Is this the first time you need translation services? Do you know what information you need to give when asking for a translation price quote ? We know it’s not rocket science, but there’s important information you need to mention in order to get the answers you want from the company, and to let the company know how much time will take them to translate your documents.

When asking for a price quote, it’s important to consider that is not enough to specify that your document is 20 pages long. Translation companies and freelance translators alike need to know the following information: the source language and the target language of your document; the subject or specialization area, if it’s a science article, a work instruction, a contract, an advertisement, a game or an app; how many images does the document have, if any; the format of the original document -whether it’s a scanned document, a PDF, a MS Word document, etc.-, and the amount of pages or words the document has.

Remember. If you give all this information at the moment of requesting a price quote for a translation, you’ll get an accurate quotation and you’ll be able to contact a professional with the profile that fits your needs. In addition, you’ll spare yourself the hassle of answering a bunch of emails that ask for these details, and use that time to get the job started.

To make this clearer, here are the three most important pieces of information you need to give.

Source and target language

Professional translators usually translate into their native language and there are certain language pairs that are more difficult to get a translation from. So a percentage of the cost of your document is determined by both, the source language and target language.

When you ask for a price quote for a translation you shouldn’t only specify the work length, even if you send the document to the company so they can verify it. You also need to specify the languages, you cannot assume they know you want a Spanish to English translation. Since the cost for a translation changes from Japanese to French, or any other language. It’s the most important information to give when asking for a quotation.

Area of specialization. What about it?

There are certain documents that can be translated by any professional translator, because they enter the realm of general knowledge and don’t require a professional with a specific profile.

However, there are areas in particular for which you’ll need a translator specialized in the topic. This is another essential piece of information you need to give when requesting a price quote for a translation.

Work volume

You can attach the text to be translated to get an estimate on the work volume and the time the translator will need to deliver it.

But if you don’t have the text available at the time of asking for the price quote, or you can’t send it due to confidentiality reasons. You’ll have to specify the exact amount of words you need to get translated.

And that’s all. Remember that any additional information will be helpful for the translation company. However, with these three aspects you’ll be able to get a precise price quote.