Translation Cost Calculator English-Spanish
Calculate the price of your translations with the calculator I have created specifically for this purpose, and find out my translation rates for each type.
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The world of translation is full of intricacies that no one knows about or imagines until they are in it and living totally or partially from it. In my case, as someone who works partially in Spanish-English translation, I have always had doubts about the prices of translations: what rate to use for direct translations (ES > EN) and for inverse translations (EN > ES), how the number of words affects the final price of a translation, what the minimum price for a translation is, and a long etcetera.
Because of all this, at one point, I decided to create my own Spanish-English translator’s calculator, that is, a calculator where you only need to input the details of the translation you are going to quote and it gives you the total with and without VAT, with and without withholding tax (IRPF), etc. And all with the rates I have been applying for some time now.
I first made this calculator in a Google Sheets document, like Excel, but when I saw that the prices of translations worked for me, I decided to consolidate it as my own translation calculator. And this is what I share on this page with you: my own Spanish-English translation calculator. You have it below, and a bit further down, I provide the explanation and the rates that this calculator uses.
As you will see, the translation calculator guides you with its options (direct/inverse, general/specialised, etc.), and at the end, you will have the option to add VAT or subtract IRPF, or both, if you need to issue an invoice with the translation. By the way, you don’t need to click Submit, because this form does not send anything, although it can be configured to send an email with the price and other details.
My Spanish-English Translation Rates
Once you have done a few translations (or almost any other freelance service work), you realise that you either charge what you need to charge or you will ruin yourself. Therefore, I decided to charge the following translation rates. I recommend that you set your rates based on the value you want to place on your time, no more, no less, regardless of what potential clients or any website like this might say. Anyway, I’ll stop rambling and explain a couple of things about my English-Spanish translation prices, which are the ones I apply in the translation calculator you have seen above:
- These are tiered word prices, which means that depending on the number of words, the price per word changes, being always the most expensive the first tier and the cheapest the last tier. But be careful, each tier is always charged at that price per word, as we will see later.
- The rates vary depending on whether it is an inverse translation (more expensive) or a direct translation (cheaper).
- The rates vary depending on whether it is a specialised translation (more expensive) or a general translation (cheaper).
General Direct Translation Price (Spanish > English)
This type of translation is divided into 2 tiers:
- Tier 1 (500 words): 0.07€/word
- Tier 2 (500+ words): 0.06€/word
So, for example, if we have an email of 650 words:
- Tier 1: 500 * 0.07 = 35€
- Tier 2: 150 * 0.06 = 9€
- Total: 44€ (gross)
Specialised Direct Translation Price (Spanish > English)
This type of translation is divided into 3 tiers:
- Tier 1 (200 words): 0.09€/word
- Tier 2 (200-500 words): 0.08€/word
- Tier 3 (500+ words): 0.07€/word
So, for example, if you need to translate a psychology article of 5,600 words:
- Tier 1: 200 * 0.09 = 18€
- Tier 2: 300 * 0.08 = 24€
- Tier 3: 5,100 * 0.07 = 357€
- Total: 399€ (gross)
General Inverse Translation Price (English > Spanish)
This type of translation is divided into 2 tiers:
- Tier 1 (500 words): 0.08€/word
- Tier 2 (500+ words): 0.07€/word
So, for example, if you need to translate a cover letter of 940 words:
- Tier 1: 500 * 0.08 = 40€
- Tier 2: 440 * 0.07 = 30.80€
- Total: 70.80€ (gross)
Specialised Inverse Translation Price (English > Spanish)
This type of translation is divided into 3 tiers:
- Text example: translation of a legal text.
- Tier 1 (200 words): 0.10€/word
- Tier 2 (200-500 words): 0.09€/word
- Tier 3 (500+ words): 0.08€/word
So, for example, if you need to translate a legal text of 3,400 words:
- Tier 1: 200 * 0.10 = 20€
- Tier 2: 300 * 0.09 = 27€
- Tier 3: 2,900 * 0.08 = 232€
- Total: 279€ (gross)
So, in summary, to give you a global idea of how prices would look depending on the type of translation, I leave you with the following table, imagining a text of 1,500 words:
| GENERAL | SPECIALISED | |
| DIRECT (ES > EN) | 95€ | 112€ |
| INVERSE (EN > ES) | 110€ | 127€ |
If you notice, the price difference is not that high, but of course, we are talking about 1,500 words. Imagine a translation of 6,000, 10,000, or 30,000 words. The difference increases as you add more words. Therefore, if you want to learn how to become a translator, one of the things you need to learn is to set your prices correctly and ensure they are worth your while, so you are not wasting your valuable time. I am not the most experienced translator, but I have been doing translations of many types for several years and have learned this lesson the hard way.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments. And until the next article, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