Guide to Certified Translation Prices

How to save money and get the most benefits when buying professional translation services

When people talk about translation prices, everyone understands that the cost of translating a postcard will be a lot different from the cost of translating a book. But what about the price of translating one page? Not everyone knows that the actual per-page prices of authentic, quality professional translations also vary considerably, running as low as $5 and as high as $80 per page. That, however, is hardly surprising, as the costs of creating first-rate certified translation are naturally very variable too. Here is why.

When buying translation, we are paying for the quality

We price-shop for goods and quality-shop for services. That is because the goods—cars, TVs, gas, apples and oranges, especially when we are shopping for a specific brand, model, or kind—remain essentially the same regardless of where we buy them. With services, on the other hand, we tend to look primarily at the quality (and sometimes convenience). That is because services vary considerably and our satisfaction with them depends largely on their quality. Services tend to have very real and often immediate effect on our wellbeing, health, mood, appearance, and quality of life. Moreover, very often, services of comparable quality end up costing approximately the same anyway. So, when we need medical help, education, legal counsel, catering, or plumbing we choose service providers based primarily on the quality of their service.

The same quality-driven choice applies to translation services. Translation is about conveying the meanings. Quality translation does not just substitute words from one language for those of another. It communicates the meaning of the original foreign text as terminologically precisely, syntactically accurately, and stylistically truthfully as technically possible. Professional translators rely on their years of studying and practicing the syntax, morphology, orthography, semantics, terminology, and phonology to reproduce the intricate reality of one language in the terms of another. That is because, in the field of certified translation, legal translation in particular, even the slightest shift of meaning in the translated document can have far-reaching consequences. For example, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have been known to issue Requests for Evidence, transfer cases to the Immigration Court, and deny petitions because of inaccurate, imprecise, or unclear translations that miscommunicated the supporting documentation’s details, facts, or circumstances.

What really affects the cost of translation

So, in translation, quality is of paramount importance. And it is a simple matter of fact that earnest application of all the tools, methods and benchmarks of quality translation to different kinds of pages by professionally trained translators requires different amount of time, effort, and expertise. That is why professionals in the field estimate each job individually, paying close attention to the substance of the work at hand. In practice, the costs of professional human translation vary depending on:

Size and number of documents

Higher volume results in lower cost per page.

Complexity of the content

Some subjects and particularities of the source document may require additional research, abbreviation lookups, or ascertaining of the terms’ context.

Format

Replicating typographically produced tables, nested elements, and elaborate layouts can sometimes take as much work as the text translation itself.

Legibility of the original document

Text files, legible hard copies, handheld photographs, old letters and certificates, blurry scans, facsimile copies, or indistinct handwritten documents require very different time commitments.

Software tools needed to create the final translation

Certain elements in the documents may necessitate the use of graphics software.

Urgency

While the effective translation agency will offer quick turnaround on most jobs at no additional cost, extra-urgent orders may require overtime payment to the translators or special priority handling that are compensated by the rush rates.

Note that these factors do not matter as much when the machine translation is used in place of human translation and thus no care is given to detail, validity, contextual nuance, soundness, format, and actual meaning of the document. Therefore, the translation can be offered at a fixed price per page. The problem, of course, is that the machine translation is inadequate for anything other than simple phrases, and using it for complex subjects is like trying to build a laptop with a sledgehammer. Which brings us to…

Four red flags to look out for when buying certified translation

Red flag #1: Fixed-rate price per page

If you see someone advertising a fixed-rate price per page, don’t just walk, run away! As if compromising the validity and, therefore, the very purpose of translated documents isn’t by itself a bad enough offence, selling fixed-price machine translation under the guise of professional human translation is taken to even more odious extreme by the outfits that employ “translators” working with language pairs (!) in which they speak none of the two languages. Often, these operations are based in certain South Asian countries, but recently they have been popping up in the US, Northern Africa and Europe. Do you need French text translated into Ukrainian, Uzbek to Finnish, Latvian into Japanese? They can do it all, ‘Dear Sir or Madam,’ and price dumping is commonplace. One of our colleagues from a reputable agency recently observed that she would not be surprised if those operations started accepting Best Buy gift cards as a form of payment, similar to the fake “IRS” phone scams. 

