Subtitling rate per minute (again I know…) Thread poster: Sara Lobasso
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Sara Lobasso
Italy
Local time: 14:17
English to Italian
+ ...
Hi! I recently graduated in translation and I’m starting to see if a carrier in subtitles translation could be good for me, so I started to apply for a number of position for my language pair [en-it] / [es-it].
For the first time I was asked my rate for the job (I’m a newbie in this matter so I read all the questions about this matter in the forum) and after 2 days of headache I decided that 5$ per minute was a good rate (maybe it isn’t at all but I tried I guess) and I have a... See more Hi! I recently graduated in translation and I’m starting to see if a carrier in subtitles translation could be good for me, so I started to apply for a number of position for my language pair [en-it] / [es-it].
For the first time I was asked my rate for the job (I’m a newbie in this matter so I read all the questions about this matter in the forum) and after 2 days of headache I decided that 5$ per minute was a good rate (maybe it isn’t at all but I tried I guess) and I have also included a 3$-per-minute-rate for QC.
The company said that they usually have a 4$ per minute for subtitling and 1$ for QC.
Now a doubt came to my mind: is it possible that the company is telling me this to lower my rate? Or simply they divided the 5$-rate into 4+1 and I have misinterpreted the thing?
Btw I still need to do the translation test so nothing is decided yet.
I hope someone can unravel this mystery for me.
Best,
Sara ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rita Pang 
Canada
Local time: 08:17
Member (2011)
Chinese to English
+ ...
Moderator of this forum
Some will tell you that $5 is a very low price for your language pair, while many working in MY language pairs will tell you that unfortunately for certain (very) saturated markets, you'll see rates as low as USD 1.6 or even USD 1 a minute.
I've also seen upwards of USD 15 a minute.
My suggestion to you is, the way I look at it, USD 5 isn't high at all, but I will still take on the customer purely as learning experience. Low prices aren't OK but sometimes that's what c... See more Some will tell you that $5 is a very low price for your language pair, while many working in MY language pairs will tell you that unfortunately for certain (very) saturated markets, you'll see rates as low as USD 1.6 or even USD 1 a minute.
I've also seen upwards of USD 15 a minute.
My suggestion to you is, the way I look at it, USD 5 isn't high at all, but I will still take on the customer purely as learning experience. Low prices aren't OK but sometimes that's what certain agencies go for. They deliberately offer lower prices and their clients are (in an ideal situation) know that they are paying to "get the gist" of the translated text, less so excellent quality.
This pricing issue is an ongoing debate in the industry, but as someone whose language pair still hasn't been packaged into degree programs in my country (Canada), the only way for me to get into the industry was to learn as I start work. I was not immune to low rates in the very beginning either. The important thing is to make sure you don't stay in that price range and set a goal for yourself. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kristopher Brame
United States
Local time: 08:17
Member (2018)
German to English
+ ...
| Don't let them beat you down on your price | Aug 5, 2022 |
Hi Sara,
I'm a subtitling specialist, and I almost only work on Audiovisual projects. Unfortunately, the average rates for subtitling are very bad. I've been very lucky to find enough clients who pay reasonable or nearly reasonable rates. Something people don't realize is that every video has a totally different amount of words.
I've collected tons of statistics from my projects on word counts in different types of videos. Since I often don't know the source word count,... See more Hi Sara,
I'm a subtitling specialist, and I almost only work on Audiovisual projects. Unfortunately, the average rates for subtitling are very bad. I've been very lucky to find enough clients who pay reasonable or nearly reasonable rates. Something people don't realize is that every video has a totally different amount of words.
I've collected tons of statistics from my projects on word counts in different types of videos. Since I often don't know the source word count, I've kept track of the *target* word count. So bear in mind that the rates in the following statistics are actually lower because you have to shorten so much in subtitling.
The per (target) word rate for $5 per minute are:
- Average movie/show: $0.083
- Movie/show where they talk very little: $0.125
- Movie/show where they talk a lot: $0.066
- Documentaries: $0.05
- Videos with non-stop talking (interview, webinar, presentation, podcast, etc.): $0.035
And then $4 per minute (same categories):
- $0.066
- $0.10
- $0.053
- $0.04
- $0.028
Ironically, the types of videos that require the most work often have the smallest budgets.
Obviously, the per word system isn't perfect. Some words a lot easier to translate than others, and I generally find that I translate AV content much more quickly than text. It's like my brain processes it more quickly aurally than visually. But those per word rates are good to keep in mind.
I can tell you that my colleagues and I in the English, French and German-speaking world charge way more than $5 per minute. For EN>IT, the average rates are lower, but you still could and should ask for more than $5 per minute. Unless you need to do a few jobs at that rate for experience.
And yes, they were definitely trying to lower your rate.
