RE: Translation costs?

[David Grossman <dgrossman -at- 012 -dot- net -dot- il>]

It depends how you look at it.

I translate and edit material, as well as TW. The more I charge, the more I
earn.

Some clients argue that I have chutzpah to charge as much as I do. Perhaps
they are right, but I work hard, I produce a good final document, and I feel
that I deserve to be paid properly for my effort.

Tech writing is similar to translating and editing, of course. Clients
constantly complain about how much our service costs. Should we lower our
rates even more, in order to accommodate them? I don't think so. I think
that we deserve to make a reasonable living wage, and if we work hard (and
we do) then we should get paid for our efforts.

Of course, there are other factors - supply and demand, competition, what
the market will bear, and so forth. However, they do not affect our need to
support ourselves in the best possible way.

We, as tech writers, should be the last to complain about the supposedly
high costs of translating. TW should not complain about how much translators
charge, and translators should not complain about how much TW charge. We're
all in the writing trades - and we're all in this together. We should
support each other's efforts to earn a respectable living.

Our funding agencies and companies should respect our work, and they should
budget a fair amount for our efforts.

David Grossman


-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+dgrossman=012 -dot- net -dot- il -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+dgrossman=012 -dot- net -dot- il -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of kafkascampi
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 11:53 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Translation costs?

"Yow!   So, about a million bucks to translate my Help, huh?"


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