I spent a lot of time the other day (way too much time) on preparing quotes for translation jobs. Some were based on fee(£)/word, and a couple on fee(€)/standard page (which in my case equates to 1500 characters including spaces, as calculated by Microsoft Word). If you too find yourself having to switch between calculation methods and/or currencies, you might find Alessandra Muzzi’s Fee Wizard, an online conversion tool, useful:
You usually charge in GBP per source word and need to know the equivalent rate in EUR per target line? Or your usual method is target line, 55 characters spaces included, and now you are asked to provide a quote per source page, 1500 characters spaces excluded? No more headaches with FeeWizard, a free tool offered by AMTrad Services.
Try it out, translators, editors, proofreaders and anyone else who charges by the page/word/line. Let us know in the comments how you you get on!
By Marian Dougan