| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Pricing per line Thread poster: engrus
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engrus 
Local time: 02:58
English to Russian
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Dear Colleagues,
May be this topic has already been discussed before, but I cannot find the right link. My question concerns pricing per line. Everything is clear with pricing per target word: I am just counting them and applying my usual rates per word to have the price for the whole document. What should I do with lines? The lines differ: some are longer then others some consist of one word only. I am so confused
How should I count the lines to give the price for the ... See more Dear Colleagues,
May be this topic has already been discussed before, but I cannot find the right link. My question concerns pricing per line. Everything is clear with pricing per target word: I am just counting them and applying my usual rates per word to have the price for the whole document. What should I do with lines? The lines differ: some are longer then others some consist of one word only. I am so confused
How should I count the lines to give the price for the whole document?
Thank you for your help ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lydia Molea
Germany
Local time: 03:58
English to German
+ ...
1 line = 55 characters. I.e. you do a word count, take the number of characters (with spaces!) and divide it by 55, the result is the number of lines.
HTH
| | | | PatriziaM.
Italy
Local time: 03:58
English to Italian
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| And source word? | Jul 21, 2003 |
Lydia Molea-Lanier wrote:
1 line = 55 characters. HTH
I take advantage of this thread to make a similar question.
Which is the price ratio between target line (55 characters) and source word?
For instance, if you ask Eur 1/target line, what would be the equivalent amount based on source word?
Any information is welcome!
[Edited at 2003-07-21 13:54]
| | | | Doru Voin
Romania
Local time: 04:58
English to Romanian
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| source vs. target pricing | Jul 21, 2003 |
PatriziaM. wrote:
For istance, if you ask Eur 1/target line, what would be the equivalent amount based on source word?
Any information is welcome!
It depends on your source and target languages. 1 source word is not necesarily equal with 1 target word. Look for tables of equivalence between source and target languages.
So if you ask Eur 1/target line, this is the same as asking Eur 1 for 8 target words. Nothing on source words, yet.
Regards from Bucharest,
Doru Voin
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Sybille Brückner
Germany
Local time: 03:58
Member (2003)
English to German
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| Price per line | Jul 21, 2003 |
is counted in a Word document under "Extras"/"Wörter zählen"/"Zeichen (mit Leerzeichen". The amount of characters has to be divided by 55 (= the number of characters per line, which every agency will accept). Then you get the number of lines and have to multiply it with the price (e.g.
1 €/line).
If you don't use Word files, a counting programme like TextCount is helpful. Please contact me to get the address.
A line of 55 characters has about 7 words
(as an av... See more is counted in a Word document under "Extras"/"Wörter zählen"/"Zeichen (mit Leerzeichen". The amount of characters has to be divided by 55 (= the number of characters per line, which every agency will accept). Then you get the number of lines and have to multiply it with the price (e.g.
1 €/line).
If you don't use Word files, a counting programme like TextCount is helpful. Please contact me to get the address.
A line of 55 characters has about 7 words
(as an average)
I hope this will help you
Sybille ▲ Collapse
| | | | Сергей Лузан
Russian Federation
Local time: 05:58
German to Russian
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| What should I do with lines | Jul 21, 2003 |
[quote]engrus wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
What should I do with lines?
Ask the question in Russian as well. Sometimes it's 60 characters with spaces. It's surely German approach of pricing. I guess it used to be discussed in Russian, but only in general.
| | | | Marc P (X)
Local time: 03:58
German to English
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| Number of characters varies | Jul 21, 2003 |
In Germany, 55 characters per line is common, but 50 is sometimes also used, and anything inbetween (52, 52.5, 53), so clarify with your customer beforehand.
60 characters per line is common in Belgium.
Marc
| | | | | What about font size? | Jul 21, 2003 |
There is a problem with saying a line has about 55 characters. Formerly this worked well with typewriter text, but with word processing today, a font can be proportionally spaced and fit sometimes 25% more characters per line. I suggest that if you must give a price per line, you state the font that will be used in the final text which will be priced by the line. A Courrier font may be best because it is not proportionally spaced and will be the most consistent from one line to the next.
