Japanese word count - proofreading
Thread poster: deboragastal
deboragastal
deboragastal
Brazil
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Apr 23, 2015

Hi friends!

When it comes to proofreading a Japanese translation, the number of Japanese characters in a translated text is frequently much higher than the number of words in the original source text (in English, for example).

Is there a way to calculate the equivalent number of Japanese characters per source English words?

How would it be fair to pay Japanese proofreaders using a "per word" count?

Thank you!


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:09
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Proofreading is normally charged per hour anyway Apr 23, 2015

Hi Debora,
When you hire a proofreader, the normal process is that you show the translation to the proofreader and he/she tells you how much they want to charge for it. It is the service provider who sets the price. Normally, proofreaders charge by the hour, because every job is different and may require a different amount of time to complete, depending on the translation quality and the specifications the final product must meet.
Proofreaders have the experience to give you an estim
... See more
Hi Debora,
When you hire a proofreader, the normal process is that you show the translation to the proofreader and he/she tells you how much they want to charge for it. It is the service provider who sets the price. Normally, proofreaders charge by the hour, because every job is different and may require a different amount of time to complete, depending on the translation quality and the specifications the final product must meet.
Proofreaders have the experience to give you an estimate, or even a binding quote, once they can see what you want them to proofread.
The ratio between the number of English words and Japanese characters had been discussed several times in other threads here on this forum, please do a search. The average is about 2.5 Japanese characters per English word, but the actual ratio really depends on the text. In some fields, where there are a lot of katakana-words used in texts, this ratio could be higher, and in some fields that deal with more traditional type of texts, such as history or politics, the ratio may be lower.


[Edited at 2015-04-23 13:30 GMT]
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Japanese word count - proofreading






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