Hope that helps
Kris ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Chose your industry well | Aug 6, 2022 |
Hello Sara,
Subtitling has been my main activity since I started 7 years ago and, like Kristopher said, it's unfortunately a bracnh of translation that's severely underpaid. Translation in general is underpaid, mind you, but subtitling even more so. Especially movies, series and such. Ironically, the entertainment industry is where you'll find the toughest translations due to the higly creative content, but they're also the ones that pay the less. Your rate of 5$ per minute is fine,... See more Hello Sara,
Subtitling has been my main activity since I started 7 years ago and, like Kristopher said, it's unfortunately a bracnh of translation that's severely underpaid. Translation in general is underpaid, mind you, but subtitling even more so. Especially movies, series and such. Ironically, the entertainment industry is where you'll find the toughest translations due to the higly creative content, but they're also the ones that pay the less. Your rate of 5$ per minute is fine, it should actually be the bare minimum, but you'll often be asked to accept 3.5$ per minute or lower.
My advice would be to actually try and reach subtitling agencies catering to professional and business needs. They usually value quality a bit more and are willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, we won't see regulations or huge translator strikes to fix the issue anytime soon, so the usual route is to accept "reasonnably low" rates at first to gather experience then replace low-paying clients with better-paying ones. If you manage to find them, of course...
I know this is a bit of a bleak outlook, but that's the state of the translation industry right now. ▲ Collapse
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 14:17
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Sara Lobasso wrote:
Now a doubt came to my mind: is it possible that the company is telling me this to lower my rate? Or simply they divided the 5$-rate into 4+1 and I have misinterpreted the thing?
They're asking you to lower your rate.
| | | | Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 14:17
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
They are asking you to accept their rates. QC is a different job, it's when you check someone else's translation, and it's paid 1 dollar per minute of film, while the translation rate is 4 dollars per minute. When I started 5 years ago, I was offered the same rates by 2 or 3 agencies working for Netflix. I did a couple of episodes, but the deadlines were way too tight and the pay way too low for 10h work days!
If you stay away from big names, you can enjoy better rates and better wo... See more They are asking you to accept their rates. QC is a different job, it's when you check someone else's translation, and it's paid 1 dollar per minute of film, while the translation rate is 4 dollars per minute. When I started 5 years ago, I was offered the same rates by 2 or 3 agencies working for Netflix. I did a couple of episodes, but the deadlines were way too tight and the pay way too low for 10h work days!
If you stay away from big names, you can enjoy better rates and better working conditions. I'm currently working on a 15 min short film for 154 euro, and I have four days to complete it. A lot better than Netflix! But, in general, audiovisual translation is not well paid at all and some platforms that use machine translation pay as low as 1.5 euro/minute.
Good luck!
EDIT: I see in your profile that you like video games. I think that's a better industry than subtitling at the moment.
[Edited at 2022-08-07 14:45 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kristopher Brame
United States
Local time: 08:17
Member (2018)
German to English
+ ...
It really depends on the agency you do Netflix work through. A large portion of my work is for Netflix, and the agency I do this work through pays very well, and I know that this is not the only one. The deadline can still be quite tight though.
But then I've also received job offers from a few bad agencies looking to pay $4-4.5 per minute for template translations, which they claimed to be for Netflix. So I've never really understood how there could be such a big discrepancy betwee... See more It really depends on the agency you do Netflix work through. A large portion of my work is for Netflix, and the agency I do this work through pays very well, and I know that this is not the only one. The deadline can still be quite tight though.
But then I've also received job offers from a few bad agencies looking to pay $4-4.5 per minute for template translations, which they claimed to be for Netflix. So I've never really understood how there could be such a big discrepancy between what my agency pays and what these other agencies pay. Especially considering that Netflix supposedly has standard rates they pay for each language pair. I guess these low-paying agencies are keeping more for themselves... a lot more.
But yes, whatever you do in the translation industry, staying away from the big names is definitely good advice I have found a few good big agencies, but the small/medium agencies are the best. ▲ Collapse
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 08:17
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Elena Feriani wrote:
But, in general, audiovisual translation is not well paid at all and some platforms that use machine translation pay as low as 1.5 euro/minute.
To whom do these platforms pay 1.5 euro/minute？Do they pay the machine translation software owners 1.5 euro/minute just for using their software？Do they pay 1.5 euro/minute to a linguist who uses machine translation software to generate a translation output？
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Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 14:17
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
jyuan_us wrote:
To whom do these platforms pay 1.5 euro/minute？
Hi jyuan_us,
Sorry for the delay of my reply. I don't get forum notifications.
A French company has offered to pay me, a translator, this rate for MTPE. Their software transcribes the original sound and then translates it to subtitles in the target language. I was supposed to edit the machine translation of an automated transcription for EUR 1.5/minute.
I have been offered even lower fees (USD 1/minute) by Asian agencies.
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