Learning how to translate a document from English to German can be a lengthy process, especially if you aren’t fluent in German. This is why we recommend you hire a freelance English to German translator from Guru! In this post, we’ll walk you through how to budget for a translation specialist to support your business’ needs.
What Is the Average English to German Translation Rate?
Translators commonly charge either by hour or by word. As of 2023, the average English to German translation rate is between $0.08 and $0.11 per word, or $26 to $35 per hour.
For example, if you’re getting a 1,000-word document translated, you should expect to pay $80 to $110 if you’re using the pay-per-word model. The same document will cost you $91 to $122.5 if you’re paying by the hour. Note that a professional translator translates about 300 words per hour on average. So, a 1,000-word document means they’ll need three to 3.5 hours to complete the project.
Remember, this is just the average rate, and there is plenty of variation among freelance translators.
What Factors Influence Translation Rates?
There are five main factors that influence English to German translation rates. These include project length, project complexity, urgency, and the translator’s experience and location.
Project Length
Long documents or extensive content will increase the cost of translation. To understand what ‘long’ or ‘extensive’ content means in the translation world, let’s explore the term ‘standard page.’
A standard page contains 1,800 characters, or 200 to 250 words. An experienced translator can translate about eight to ten standard pages per day, which is a total of 1,600 to 2,000 words.
If you ask a translator to translate 5,000 or 10,000 words, your project is lengthy and they will charge more than the average rate if you demand such a long document in three to seven days.
Project Complexity
There are five types of English to German translation services. These include:
- General translation (e.g. travel brochure and email correspondence)
- Technical translation (e.g. user manuals)
- Legal translation (e.g. court documents)
- Medical translation (e.g. pharmaceutical labels)
- Marketing translation (e.g. website content and advertising campaign)
Among these, the rates for general and marketing translations are much lower than those for technical, legal, and medical translations. This is because those niche industries demand specialized vocabulary, understanding of terminologies, and domain knowledge.
You can still save a little here and there if you need complex content translated. Here’s how:
- Choose a translator with domain knowledge to ensure accuracy and save on revision costs.
- Instead of hiring an expert with more than ten years of experience, hire a novice freelancer, providing step-by-step instructions and source materials. It will take some time and research on your end but cost-efficient.
Urgency
Last-minute requests are costly. If you have a tight deadline, expect to pay more for expedited services. We recommend planning ahead to avoid rush fees and ensure your translator has ample time for quality work.
Translator’s Experience and Expertise
Like every other field, years of experience are directly proportional to rates. A beginner English to German translator will charge you way lower than what an expert will.
It is worth noting that seasoned professionals also guarantee higher-quality results, while inexperienced translators can be risky. If you’ve got room for revisions (both in terms of time and money), hire a newbie freelancer. If you need high-quality work on a tight deadline, it’s best to entrust someone with plenty of experience.
Translator’s Geographic Location
Last but not the least, the location of a translator also impacts their pricing. For example, $100 can cover a month’s worth of transportation expenses in Pakistan, but it would cover only a week’s worth of gasoline expenses for a typical car owner in the United States.
For the best freelance translator–no matter your budget–Guru has your back. Browse our wide selection of experienced, reliable translators, or post your free job listing today.
