The number 1 question that any translation agency is asked is “How much do translations cost?” 

Quite uniquely in professional services, most translation services are not priced by the hour, they are in fact priced by the number of words.

In Australia, most translation agencies also have fixed rates for ‘standard documents’.

As such, when considering the question of “how much do translations services cost?, this can be calculated based on two different calculation methods:

Translation Pricing by words

The majority of translation work requests in Australia, particularly, business, legal or ‘non-standard’ documents,  are priced by the number of words. 

In Australia and globally, the ‘per word rate’ that is charged per word has been falling for many years. 10 years ago, it was quite common for pricing to be between 32-50c per word (ie. $32-$50 per 100 words). As competition has increased in the global translation industry, and efficiency improvements have been made by utilising technology, prices have fallen.

Within Australia, you can expect to pay somewhere between 20-40c per word. This is for translation only and doesn’t include Independent Checking which is highly recommended.

For example, for a 1,000-word document, you would expect to pay between $200-$400 (plus GST). Here at Ethnolink, we use a very unique and efficient delivery model to drastically reduce the cost of translation, whilst speeding up the process. As such, we are one of the largest, most affordable and reliable translation service providers in Australia.

Please note that every translation project is different and the quote you receive may have vastly different pricing to this guide. This guide is an indication only and you can expect that your quote could be within this price range, or significantly higher.

There are a number of factors that are used to determine pricing:

Factors That Influence per-word Pricing

Service level

In Australia, the most common translation options are either Translation, or Translation plus Independent Checking. Translation is where one translator translates your content, without any independent review by a second translator. This is the most cost-effective option, but does not have the most appropriate quality assurance process. The second option is Translation plus Independent Checking whereby the translation is checked by a second translator. This option requires a higher level of investment, but is also optimal for quality assurance.

Certification Requirements (NAATI)

NAATI is the accrediting body in Australia for translators and interpreters. Generally speaking, most local translation agencies work with a team of NAATI Certified translators. If a NAATI Certified translator is not required, in some instances, an offshore, non-certified translator can complete the translation. In countries where labour is cheap, this will bring down the price.

Technicality/Subject Matter

Technical documents, or areas of significant specialisation, such as legal documents or engineering manuals can be more difficult to translate accurately than ‘general text’. As such, more time is needed in order to produce a high-quality technical translation service. As such, this is reflected in the price.

Languages

Rare language pairs (eg. Tigrinya<>English) are typically priced very high due to supply/demand. There are very few Certified translators in some language pairs, and as such, their rates are higher than more common language pairs (eg. Chinese<>English).

Urgency

If you need your translations delivered with a very quick turnaround, be prepared to pay extra to expedite the process. The best translators are generally under quite high demand. If they need to put other projects on hold in order to complete yours in a very tight time frame, this will be reflected in the pricing.

Also keep in mind, depending on a number of factors including the subject matter of the text, a typical translator can produce approximately 1,500-3,000 words of translated words per day. Translation Rates for Standard documents

Most translation agencies in Australia have set prices for ‘standard documents’. A standard document generally refers to a personal document such as a birth certificate, marriage certificate, driver’s license, death certificate, diploma or degree certificate, etc.

Again, prices have been coming down in Australia for the last few years. Our price for most standard documents is $69.00. Most translation agencies in Australia tend to price standard documents at approximately $77-$99 per document. Express translations or urgent translations also attract an urgency surcharge and this varies depending on each agency.

Translation Services Pricing Guide

The below is indicative of what you can expect to pay for the translation of the following documents.

Document Price
Birth Certificate Translation  $69.00
Driver Licence Translation  $69.00
Marriage Certificate Translation  $69.00
Apostille Translation $22.00
Police Check Translation $69.00

Translation Rates Per Word

Translation Pricing for Different Languages

The below is indicative of what you can expect to pay for the translation of the following language pairs for non-standard documents. Prices are in Australian Dollars (AUD) and are provided as an indication only. 

This indicative pricing is for Translation only and does not include Independent Checking (which is highly recommended).

Language Standard Content Technical Content
Arabic 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Bosnian 31 cents per word 37 cents per word
Croatian 28 cents per word 34 cents per word
Danish 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Dari 28 cents per word 34 cents per word
Dutch 28 cents per word 34 cents per word
French 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
German 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Greek 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Indonesian 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Italian 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Japanese 28 cents per word 34 cents per word
Korean 28 cents per word 34 cents per word
Malay 35 cents per word 42 cents per word
Polish 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Portuguese 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Russian 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Serbian 23 cents per word 27 cents per word
Thai 31 cents per word 37 cents per word
Turkish 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Ukrainian 25 cents per word 31 cents per word
Urdu 31 cents per word 37 cents per word
Vietnamese 23 cents per word 27 cents per word

 

For a free quote on your translation project, please complete the free quote form here.