Translation is usually priced per word, but the rate moves with the language pair, the subject matter and the turnaround. Here's what translation costs, with real starting rates and the factors that drive the figure, so you can budget before you brief.
In this article
Most translation is priced per source-language word— you're charged on the words you send us, not the (often longer or shorter) translated output. The rate depends mainly on the language pair. Here's what to expect.
What translation costs per word
Professional human translation by native linguists is banded by language group. The rate is the higher of the source and target language:
- French (EU), German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish — from £0.145 per word.
- Eastern European, Dutch, Greek, Turkish — from £0.175 per word.
- Arabic, Asian, French (CA), Hebrew, Indian, Scandinavian — from £0.20 per word.
- Icelandic, Welsh — from £0.25 per word.
There's a minimum fee per language from £70, so short pieces are priced to that floor. See the full translation rates for the per-language breakdown.
Per word vs per minute
Documents and scripts are priced per word. Subtitle and audio-visual translation can instead be priced per minute of content, because the work scales with runtime rather than a clean word count. If your video has no script, it's transcribed first, then translated.
Proofreading and transcreation
- Proofreading — an independent second linguist checks the translation, from about £0.09 per word.
- Transcreation — creative translation for taglines and campaigns, quoted separately because it's closer to copywriting. See what is transcreation?
What else moves the price
- Language pair — rarer languages have fewer native translators, so cost more.
- Subject matter — legal, medical and technical content needs specialist linguists.
- Volume & turnaround — large projects and rush deadlines affect the rate.
- Difference vs localisation — see localisation vs translation.
Get an exact figure
The fastest way to a real number is to send us the files. Explore our audiovisual translation services, see how translation sits within a video project in how much does video localisation cost?, or send us your files for an itemised, no-obligation quote — usually the same working day, backed by our Price Match Promise.