Red flag #2: Reinventing the page

Another frowned upon but very common tactic among high-volume translation agencies is what we call “reinventing the page.” This tactic, not unlike bait-and-switch, involves using small print to modify the advertising message. The website would claim a fixed low price per page that seems too good to be true. Well, because it is not. Small print somewhere below the bold price will insert a shifty qualifier: “Up to X words per page.” We have seen the maximums of 150, 200, and 250 words. The problem is that a full page of a legal contract is around 550 words. Therefore, when the time comes to pay for your translation, your one physical page will cost you 2x-4x the advertised per-page rate. How’s that for truth in advertising? “You can buy a $40k car for $20k… We define a car as a ‘thing’ with up to 1.5 wheels.”

Red flag #3: Unqualified turnaround guarantee

Yet another dubious claim that should raise a red flag is the ostensive 24-hour turnaround guarantee plastered everywhere on the agency’s website. Suppose you have a 150-page industrial manual that you submit to this agency first thing in the morning. Given that most professionals translate on average 10-15 pages of technical text per day, this agency would need to form a team of at least ten translators with specialization and experience in the particular subject matter (all ten of whom just so happen to have no other work to do at this time), read the entire document and create a shared glossary, communicate the rules, perform individual translations, deliver them to the project manager who would compile them into a single document, submit the document to the editor, proofread and edit it for substantive meaning, style, typos, vocabulary, and lexical errors, format the document to replicate the original’s layout, tables, flow and font, and then deliver the product to you by the next morning.  Let’s hope you do not have an imminent deadline, because the above is not going to happen.

Red flag #4: “USCIS Certified Translations”

It says so in the Google search results, and the same claim is in the title of the website’s landing page. The problem? There is no such thing. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) does not certify translations, never did, never will. Do you want to entrust your documents to someone who starts their interaction with you with a blatant lie?

Real-world cautionary story

Often, volume-chasing translation companies combine the misguiding price, turnaround and standards claims. Not surprisingly, the unsuspecting customers end up feeling cheated thrice. Here are some actual experiences communicated to the Better Business Bureau by people who fell victim to one of such companies’ too-good-to-be-true advertising:

- No stars to this company they scam people giving one price for the translation and then after getting your credit card the say they miscount the words and charge you double to do the work.

- [The company] made several mistakes on supporting documents for my I-130 submission that the USCIS kicked back to me (after 10 months of waiting) and gave me a short window of time to get them corrected and resubmitted. It would be my "last chance" to submit correct translations to USCIS. Because of the volume of errors, I could not take the chance to have [them] attempt to correct their mistakes, be wrong again and risk my only opportunity to resubmit. I would have had to go through whole process again, pay the USCIS fees and wait several more months. So I had to go to a bilingual immigration attorney, pay $1,556 to get it resolved and resubmitted. [The company] refused to refund my money ($274.45).

- I submitted my request to translate a doctor assessment from a neurologist. I relied on many positive reviews listed on their website. None of this ended [up] being true. When I received the translated copy certified and nicely packaged, I noticed a lot of odd and uncommonly used words and grammar issues. The document simply did not sound right. I discovered that they literally copy-pasted the text from Google translator, with incorrect grammar structure, and wrong word choice (outpatient client vs. polyclinic)… At the end, they wasted two days to ultimately admit that the whole translation was wrong and a copy-paste from Google translator. They also admitted that they apparently do not have expertise to translate these kinds of documents. No remedy was provided except the refund. I wasted days trying to get my translation done. [review abridged]¹

The independent watchdog body Translation Report has tested that particular company’s claims by ordering some birth certificates, travel documents, and travel visas to be translated for travelers moving to the United States. The result was consistent with the BBB reviews. Says Translation Report:

