A translation agency generally invoices their work according to a rate per word. This rate is then multiplied by the number of words contained in the source text to obtain the total price. This is the standard among translation agencies. Why do they bill a rate per word? Because the word count is a figure that’s relatively easy to obtain and that’s known in advance by both the client and the translator, so there are no surprises! But how does a translation service calculate the word count?
The simple cases
If you only have one document to be translated, the translation agency can often obtain the word count directly from the program used to create the text or with a simple operation. Here are the steps to follow for several common formats:
Word: Just click the “Review” tab, then “Statistics.” The word count also appears in the bottom left corner of the window when the document is open.
PowerPoint: Click the “File” tab, then “Properties,” then “Advanced Properties.” In the small pop-up window that displays, click the “Statistics” tab to find the word count.
Excel: Select all the content from each tab, then copy it into Word to obtain the word count.
HTML: Select all the text in a web browser (without the tags, since they aren’t translated), then copy and paste it into Word to determine the word count.
PDF: If the file was created in PDF (and not scanned from a paper document), it’s relatively easy to convert it from PDF format to Word format to obtain the word count.
The complex cases
Documents containing text boxes, non-modifiable images, objects inserted from another program, etc.: It’s quite possible that your software doesn’t take these elements into account when calculating the number of words. However, they must be counted if they have to be translated. In this case, your translation agency can help you determine the actual word count.
Projects containing several files in different formats: The translation agency can use computer-assisted translation programs, called translation memories, which speed up the analysis of the texts to be translated. There’s also software designed specifically for counting words that can help the translation agency.
Scanned texts: The translation agency must use another method of calculation if the text can’t easily be converted into a manipulable format (for example, a scan of a poor-quality photocopy). For example, the translation agency may offer to bill by the hour and give you an estimate indicating the expected number of hours.
Don’t hesitate to ask our translation service for a quote if you’re unsure of the number of words contained in the files to be translated and you want to obtain an estimate. (We know how to count words!)
SLRR Translation Agency
