How much do you charge per word for translation?

Like most UK translation agencies, our rates are usually calculated based on a charge per thousand words, not by the individual word. For instance, for a French to English translation, our standard rates start at £99 + VAT per thousand words, which is 9.9 pence + VAT per word.

Discounted translation rates

Volume discounts and rebates can reduce the cost of a translation significantly. The best way to get an accurate idea of costs is to use our free instant translation quote calculator.

How translation prices are calculated

How are translation prices calculated? Other factors can affect the cost of translation assignments, including:

Language bands

Translation companies classify languages into different price bands, most using six bands with the cheapest language pairs such as French, Spanish, German, and Italian in band 1 with more esoteric and expensive languages such as Arabic and Japanese in band 6.

Quality of translation

As a translation company, we offer different levels of translation, which are appropriate for different uses.

At the high-end, we provide Business Critical Translations, which are the best possible quality translation available in the marketplace. In fact, they are such high quality that they were the first in the UK to be awarded the British Standard for translation service quality.

For everyday business applications, most people choose the mid-priced Standard Business Translations, which are great translations at a fair price.

Cost of translation

Price is always a major consideration when comparing translation rates, that is why our Budget Translations are perfect where cost is the main concern.

Budget translations are a low-cost solution designed to provide a cheap way of getting internal documents translated. Many companies use them as an alternative to machine translations which, although free, are notoriously unreliable and can produce terrible results.

Translation complexity

The price can depend on the complexity of the translation, as these can only be carried out by translators who know their language pairs inside-out and have deep expertise on the subject, as well as years of experience.

Some very complicated documents, such as legal contracts and highly technical reports, may attract a premium rate. However, the cost and reasons can always be discussed before accepting a quote.