Web site translation cost

How much does it cost to translate my web site?

Estimating cost for translating your web site

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How much does it cost to translate my web site?

The cost of translating a web site can range from a couple of thousand dollars to more than a hundred thousand dollars depending on the size of your site and the services you need.

The biggest mistake companies make in budgeting for a website localization project is treating it as a one-time expense.  They forget that localized web sites must be maintained to reflect ongoing changes to the source-language site. Sometimes the changes are so significant that the maintenance expenses eclipse the one-time expenses.

Another commonly made mistake is to translate an entire site when only a mini site or select pages will do. Professional translations are more expensive than what most people realize. To translate an entire web site can be an expensive proposition. Remember the old 80/20 rule? It applies here as well. Twenty percent of your web content translated will deliver eighty percent of the value. You just have to go through your site content and try your best at identifying the twenty percent.

This is how we charge for our services:

Translation related services

• Page content are charged per word or per page
• Putting together a glossary is charged per hour.
• Graphics are charged per item or per hour. It is better if you give us the source file in Photoshop format with layers where the text is separate from the image. You will be charged the lowest price for this kind of files. If text is embedded in the graphics and cannot be separated, it is a lot more work for us and you will pay more as a result.
• We perform a quality assurance check after the localized site is live. This process is charged per hour.
• 10% of total project cost is charged as project management fees; we may waive this fee from time to time for first time clients.

Add-ons:

• Review of your source language site for translation readiness. This is charged per page or per hour.
• Local language keyword research for search engine optimization is charged on a per hour basis.
  Usability testing with a select group of target users using UserVue is charged per project.
• Cost for estimating

If you provide us with the source files, which is the most accurate way of estimating a site, the quote is free. If you send us a URL and ask us to go through the site, the cost is $100 for an estimate.

Please avoid sending content over in a Word document or Excel file. Just send the files over as you have them (such as HTML, ASP or PHP) via FTP download or a CD/DVD, and we can have them localized and sent back in the format you sent them in as.

Estimating cost for translating your web site

The average web site translation project can run anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000, but large corporations may spend much more. Having a web presence in other languages is not just a one-time expense because translated web sites must be maintained to reflect ongoing changes to the source-language site. Sometimes the changes are so significant that the maintenance expenses eclipse the one-time expenses.

Companies often view building a multilingual web site as an automated process and a simple matter of photocopying or “converting.” Since photocopying is inexpensive, so should “converting.” As a result, budgets for such projects are often set unrealistically low and original business goals simply cannot be reached because there is not enough money to do the job well.

Frustrations can rise quickly for both company mangers and their international customers when translated sites become out of sync with the source language site due to budget restrictions.

Understanding where costs come from

The process of translating web sites involves:

Translators: depending on your products and services, you will need professional trained translators and a minimum team of two in each language so one can translate and one can edit and proofread

Project managers: you will need a project manager on your end to coordinate things and your translation company will need a project manager to coordinate with translators in different languages

Site testers: once translated content is live, you will need site testers to perform linguistic, functionality and usability testing. Sometimes translators are asked to translate out of context without seeing how the translation would work. Linguistic testing allows translation to be adjusted. Functionality testing can uncover problems with forms, shopping cars not working for example. And finally usability with a target audience can be the catch-all to discover any additional problems.

Multimedia localizers: more and more web sites now have multimedia content such as Flash files or online videos. When they need to be produced into another language, you need people who understand how to work with multimedia applications and put together elements such as foreign language subtitles and voice tracks, just as an example.

Web developers: finally web developers are involved to assemble the final translated content

Additional costs can be incurred by:

Form/estimating

Questions you might need to answer when requesting a website translation quote

• What is your role within the company?
• Do you need it translated into a single language or multiple languages?
• What is the word count of the web site?
• What are the source files written in?
• Can you provide us with the source files? - In order to provide an accurate quote, we would need the source files. We do not base our estimates on URLs.
• Do you use a content management system?
• Do you have styleguides?
• Do you have internal reviewers for the target languages?
• What is the message behind the project/what type of company are you?

Related articles:

What you should know before asking for a website translation estimate
Three Common Mistakes in Designing Navigation for Multilingual Content
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