Typical translation rates per word, hour, page and 1,000 words by language pair, plus how to budget a translation project, with a worked example.
Most professional human translation is priced per source word, and typical market rates sit between $0.05 and $0.25 per word. For common pairs such as English → Spanish or English → French, a typical rate is around $0.10–$0.11 per word, which is $100–$110 per 1,000 words. Rates move up with rarer or harder target languages, specialized subject matter (legal, medical, certified), tight deadlines and extra services such as review or desktop publishing, and they move down when translation memory can reuse earlier translations.
This guide explains the numbers behind a translation quote: rates by language pair, specialization premiums, the main pricing models, translation memory discounts, and a step-by-step method to build a realistic translation budget. If you already have the files or a word count, you can price the job right now with our free word count and quote tool.
These are the typical market ranges per source word for professional human translation of general business content, from English into each language. They are the same benchmarks shown on our quote tool's page. They are not fixed prices: individual translators and agencies quote above and below them depending on experience, subject matter and volume.
Three things drive the differences. The first is supply: pairs with a large pool of qualified translators, such as English → Spanish or English → Portuguese, are more competitive. The second is the cost of living where most translators of that language work, since a German or Swedish translator has higher fixed costs than many translators in lower-cost markets. The third is difficulty: languages with very different scripts and grammar, such as Japanese, Korean or Arabic, take longer per word and need more specialized checking. Rare combinations that do not involve English, such as Japanese → Portuguese, often cost more again because few people can translate them directly.
Specialized content needs a translator who knows the field and its terminology, and mistakes cost more. These are typical premiums on top of the general business rate:
For example, English → German has a typical rate of $0.13 per word. A legal text at +30% comes to about $0.169 per word, so a 10,000-word contract would cost approximately $1,690.
Per-word pricing is the standard for document and website translation because both sides know the cost before work starts. Most quotes are based on source words, because the count is known up front. Some markets, and some translators working into languages that expand or contract a lot, quote per target word instead, which is only known once the translation is finished. Always check which one a quote uses: the same text rarely has the same number of words in two languages, so a source-word rate and a target-word rate are not directly comparable.
Hourly rates are common for work where the word count does not reflect the effort: editing and proofreading, desktop publishing (DTP), transcription, transcreation of slogans and ad copy, terminology work, and source files that are not editable, such as scanned PDFs or images. Typical hourly rates for translators range from $25 to $80 per hour depending on the language and specialization. Ask for an hour estimate and a cap so an hourly job cannot grow without warning.
Certified and sworn translations of official documents (birth certificates, diplomas, immigration paperwork) are often priced per page, typically $25–$50 per page, sometimes plus a certification fee. Priced per word, certified translation usually falls between $0.12 and $0.35 per word, or roughly 30–50% more than standard translation.
Some agencies and clients compare quotes per 1,000 words because the numbers are easier to read. The conversion is simple: multiply the per-word rate by 1,000. A rate of $0.10 per word is $100 per 1,000 words, $0.13 per word is $130, and $0.25 per word is $250. Across the language pairs above, that puts most general translation between about $40 and $250 per 1,000 words.
Very short jobs are usually billed at a minimum fee rather than per word, because opening files, checking terminology and delivering take time no matter how short the text is. If you have several small texts, sending them together in one project usually costs less than paying the minimum several times.
Rush jobs, such as a 24–48 hour turnaround for a text that would normally take a week, typically carry a 25–50% surcharge. They often need the translator to work evenings or to split the text with a colleague, which adds coordination and review. Planning translation into your schedule is one of the easiest ways to avoid this cost.
In machine translation post-editing, a professional edits machine output instead of translating from scratch. Many translators offer it at reduced rates, typically 40–60% of their full translation rate. The discount depends on how good the machine output is for that language pair and subject, so translators often ask to see a sample first. For legal, medical, marketing and published content, full human translation is still the safer choice.
A translation memory (TM) stores every sentence you have had translated before. When a new text repeats or closely matches earlier sentences, CAT tools such as Trados or memoQ (see our CAT tools comparison) report how many words fall in each match band, and translators usually charge a reduced share of the full rate for those words. These are the default bands in our quote tool, shown as the share of the full rate that is charged:
Matches are not free because the translator still has to read them in context and fix anything that no longer fits. Bands and percentages vary between translators and agencies, so agree on them before the project starts. Some translators prefer other pricing approaches altogether, which we discuss in the death of per-word pricing.