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Marc P (X)
Local time: 03:58
German to English
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| 55 big or little characters | Jul 21, 2003 |
Carolyn Denoncourt wrote:
There is a problem with saying a line has about 55 characters.
Here in Germany, a line of 55 characters does not have "about" 55 characters. It has exactly 55 characters. So if your text has, say, 11773 characters, it has 214 lines, regardless of how many "real" lines it has when you print it out. 55 characters are 55 characters, whether they are big or little ones.
Marc
| | | | Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 20:58
English to Spanish
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In memoriam
Don't work by lines; don't work by pages. Work by WORDS. If you have to give a quote from hard copy (paper) text it can become a bit cumbersome if the format is variable, but you can come up with some averages for words per line and then count words on pages.
With some practice you can get pretty good and fast also. But don't work by anything but WORDS. You set the standard, not them.
| | | | Pat Jenner (X)
Local time: 02:58
German to English
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| proviso for hard copy source text | Jul 22, 2003 |
Couldn't agree more with words rather than lines. However, an estimate of the word count based on hard copy is fine to give you a rough idea of how long it will take and the client of what the cost will be, but I think it is always better to use your electronic target text word count as the basis for charging. Use different source and target rates to reflect the fact that some languages are more verbose than others.
Henry Hinds wrote:
Don't work by lines; don't work by pages. Work by WORDS. If you have to give a quote from hard copy (paper) text it can become a bit cumbersome if the format is variable, but you can come up with some averages for words per line and then count words on pages.
With some practice you can get pretty good and fast also. But don't work by anything but WORDS. You set the standard, not them.
| | | | Ralf Lemster
Germany
Local time: 03:58
English to German
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| Market standard | Jul 22, 2003 |
Hi Henry,
But don't work by anything but WORDS. You set the standard, not them.
Not quite - quotation per line is an accepted standard in the German market. As Marc pointed out, "line" is just a measure of text volume, and has nothing to do with the actual number of printed lines.
Best regards, Ralf
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Marc P (X)
Local time: 03:58
German to English
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| Market standard | Jul 23, 2003 |
Ralf Lemster wrote:
Not quite - quotation per line is an accepted standard in the German market.
I suspect this is a common source of misunderstanding outside Germany.
There is a page on my website on the subject, in English and German:
http://www.marcprior.de/english/prices.html
http://www.marcprior.de/german/prices.html
This information is not very comprehensive, though. The subject is crying out for a "HowTo": a survey of the different pricing methods (there are several), which countries generally use which method, how to convert between differeng count systems (ever tried converting from "Pounds per thousand word source (UK)" to "Euros per 55 character target (Germany)?), etc.
Perhaps someone could volunteer to collect information on the subject in the forums, so as to cover as many countries as possible, and then write a HowTo? It would be nice if it were translated, too - it shouldn't be too hard to find volunteers for that.
Marc
| | | | Jan Neumann
Germany
Local time: 03:58
Member (2007)
English to German
| not characters - key strokes | Jul 23, 2003 |
For Germany, it's (generally) 55 key strokes, so you have to add the paragraphs too, otherwise you're undercharging. Sounds like penny-pinching, but over time it adds up
Jan
Sybille wrote:
is counted in a Word document under "Extras"/"Wörter zählen"/"Zeichen (mit Leerzeichen". The amount of characters has to be divided by 55 (= the number of characters per line, which every agency will accept). Then you get the number of lines and have to multiply it with the price (e.g.
1 €/line).
If you don't use Word files, a counting programme like TextCount is helpful. Please contact me to get the address.
A line of 55 characters has about 7 words
(as an average)
I hope this will help you
Sybille
| | | | Jirina Nevosadova
Czech Republic
Local time: 03:58
Member (2007)
English to Czech
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| Pricing per standard page | Jul 27, 2003 |
In my country (Czech Republic), pricing per standard page (1800strokes) (target language) is widely spread. This is quite comfortable. But there is a possible trap, too. Once I translated a book and the publishing house ment 1800 strokes WITHOUT SPACES, but I ment 1800 strokes WITH SPACES, of course.
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