So, given the very negative customer feedback, why do these high-volume companies adopt such a dicey business model? The answer comes down to basic economics. When there is a sizeable demand for unreasonably cheap service, there will be a supply of it. Notice how all of the Pros above are concentrated on making it fast and easy to part people with their money, while all Cons pertain to actual service. When people are willing to risk their legal status, health, educational prospects and other important aspects of their lives—just to save a couple of dollars, there will be “businessmen” willing to jeopardize their own reputation to take advantage of the demand. The idea is that, if they have high enough volume, there will be enough buyers who will not notice the butchered quality or the lapses in promises. Besides, there is practically no resulting penalty. As the Translation Report recounted:

Unfortunately, we were not able to get much in the way of an explanation or apology for the errors or the late delivery. We certainly were not offered a refund or other type of reimbursement.

“My uncle has a neighbor who is a friend of a friend whose aunt’s brother will translate for peanuts.”

The “anyone can do this” impression is akin to swapping a microscope for reversed binoculars—all of a sudden, the nuanced subject becomes a simple dot. Sure, we all can get out a splinter at home, learn a lesson on our own, comprehend basic laws, and sometimes even fix a leaking faucet. But does it mean that we are all doctors, educators, attorneys, or plumbers? Of course, not!

Professional translators receive academic and practical training in a range of subjects required in their full-time work. In fact, their skill lies primarily in the ability to convey by means of another language all those nuances, semantic shades, style and terminology of the source text that were put into it by the authors, who in turn are themselves highly educated professionals in specialized fields of jurisprudence, science, technology, finance, marketing, medicine, education, taxation, etc.

By contrast, bilingualism is the ability to communicate well in two languages. This ability is not at all the same as the ability to accurately and correctly translate legally binding facts and technical information from one language to another—especially in writing. Unfortunately, many people, especially those who do not speak the language, but who are acquainted with a bilingual person, overestimate their ability in the formal translation.

Quality takes time. Time is not free. Free is not quality

Time is a non-renewable, and therefore, very valuable resource. Think about what you do for a living. It doesn’t matter if your job is manual or intellectual, whether you are a construction worker or an attorney. Would you charge the same price for the different amounts of your time and effort? Would you charge the same for a complex job requiring years of your training and expertise as the amateur charges for a much simpler job? Granted, such situations can transpire on occasion, but they are the exceptions that only serve to uphold the rule: professional work comes with professional pay.

Let’s approach the issue of professional translators’ remuneration realistically. How many pages can a translator—a professional with a higher education degree—translate in an hour? Per month? How long will it take to format the text to match the original? How long will it take to verify technical terms, legal, administrative, and geographic names, decipher obscure acronyms, and search for information about people, locales, technologies, and events to provide necessary context for the translated document? How much is needed to maintain the translation business to which the client can turn at the client’s convenience, and not when a friend has time? A friend might be willing to unclog your toilet for free or for a bottle of a cold refreshing beverage, but would a professional plumber be in the position to do the same? (In case you wonder, plumber’s rates in the U.S. average $70 to $120 per hour before trip fees and materials, or $175 to $450 for a typical job, according to the recent HomeAdvisor survey). And most importantly, how much do you value your own time, peace of mind, and the confidence that the translation of your documents will not create delays or problems in your business or personal, legal, medical, or educational matters?

Translation rates can sometimes vary due to the material quantifiable elements of professional work that we discussed earlier, but rates below a certain level are a dead giveaway that those elements were not factored into either the price or the work itself. Someone who charges less for their work than a Girl Scout for lemonade is unlikely to have the necessary professional training or a grasp of methodology needed to produce translations that meet the quality standards required by official institutions and government agencies.

The One tip for translation shopping

With most jobs out there, likely yours included, the quality of work depends on the qualifications, diligence, experience, time commitment, tools, and proper planning. When these variables change, so does the cost of the product or service. The professional translators’ work is no different. With this in mind, the final advice that we can give to someone shopping for translation services is to approach it as if you were buying your own work: would you look to pay for the expertise or an arbitrary lowball dollar number?

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