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Rates per minute
Thread poster: Marie Louise Åbom
Marie Louise Åbom
Marie Louise Åbom  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:20
English to Danish
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Mar 13, 2018

What is a fair rate per minute for subtitling ? What do you charge ? I think the rates that are offered are very very low, and I do not understand that anybody can afford to work for 2$ per minute. I have just declined a subtitling job for 2.50$ pr minute, since I can not defend working for that.

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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:20
Member (2009)
English to German
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That's not a rate Mar 13, 2018

2.50$ per minute is a joke. The absolute minimum should be 5 - 6$, that is, at least twice as much.

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Indeed Mar 13, 2018

Thayenga wrote:

2.50$ per minute is a joke. The absolute minimum should be 5 - 6$, that is, at least twice as much.


Especially (if you live) in Denmark. In France, you wouldn't/shouldn't work under 10€ per minute (and could look for 12, 15 or more depending on the project, type of broadcast, etc.).


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Indonesia
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English to Indonesian
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Sure, reject it! Mar 13, 2018

Same thing I just reject an offer of $1.75 subtitle translation. And later they told me to create time coding along with the translation. I know my language combination is not that popular as other high profile languages, but in this seven years of experiences, I was starting with $2 per minute and now have reach the rate price at $5 per minute video. There is no point in turning back around!

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I agree with my colleagues Mar 13, 2018

I agree with my colleagues.

According to my calculations 2.50$ per minute = 0.01$ per word = 3.00$ per hour.

Here are same links about subtitling rates:

... See more
I agree with my colleagues.

According to my calculations 2.50$ per minute = 0.01$ per word = 3.00$ per hour.

Here are same links about subtitling rates:

https://www.proz.com/forum/subtitling/52756-[subtitling_rates]_per_minute_rates.html

https://www.proz.com/forum/subtitling/308947-subtitling_rates.html

https://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/288394-rate_per_minute_captioning_and_subtitling.html

https://www.proz.com/forum/subtitling/254464-closed_captioning_rates.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/284728-current_subtitling_rates.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/227905-what_is_a_reasonable_rate_for_translating_subtitles-page2.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/271439-subtitling_rates.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/281794-rates_and_working_times_for_subtitling.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/subtitling/52756-[subtitling_rates]_per_minute_rates.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/271439-subtitling_rates.html

http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/forumthread381.htm?start=1

http://www.proz.com/forum/money_matters/227905-what_is_a_reasonable_rate_for_translating_subtitles.html

http://www.proz.com/forum/subtitling/255043-advice_on_subtitling_rates.html

https://www.google.com.ua/search?q=subtitling%20per%20minute%20rate%20site:www.proz.com&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2rvLkhOrZAhXKkSwKHXagCcgQrQIIMigEMAA
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Slobodan Kozarčić
Slobodan Kozarčić  Identity Verified
Serbia
Local time: 13:20
Member (2016)
English to Serbian
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Really? Two fifty is a joke? Mar 13, 2018

Marie Louise Åbom wrote:

What is a fair rate per minute for subtitling ? What do you charge ? I think the rates that are offered are very very low, and I do not understand that anybody can afford to work for 2$ per minute. I have just declined a subtitling job for 2.50$ pr minute, since I can not defend working for that.



Try working for 0.50 EUR per minute (50 euro cents), like we do in Serbia, for both translation and subtitling. Of course, you can decline that, as I do, but then you end up with no work at all, and there is always someone who will gladly take it. Foreign agencies offer higher rates (1.40 to 1.80 EUR) for English-Serbian pair, but nevertheless you can see subtitles like these:

- Fox Movies Serbia, Anaconda movie: Talking about some Amazon moths fast mating, Jennifer Lopez says, "So, no pick up line," translated as "So, no loading dock line" (as in a factory).

- TV 1000 Serbia, Primo Carnera movie: "With no future, penniless." Transl., "With no future, with no penis."

- Fox Crime Serbia, the Las Vegas show: "Frеаking contact (lens)." Transl., "Silly contract."

- C Extra Serbia: The King of Queens show: (Husband and wife had sex at his workplace. A colleague of his comments) "He punched out after. Rocking on the clock." Transl., "He passed out after that, working overtime."

And I thought Fox is a serious company.

[Edited at 2018-03-13 23:05 GMT]


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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:20
Member (2009)
English to German
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Prize might determine quality Mar 14, 2018

[quote]Slobodan Kozarčić wrote:

Marie Louise Åbom wrote:

And I thought Fox is a serious company.

[Edited at 2018-03-13 23:05 GMT]


Although these translations are funny, they shed a negative light on these translators.
In the movie "The broken Chain" they even translated "Mohawk" into "Mohican", speaking about one single person. Looks like that person was not on good terms with himself since both tribes were enemies.