A good translation budget is built from the word count up, not guessed from a total. Here is the method, followed by a worked example.
A company wants its 12,000-word marketing website translated from English into German. A CAT tool analysis shows that 30% of the words are repetitions or high fuzzy matches.
Step 1: the rate. The typical English → German rate is $0.13 per word. Marketing content carries a +20% premium, so the rate is $0.13 × 1.2 = $0.156 per word.
Step 2: the word breakdown. The analysis splits the 12,000 words like this:
Step 3: the translation cost. $1,310.40 + $28.08 + $28.08 + $23.40 = $1,389.96. Without the TM discounts, all 12,000 words at $0.156 would cost $1,872.00, so the matches save $482.04. Another way to see it: the discounts turn 12,000 words into 8,910 "weighted" words (8,400 + 180 + 180 + 150), and 8,910 × $0.156 = $1,389.96.
Step 4: the range. Using the low and high benchmarks for English → German ($0.08 and $0.22, both × 1.2 for marketing), the same 8,910 weighted words would cost between $855.36 and $2,352.24. The typical figure, $1,389.96, is a sensible planning number, but expect quotes across that range.
Step 5: extra services. In this example the company also wants an independent review by a second linguist, estimated at 8 hours × $40 = $320, and localization of the text in a few banner images, estimated at 3 hours × $40 = $120. The hours and the hourly rate are assumptions for the example; ask for your own estimate.
Step 6: the total. $1,389.96 + $320 + $120 = $1,829.96. A 10% contingency adds $183.00, for a total budget of $2,012.96, so about $2,000. If the site had to be ready in 48 hours, a 25% rush surcharge on the translation alone would add another $347.49.
You can reproduce the translation part of this example with the word count and quote tool: drop the files (or type the words for each match band), choose per-word pricing and enter the rate; extra services go in as extra lines.
Websites hide a lot of text outside the visible pages. Before you ask for quotes, make sure the word count includes:
Quotes that look different are often quoting different things. Compare them line by line:
The cheapest quote is rarely the best value if it skips review or uses a generalist for specialized content. Our guide on how to hire a translator covers what to check before you choose.
Clients compare per-word rates, but your income depends on how many words you can deliver per hour. A simple way to set your rate:
The same math works in reverse: at $0.12 per word and 400 words per hour, you earn $48 per hour of translation time. If a job pays per word but contains hard content that slows you down, your real hourly rate drops, which is a good reason to quote specialized or low-quality source files differently.
Typical market rates for professional translation range from about $0.05 to $0.25 per word. Common pairs such as English → Spanish or English → Portuguese (BR) are typically around $0.10 per word, while Japanese, Korean and specialized fields such as legal or medical cost more, often $0.15–$0.25 per word or higher.
Typical hourly rates range from $25 to $80 per hour, depending on the language pair, specialization and experience. Hourly pricing is mostly used for editing, proofreading, DTP, transcreation and non-editable source files rather than for straightforward translation.
Multiply the per-word rate by 1,000: $0.10 per word is $100 per 1,000 words. For general content across common language pairs, that usually means roughly $40 to $250 per 1,000 words, with specialized content higher.
Certified translations of official documents are often priced at $25–$50 per page, sometimes plus a certification fee. For other documents, ask for a per-word quote: the amount of text on a "page" varies a lot, so per-page prices are hard to compare.
Count the source words, split them into new words and translation memory matches, multiply each band by the rate and its discount, then add review, DTP, rush fees and a contingency. The worked example above shows each step, and our free word count and quote tool does the counting and the math for you.
Rates depend on how many qualified translators work in the pair, the cost of living where they work, and how hard the language combination is. Large pairs such as English → Spanish are competitive, while Japanese, Korean, Swedish and rare combinations cost more.
Yes. A 25–50% surcharge for tight deadlines, such as 24–48 hours for a text that would normally take longer, is common. It pays for evening or weekend work and the extra coordination when a text has to be split between translators.
A CAT tool compares the new text with your translation memory and counts the words in each match band. Repetitions and close matches are charged at a reduced share of the full rate (for example 10% for repetitions and 60% for 75–84% matches), while weak matches and new words are charged in full.
On TraduQ, you can post a translation job and receive applications from professional translators, and when you run projects on the platform, the rate is proposed and agreed by both sides before any work begins. Whichever way you hire, the budget method above helps you check that a quote is realistic.