “translation” doesn’t include rebuilding the layout. Say so before the project starts.
Turnaround and rush
Standard daily output:
- 1,500 to 2,000 source words per business day, base rate
- 2,500 to 3,500 source words per business day, +50% rush
- 4,000+ source words per business day or weekend work, +100% emergency
Below 500 words, same-day delivery is sometimes possible at the +50% rate. Below 200 words, the minimum project fee usually beats word-count pricing anyway.
Minimum project fee
State it plainly:
Projects under $75 USD are billed at the minimum project fee of $75. The minimum covers project setup, communication, file handling, and invoicing.
This isn’t greedy. The 20 minutes you spend on the email exchange, file download, translation, and invoicing for a 75-word job easily exceed what $11.25 buys.
Localization deserves its own quote structure
For localization (not just translation), the quote should include:
- Translation per word at base or specialized rate
- Cultural adaptation review (per hour or per project)
- In-market native speaker review
- Glossary and translation memory management
- Locale-specific testing on the rendered product (website, app, packaging)
- Project management at 10% to 15% of project total
- Iteration rounds after in-context QA
A localization quote for a 12,000-word website might look like:
| Line | Cost |
|---|---|
| Translation (12,000 words @ $0.16) | $1,920 |
| Cultural adaptation review (8 hrs @ $90) | $720 |
| Native speaker in-market review (6 hrs @ $80) | $480 |
| Glossary creation and TM management | $400 |
| In-context QA on staging (4 hrs @ $90) | $360 |
| Project management (12% of subtotal) | $466 |
| Total | $4,346 |
Per-word “translation” pricing would have come in at $1,920 and you’d have done $2,400 worth of uncompensated work.
Payment terms
- Projects under $500: 100% on delivery
- Projects $500 to $5,000: 50% on signing, 50% on delivery
- Projects above $5,000: 33% on signing, 33% at midpoint deliverable, 34% on completion
- Repeat clients: monthly net-15 invoicing acceptable
- New clients in regulated industries (legal, medical, pharma): 50% upfront, no exceptions
Specify currency. Specify accepted payment methods. Add a late fee clause (1.5% per month is common) so you have something to point to when invoices age out.
Confidentiality and IP
A short paragraph:
All source materials, translated content, and project communications are treated as confidential. Translator may sign client’s NDA on request. Translation memory and glossary built during the project belong to the client; translator may retain anonymized terminology for personal reference unless otherwise specified.
That handles 95% of the IP questions clients ask.
Send the translation services quote within 24 hours
For most translation work, the client has emailed 3 to 6 translators. The first responsive quote with a real number and a realistic turnaround usually wins.
Use a tracked quote so you know when the client opened it, how long they spent comparing your turnaround against your rate, and whether they shared it internally. A client who forwarded the quote to procurement will come back with a counter. One who closed it after 18 seconds went with someone else. Follow-up timed to real signals beats follow-up timed to a calendar reminder, every time.
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