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Slobodan Kozarčić
Slobodan Kozarčić  Identity Verified
Serbia
Local time: 13:20
Member (2016)
English to Serbian
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I agree with you Mar 14, 2018

Thayenga wrote:


Although these translations are funny, they shed a negative light on these translators.
In the movie "The broken Chain" they even translated "Mohawk" into "Mohican", speaking about one single person. Looks like that person was not on good terms with himself since both tribes were enemies.


But, what when there is no translator's name? The Las Vegas show has its 5th or 6th rerun on Fox Crime Serbia channel still with the same stupid translations:

- (After workers found bones in the ground, and one man thought it might be the dog bones, other said) "I don't think dogs wear pinky rings," translated as "I don't think dogs wear pink collars."
Dogs DO wear pink collars, I might add.

And I have hundreds of these examples.

Every time I applied for a subtitling job, I had to pass a test and to sign 11 page contracts which contained a lot of threats concerning incorrect translations.

A few days ago, I failed a test I took for a British agency, not because my translation or spotting were wrong (there were no objections), but because I allegedly didn't follow shot changes limitations (and the stupid rule "always keep the text to one line, unless it exceeds the character limitations") and similar crap, and none of C Extra channel Serbian subtitles are formatted and aligned properly, like a toddler wrote them, not to mention catastrophic mistakes in translation, and the whole Star Wars serial on AXN channel had Serbian subtitles with no diacritics ("C" instead of "Č" or "Ć"). Well done.

The bottom line is that no one cares. The only criteria is the lowest rate.


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Wojciech_ (X)
Wojciech_ (X)
Poland
Local time: 13:20
English to Polish
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The market is spoilt Mar 14, 2018

The market has, in general, been spoilt for years. Who remembers the times when some companies (including one well-known US-based) used to pay per subtitle, which was definitely the most honest and fair?

Then the rates for translators plummeted and never really returned to a sensible level. Now with the era of Netflix and other on-demand streaming services, there's hope something will change, but we will see. Most of the rate offered by Netflix is still taken by middlemen, unfortuna
... See more
The market has, in general, been spoilt for years. Who remembers the times when some companies (including one well-known US-based) used to pay per subtitle, which was definitely the most honest and fair?

Then the rates for translators plummeted and never really returned to a sensible level. Now with the era of Netflix and other on-demand streaming services, there's hope something will change, but we will see. Most of the rate offered by Netflix is still taken by middlemen, unfortunately.
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Marie Louise Åbom
Marie Louise Åbom  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:20
English to Danish
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank your for your replies Mar 14, 2018

Thank you for all your replies, they have been really helpful, I mean I was, and still am, pretty shocked about the rates, I can´t understand that anybody can afford to work for so little, I mean, if i worked full time for those rates, I wouldn´t be able to even pay my rent, let alone eat ! I can´t believe that any native Danish speaker can afford that with the living expenses we have in this country ! During my university studies I worked at a burger place, and my hourly rate was three times... See more
Thank you for all your replies, they have been really helpful, I mean I was, and still am, pretty shocked about the rates, I can´t understand that anybody can afford to work for so little, I mean, if i worked full time for those rates, I wouldn´t be able to even pay my rent, let alone eat ! I can´t believe that any native Danish speaker can afford that with the living expenses we have in this country ! During my university studies I worked at a burger place, and my hourly rate was three times as high as what I would earn subtitling for those rates !Collapse


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OffMag
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France
Local time: 13:20
German to French
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Decent rates Mar 20, 2018

If you are a professional subtitler, work for decent rates (minimum 7US$/min with a template) and don't tell us crap like "I can subtitle a 40 min episode in 6 hours", join us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SubtitlingIsAnArt

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Wojciech_ (X)
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Poland
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English to Polish
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Wishful thinking Mar 21, 2018

There are no companies in my language pair that offer US$7 per programme minute. In my 13 years as a subtitler/dubbing translator, the highest rate I've ever come across was 4 dollars.
Even if you work with Netflix titles you won't be offered more by their preferred vendors, unless you become their QC/originator working on their own titles. Even then the rate is lower than 7 dollars.


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Ecuador
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Question on this topic Aug 19, 2019

Thank you for your answers, although the question was not mine. Please, at that rate do you guys work with a subtitiling app or do you submit the translation in Word?

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Ola Andersson
Ola Andersson
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:20
English to Swedish
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Subtitling Jan 27, 2020

Seems to me that subtitling is mainly for pocket money - i.e. shouldn't be your main job....

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Danilo Ribeiro
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Brazil
Local time: 09:20
English to Portuguese
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International rates Apr 28, 2020

The problem is international outsourcing.
People from other countries are willing to work for those rates, which in turn, spoils the average EU/USA rates.

[Edited at 2020-04-28 14:13 GMT]


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