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Pricing of services

If you'd like to know how much a translation done by ATS will cost, please send us an e-mail or write to us, enclosing the document you'd like translating, ideally in an editable electronic form. The types of files we can process are listed here.

To get in touch with us, just click here.

If you just need a rough idea of how much your translation is going to cost, ask us for an estimate.

If you'd prefer to know the price quickly or your purchasing department needs some hard figures before you can place your order, we can make you a binding quotation, which will fix the cost of the translation before the project has actually started. This will be based on the length of the source file plus or minus a certain amount to account for the usual "growth" or "shrinkage" of the text in the target language.

In general, our invoices reflect the actual length of the translation. Being a German company, we charge customers in a customary German way, i.e. per line rather than per word, with a line consisting of 55 keystrokes, which includes spacing and punctuation.

Binding quotations are generally estimates of the cost of the translation. In other words, we estimate the length that the translation is likely to be, which is done using factors determined from our past experience of handling different types of texts in various languages.

In contrast, the cost of editing is based on the actual amount of time required for the task. This is why we don't usually make binding quotes for this service, but estimates.
How much time we're likely to need to edit a text largely depends on how well (or badly!) the source text is written in the first place. It also depends on the complexity of the text (you can check a commercial letter much faster than an academic article or a legal contract) and on its purpose and readership.

In the case of software localisation, we invoice the number of words in the source text, i.e. the original files. If any graphics need to be localised (i.e. they contain words in the source language), we will charge you for this service on an hourly basis.

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Factors that affect prices

The rates we charge for translations vary due to a number of factors: the source and target languages, the type of text to be translated, the rate of sentence repetition (in technical texts, in particular) and how quickly you require your translation doing.

  • Target languages
    English translations of German texts and vice versa are favourably priced, whereas Scandinavian translations, for example, are relatively costly.

    This is mainly due to supply and demand in the countries where our translators live and work.

  • Types of texts
    Translations of contracts or patents are more expensive to translate than commercial letters or marketing texts.

    The cost partly depends on the complexity of the language used in a source text and partly on the degree of specialisation and expertise needed to produce an accurate translation.

(cont'd in the right-hand column ...)

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Further information

» Price factors

» Ensuring high quality

» Editing texts

» How to get in touch with us

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  • Repetitions in texts
    If a technical document such as an instruction manual or a help file for a program contains a considerable amount of sentence repetition, we may be able to charge you a lower rate for translating the identical sentences (see below for more details).

    If we use certain software tools (called "CAT tools") to process the source document, then we can reproduce identical sentences automatically with them. This saves us time during the translation process, and we can pass this benefit on to the customer by lowering the rate paid for such identical sentences, providing they match the context each time.

    NB  This is only possible if the source document is suitable for CAT processing and we employ a translator for the assignment who owns a software licence for such a program. (Not every translator does.)

  • We frequently charge a surcharge for rush jobs. This is because the whole translation process has to be speeded up and compacted. The extra charge makes up for longer working hours and shortened weekends or holidays a little, like being paid for doing overtime.

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Saving money

You can save money on translations and editing if you bear these points in mind:

  • (a) you're investing your money, not wasting it!

    By getting ATS to translate a document for you, you'll be investing your money rather than throwing it out of the window! You'll get a high-quality translation first time round, not a poor one that needs to be edited or even re-done by someone else at extra cost (not to mention the loss of time). We believe in giving you value for money.

  • (b) high-quality texts are easier to edit/translate

    Editing assignments can be done more quickly if the quality of the text is good in the first place; a poorly written text will take a lot of correcting and therefore be relatively costly. Remember to run a spelling check on your text before submitting it to us.

    If you aren't used to writing in English or don't speak or write it very fluently, then it might be an idea to get us to translate the text for you in the first place instead of asking us to edit your own translation.

  • (c) discount for prompt payment

    We normally offer corporate customers 2% discount on payment within 7 or 10 days of receiving our bills, depending on the payment conditions we agree on. So you can save money by paying us quickly (which is only fair anyway).

  • (d) regular custom

    Regular customers are granted more flexible terms of payment than occasional clients.

  • (e) repetition in texts

    As we have noted above, long texts like instruction manuals or help files for computer programs often contain a lot of repetition. In some cases, we can employ special software tools to speed up the translation process by automatically inserting translations of identical sentences throughout your document.

    If we can process your documents this way, we can offer you special low rates for repetitions, which reduces the overall cost for you.

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Why not give us a call?

Get in touch and ask us how much your translation project is likely to cost. We'll name you a fair price for our services.



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