Rates for translation of an online game Thread poster: Helena Stanek-Neuwirth
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Hello!
Did somebody of you translate an online game? What are the rates for such an translation?
I have an offer to translate an online game from chinese to german, and I was asked about my prices for such an project. My rate is still very low, I have to admit (o.05 Euro per word), as I am still a beginner. The agency asked me, what my rates for an online game are... So I suppose it is not usual to offer a rate per word for an online game? I have no idea. I would be grateful for sugg... See more Hello!
Did somebody of you translate an online game? What are the rates for such an translation?
I have an offer to translate an online game from chinese to german, and I was asked about my prices for such an project. My rate is still very low, I have to admit (o.05 Euro per word), as I am still a beginner. The agency asked me, what my rates for an online game are... So I suppose it is not usual to offer a rate per word for an online game? I have no idea. I would be grateful for suggestions!
thank you in advance,
Helena ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga 
Germany
Local time: 20:07
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| Online game is a translation | Oct 12, 2011 |
Hi Helena,
translating an online game is...translating words from one language into another.
If your rate is EUR 0.05, then you should state just this per word rate.
personally, I believe that the language pair Chinese - German requires a much higher rate. But that is your decision. Just make sure that you will not get stuck on such a low rate forever.
Best,
Thayenga
| | | | Igor Indruch
Czech Republic
Local time: 20:07
English to Czech
| Depends, how the translation is done... | Oct 12, 2011 |
Do you receive normal text file? I do a lot of online games. Sometimes the format is just excel with a column for English text, column for translation and usually a column for character length, column for description and column with some other instructions. Sometimes there is just page with screenshots form game for reference, sometimes there is a link to online demo and usually it is necessary to play at least part of the game. This would deserve an extra hourly payment, but I do not do that, b... See more Do you receive normal text file? I do a lot of online games. Sometimes the format is just excel with a column for English text, column for translation and usually a column for character length, column for description and column with some other instructions. Sometimes there is just page with screenshots form game for reference, sometimes there is a link to online demo and usually it is necessary to play at least part of the game. This would deserve an extra hourly payment, but I do not do that, because I usually like it
With excel the best way is to copy the translation column to separate file, save it and import it to you preferred CAT tool. Than you just need to paste the translated column back.
Sometimes they sent a XML or HTML, which is no problem - you just import it to CAT tool (just must see if all tags are imported correctly, sometimes it is necessary to make some adjustment, which requires some knowledge)
In my opinion, your rate is really low. I would suggest 0.1 eur per word. The problem is that if it is for Chinese client, they are usually not willing to pay much.. Personally, I never accepted any job form China, because their proposed rates were just ridiculous...
I hope this helps ▲ Collapse
| | | | | translation of online games | Oct 12, 2011 |
Thanks a lot for your answers!
Especially thanks for the description of this kind translation, I did not have any idea by now!The agency did not sent anything yet. I told them to make me an offer, but until now, they did not answer.
Igor, I know your opinion about low rates (I read your postings), I plan to rise it. 0.05 for Chinese is really low, but I am waiting until I have the feeling that I have enough experience. I did already some technical translations that were very difficu... See more Thanks a lot for your answers!
Especially thanks for the description of this kind translation, I did not have any idea by now!The agency did not sent anything yet. I told them to make me an offer, but until now, they did not answer.
Igor, I know your opinion about low rates (I read your postings), I plan to rise it. 0.05 for Chinese is really low, but I am waiting until I have the feeling that I have enough experience. I did already some technical translations that were very difficult for one agency, they came back again to me, so I guess they were quite satisfied, but I still dont have many clients.
I do not use any CAT tools, it is difficult with Chinese I was told.
Yeh, the company is located in Beijing, so I guess I can not expect much ( in terms of good payment) . I will do it for the expirience I guess! ▲ Collapse
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| Chinese rates (video games) + intellectual property rights | Dec 10, 2019 |
I have been contacted by a Chinese video game company, we did a translation test, they loved it and chose us as partner, but then, we were unable to find a rate that fitted both parties: I asked for 0,10€ for English to Italian and to Spanish; and 0,13€ for English to Dutch. Their offer was 0,039€/word. No negotiation seemed possible.
Now, I have a question: during the test, we came up with quite some awesome ideas: we created names for some of the characters, "invented" a... See more I have been contacted by a Chinese video game company, we did a translation test, they loved it and chose us as partner, but then, we were unable to find a rate that fitted both parties: I asked for 0,10€ for English to Italian and to Spanish; and 0,13€ for English to Dutch. Their offer was 0,039€/word. No negotiation seemed possible.
Now, I have a question: during the test, we came up with quite some awesome ideas: we created names for some of the characters, "invented" a dialect for one of them... we did not sign any agreement regarding the terms of the test, but, can I claim intellectual property rights now? Could I ask them at least to pay for the test, IF they want to use any of our translation ideas/names? Are they allowed to use our ideas even though we won't work together now?
Thank you!
María ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:07
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| What can you do? | Dec 10, 2019 |
Maria Victoria Navarro Pérez wrote:
Are they allowed to use our ideas even though we won't work together now?
How are you going to stop them? They're located in China. If they just go ahead and use your ideas, what can you do? Do you think you would be able to sue them from Spain?
There are two golden rules for freelance translators working in the developed world.
First, don't deal with clients located in other countries that are notorious for paying low rates, countries that have a cavalier attitude to intellectual property rights, or countries that have legal systems that are too burdensome for foreigners to use.
Second, agree a rate before you do anything else. If the client doesn't agree to a rate before you start, don't go any further.
Applying either of these rules would have saved you time and effort. I would regard this as a learning experience, and move on.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | | No leg to stand on | Dec 10, 2019 |
Maria Victoria Navarro Pérez wrote:
Now, I have a question: during the test, we came up with quite some awesome ideas: we created names for some of the characters, "invented" a dialect for one of them... we did not sign any agreement regarding the terms of the test, but, can I claim intellectual property rights now? Could I ask them at least to pay for the test, IF they want to use any of our translation ideas/names? Are they allowed to use our ideas even though we won't work together now?
Asking is a free action, so you could ask them to pay for the test. But if the initial agreement was for a free test regardless of the outcome, I can't imagine that going down well.
You could also ask them not to use your original idea, but a casual google search on copyright protections for spec work suggests there is little to none and everything you did belongs to the client. It doesn't hurt to ask, but don't expect anything. In the future it would be best to clarify all these things in writing before typing a single word for the client.
| | | | | Translating bilingual Excel files | Dec 12, 2019 |
Igor Indruch wrote:
Sometimes the format is just excel with a column for English text, column for translation and usually a column for character length, column for description and column with some other instructions. ...
With excel the best way is to copy the translation column to separate file, save it and import it to you preferred CAT tool. Than you just need to paste the translated column back.
I believe you can copy the source text into the target column, then you select the entire source column, right-click on it and select Hide. I think in this case the text in the hidden column will not show up in your CAT tool upon import. At least, the hidden text in Word files does not show up in my SDL Trados Studio.
Regards,
Vladimir
[Edited at 2019-12-12 15:21 GMT]
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