How much should translation cost?
We won’t give specific prices, as these are negotiable with each supplier depending on factors such as language pair, experience, and geographical location. What you should keep in mind, however, is that quality translation is a professional endeavor that requires considerable skill. It is not simply a clerical task that can be done by any bilingual person. Translation is typically billed by the word. When comparing prices, be sure to ask whether the rate is based on the source word count or the translated word count. Both are legitimate bases for billing, but for some languages the difference in word count between source and translation can be considerable, and must be taken into account when comparing.
