Are you above average? How much can a freelance translator earn?
October 13, 2013
by Ofer Tirosh
There’s a pretty enormous gap between what’s normal and what’s possible. Per word translation rates in the US, for example, tend to fall between $0.10 and $0.20 - but some Spanish translators will work for as low as $0.02/word. Translations from the Mayan language Kichu, on the other hand, easily command 20 times that amount!
What does a per-word translation rate look like in the long run?
Depending on whom you ask, the median annual income for full-time translators in the US falls somewhere between $40,000 and $43,000. But this median represents a vast range of incomes, with outliers in the six-figure range. According to Indeed.com, the average pay in the US for a translator works out to $3,577 per month.
What makes the difference between an ordinary and extraordinary income?
Let’s consider the question of average and potential earnings mathematically. Most translators cover between 400-600 words per hour for a job of average difficulty. This works out to 2,000-3,000 words per day, or 400,000-600,000 words per year (with weekends and some vacation time). At $0.10 per word, a full-time annual income comes out to around $50,000.
Now consider another translator working at the same pace. They have a targeted specialization or work in a niche language and (this is key!) insist on the high value of their work. That translator could command up to $0.35/word. Without working overly long hours, and particularly if they know how to use computer assisted translation or speech recognition tools to increase their efficiency, they could make nearly $200,000 per year.
In the end, a high quality product justifies a high rate. Education, experience, efficiency, cost of living, and self-confidence should all factor into the value of your work. Don’t let stubborn clients bully you or ridiculously cheap competition intimidate you; self-deprecation is the freelancer’s most common (and most easily avoidable) mistake!
Did you ever feel like you are selling yourself short? Does cheap competition influence your rates? Share your views by leaving a comment below.
POST YOUR COMMENT
- Tommy
- This is purely speculative. Real life isn't that simple.
- 05-11-2013 Reply
- Lam
- I think if this calculation is based on full-time working, it may be a little inaccurate as it doesn't mean all the time (say 8 hours) will be spent on traslating but also on other administrative works. As for letting customer bullying ourselves, I think it is applaudable idea. I used to get $0.02 per word from a China agency for a semi-technical manual and turned it down right away. My reason for doing so is I dont want to spoil the industry when some agencies want to get the big best part of the cake at the expense of freelancers and other respectable agencies. Also, those agencies that don't value the quality and effort of their employees can't be trusted, who know if I even got paid after handing them my work. I think those who accept such offer would be the one who dont value their work or realize the importance of the effort or just in this for a quick profit.
- 05-11-2013 Reply
- Steve
- It would have been more enlightening to multiply unit rates for the dozen+ languages of the ATA rate survey by the corresponding daily outputs to calculate what pro translators actually make in annual income versus language. The widely quoted $43K per year is essentially the Spanish-English/French-English full time translator US annual salary figure per the ATA survey. The ATA survey ignores specialties, although it is widely known there can be about a 2 fold difference between unit rates for literary translation (bottom of the distribution) and technical-medical translation. Per the ATA survey, essentially nobody earns $0.35 per word for a significant amount of jobs, so the above calculation is rather silly and misleading.
- 05-11-2013 Reply
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
- Tommy - You are right, real life is never as simple as a 300 words article.
- 06-11-2013 Reply
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
- Lam - Thank you for sharing your experience! You also raised a good point - The amount of money a translator will make at the end of the month depends on the amount of hours he can/willing to put in. That, by the way, seems to me as one of the great advantages of freelance - being able to decide for yourself.
- 06-11-2013 Reply
- Gal (Tomedes Team)
- Steve - It can be interesting to relate to specific language pairs, we will definitely consider it for future posts. As you said, top notch specialty gives a great boost to one's rate and so the 0.35$ calculation purpose is to give some clue as for the amount of money that can be earned at the very top of the pyramid. Besides, you don't need a "significant amount of jobs" to earn a very decent salary when charging so much per word.
- 06-11-2013 Reply
Stay informed
Subscribe to receive all the latest updates from Tomedes.
