Payment only for actual duration of subtitles? Thread poster: Ammar Naif
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Ammar Naif
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 17:00
English to Arabic
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A client of mine only pays me for the actual duration of subtitles, not the length of the video, so if it's a 10 minute video and the total duration of subtitles is only 5 minutes, they only pay for 5 minutes.
Is this a common thing or am I being exploited here?
| | | | | Payment subtitling | Jan 14, 2024 |
Hi Ammar this is normal. Agencies pay only for the actyal duration.
| | | | Ammar Naif
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 17:00
English to Arabic
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TOPIC STARTER
Elaine Bossoni wrote:
Hi Ammar this is normal. Agencies pay only for the actyal duration.
Hi
Ok thank you.
| | | | Kristopher Brame 
United States
Local time: 08:00
Member (2018)
German to English
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| Generally the length of the video | Jan 14, 2024 |
For the most part, you are paid by the length of the video unless there is so massive discrepancy between the video length and duration of subtitles.
So, for example, if the video is 40-minutes long, and there is a 20-second intro, a 20-second outro, and a 1-minute period of no talking somewhere in the middle, it is normal to just pay for 40 minutes. But if it is a 40-minute video, and there's just one 5-minute chunk that needs to be subtitled, it is normal to only be paid for 5 min... See more For the most part, you are paid by the length of the video unless there is so massive discrepancy between the video length and duration of subtitles.
So, for example, if the video is 40-minutes long, and there is a 20-second intro, a 20-second outro, and a 1-minute period of no talking somewhere in the middle, it is normal to just pay for 40 minutes. But if it is a 40-minute video, and there's just one 5-minute chunk that needs to be subtitled, it is normal to only be paid for 5 minutes.
In the example you gave, it would just be normal to pay for 5 minutes. ▲ Collapse
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Ammar Naif
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 17:00
English to Arabic
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TOPIC STARTER | So it depends on the project | Jan 14, 2024 |
Kristopher Brame wrote:
For the most part, you are paid by the length of the video unless there is so massive discrepancy between the video length and duration of subtitles.
So, for example, if the video is 40-minutes long, and there is a 20-second intro, a 20-second outro, and a 1-minute period of no talking somewhere in the middle, it is normal to just pay for 40 minutes. But if it is a 40-minute video, and there's just one 5-minute chunk that needs to be subtitled, it is normal to only be paid for 5 minutes.
In the example you gave, it would just be normal to pay for 5 minutes.
So it depends on the project, I see, thanks.
| | | | Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 14:00
German to English
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| Per minute pay yes, but... | Jan 15, 2024 |
You should also try and check the word count of the text in a video... Might be that they are fast speakers and your per minute rate does not reflect the time you spent for translating... It could well be that you end up translating up to 10k words for a documentary. I had it in the past and the translation rate was extremely low then... But your client should be up to it and acknowledge your additional work. Good clients accept a higher rate then.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 14:00
French to English
If you have to watch the entire 40 minutes when there's only 20 minutes' worth of speech to work on, it's a bit of a cheek to only pay you for the 20 minutes of speech. I mean, you still end up watching it all, right?
I hardly ever do sub-titling any more. I insist on being paid per hour I spend working, because of stupid stuff like this, and because a per-word rate is not fair when you might have to spend more time on it because of poor sound quality, or because someone is speaking... See more If you have to watch the entire 40 minutes when there's only 20 minutes' worth of speech to work on, it's a bit of a cheek to only pay you for the 20 minutes of speech. I mean, you still end up watching it all, right?
I hardly ever do sub-titling any more. I insist on being paid per hour I spend working, because of stupid stuff like this, and because a per-word rate is not fair when you might have to spend more time on it because of poor sound quality, or because someone is speaking with a weird accent, or the person who transcribed the text did a poor job. ▲ Collapse
| | | | David Fleming
Local time: 07:00
Member (2023)
Japanese to English
Elaine Bossoni wrote:
Hi Ammar this is normal. Agencies pay only for the actyal duration.
It's certainly not normal for me. In 27 years of translation for subtitling, I've only ever been paid for the runtime of the video, never the cumulative duration of the subtitles produced.
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Ammar Naif
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 17:00
English to Arabic
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TOPIC STARTER | What about when there's barely any speech? | Jan 19, 2024 |
David Fleming wrote:
Elaine Bossoni wrote:
Hi Ammar this is normal. Agencies pay only for the actyal duration.
It's certainly not normal for me. In 27 years of translation for subtitling, I've only ever been paid for the runtime of the video, never the cumulative duration of the subtitles produced.
What if it's like an hour long interview with 2 languages spoken in it, and the total subtitles duration for the language you're translating for ends up only like 10-20 minutes? Should you still demand to be paid for the entire hour?
| | | | Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 14:00
German to English
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| 2 languages in one motion picture... | Jan 19, 2024 |
I would not touch it if I do not understand the two languages involved... How can you know what your language part is about? You may end up confusing the context.
| | | | Ammar Naif
United Arab Emirates
Local time: 17:00
English to Arabic
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TOPIC STARTER | Both languages are understandable | Jan 20, 2024 |
Arne Krueger wrote:
I would not touch it if I do not understand the two languages involved... How can you know what your language part is about? You may end up confusing the context.
I can understand both languages, but the client only needs subtitles for one language.
| | | | | Ask them to send just your part | Jan 20, 2024 |
Ammar Naif wrote:
What if it's like an hour long interview with 2 languages spoken in it, and the total subtitles duration for the language you're translating for ends up only like 10-20 minutes? Should you still demand to be paid for the entire hour?
If you have to watch the entire hour, you should definitely be compensated for your time. Otherwise they can just crop out the 10-20 minutes relevant to the project and send just that to you. But most likely they won't agree to that because the other 40-50 minutes is important for context. You should try and work out an arrangement so you're at least paid per the hour for such sections.
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Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 14:00
German to English
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I don't know... It's just 10 minutes and you are responsible for "only" 5 minutes... 5 minutes, what is this? Maybe 500 to 1000 words maximum, if they speak all the time. So many unknowns here... We just don't know what it is about. It doesn't take that long to do 5 minutes of subtitling... Is there a template for it or do you have to create it from scratch?
Otherwise, suggest them a flat rate... But the rate is up to you. ^^ You didn't ask what they want to pay you?
[Bearbei... See more I don't know... It's just 10 minutes and you are responsible for "only" 5 minutes... 5 minutes, what is this? Maybe 500 to 1000 words maximum, if they speak all the time. So many unknowns here... We just don't know what it is about. It doesn't take that long to do 5 minutes of subtitling... Is there a template for it or do you have to create it from scratch?
Otherwise, suggest them a flat rate... But the rate is up to you. ^^ You didn't ask what they want to pay you?
[Bearbeitet am 2024-01-20 21:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Arne Krueger
Germany
Local time: 14:00
German to English
+ ...
| I misunderstood... :) | Jan 20, 2024 |
Oh, we are talking about an hour now, right. Well, a combination of subtitle run time, flat rate for the time you spend watching the other part, and word count... If you do it regularly, you develop a feeling for how long it takes and what you can ask for... Difficult to give you a precise advice, I'm afraid.
[Bearbeitet am 2024-01-20 22:15 GMT]
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