How much do you charge?

So far "daring" for me has resulted in less offers than when I used to charge less. The overall income from numerous but poorly paid jobs might be higher than from a few but well paid ones. 

So far "daring" for me has resulted in less offers than when I used to charge less. The overall income from numerous but poorly paid jobs might be higher than from a few but well paid ones. 


Of course, this may be the case. But on the other hand, if the rates are so poor that you have to work too much, the quality will automatically be poorer too (I kwow about myself that I cannot deliver the same quality if my day has more than 8 hours without breaks, for ex.), and your reputation will suffer. And the translation world is small, believe me: it is very difficult to attract good clients if you are used to work for cheap clients and you have the reputation to be a "cheap translator".

Also, working too much to be able to make ends meet will not give you the time to make some marketing to find better clients. If you work for 0,XX € per word and you have only 2 offers per week, you may - if you are lucky - earn the same as if you ask 0,0X € and have 5 offers per week. The result is that you have more time not only to regenerate but also to make some prospection, earning the same amount of money.

(I know that is not easy. At the beginning, I had another job as an employee during a couple of years in order to be able to accept only offers from clients who were willing to pay my rates.)

Translation rates and the discussions over them are a neverending story.
At least in the Czech Republic, which is where I live, if you want to offer quality supported by legal software (MS Office + CATs), you can't go much under € 0.05 per source word. For me, € 0.06 is my pain line, regardless of the project size. If a project is three times longer, it will take three times longer to finish. As a freelancer, I have to clothe and feed myself, pay my bills etc. Period.

Hey there, I just went for an interview at Olymp English language school today and they asked me how much I would like to get paid for giving lectures to a class of about 4-6 people for a time period of one hour. I have no idea what the rates are like and don't know what to ask for, I don't want to ask too much or too little, any advice please?

thanks a lot
Don

40 -50 PLN.

In my area I guess Poles ask 30-50 zlotys, so - if you are a 'native speaker' - 50-70 zlotys would be OK.

It depends on your experience, but you should charge not less than 40 PLN. You can also check how much the students pay so you will have an idea how much the school can pay you.

Defending your price is tough. This week I lost a client 'cause I didn't want to apply the rate I charge for a general translation to a technical text. The worst thing is that sometimes you encounter clients who won't negotiate the rate and find a slightly lower price elsewhere. I could sometimes negotiate the price, e.g. when the text is not highly specialised. That's why I would prefer potential clients to express their preferred price rather than be polite and refuse my services.