How to write a translation agency quote, with pricing examples

What to take away

The eleven blocks

1. Reference and date. A quote number, the date issued, and an expiry date. Rates and linguist availability both move. Thirty days is a common expiry.

2. What is being translated. Named files, with a version or a date stamp for each. "The website" is not an identified deliverable.

3. Source assumption. The condition you assume the source arrives in: final, editable, and complete. State what happens if it is not. This block prevents more arguments than any other.

4. Language set. Source language, and each target listed as a locale rather than a language where the market matters. Spanish for Mexico and Spanish for Spain are different deliverables with different conventions. A quote that says only "Spanish" leaves the choice to a linguist who will guess.

5. Content breakdown. The output of the analysis, expressed in bands. Show what proportion is new, what repeats internally, and what matches existing memory, and say which bands are charged at which proportion of the base rate. New content is normally 100 percent, internal repetition about 50 percent, and full memory matches 0 to 25 percent.

6. Services included. Translation, revision by a second linguist, terminology work, layout, and any engineering, each listed as in or out. Silence reads as included. If revision sits outside the base rate, price it: a monolingual second pass commonly runs 30 to 50 percent of the translation line.

7. Review model. Whether the client's own reviewer is in the cycle, when their window opens and closes, and what happens if it closes with no comment.

8. Deliverable format. What you hand back, and whether that includes the memory or termbase.

9. Schedule. Start condition, milestones, and delivery date, all expressed as offsets from receipt of the final source rather than as fixed calendar dates. For planning, one translator covers about 1,500 to 2,500 words a day on business text, and less on technical or regulated text.

10. Change trigger. One sentence a project manager can apply without calling you.

11. Total and terms. The number, what it excludes, and the payment terms. Net 30 with a 30 to 50 percent deposit is common, as is a minimum order of $50 to $150 so that short jobs still cover setup.

Worked example: a document translation quote

The ranges below are typical US market figures as of 2026. Your own cost model supplies the final rate.

Quote Q-[number], issued [date], valid until [date]
Deliverable: [filename], version [n], received [date]
Source assumption: final and editable. Text embedded in images
  is quoted separately once identified.
Languages: [source] into [locale A], [locale B]
Analysis:
  new content            [n] units at [base rate]
  internal repetition    [n] units at [share] of base
  memory matches         [n] units at [share] of base

Included: translation, revision by a second linguist,
  delivery in the source format
Not included: layout rebuilding, certified output,
  additional review rounds beyond the first
Client review: [n] business days from delivery. If no comment
  is received in that window the files are treated as accepted.

Schedule: delivery [n] business days from receipt of final source
Change trigger: any change to the source after the start date,
  or any additional locale, is quoted as a separate change order.
Total: [amount], payment terms [terms]

A 12,000-word product manual, English into Spanish (Mexico) and Spanish (Spain), breaks down as 7,000 new words, 3,000 words of internal repetition, and 2,000 words that match the client's existing memory.

At a $0.22 base rate, which sits mid-range for English into Spanish, the three bands price like this.

Two locales double the language lines to $3,960. Layout of 40 pages at $10 to $25 a page adds $400 to $1,000. Termbase setup, when a vendor charges it, adds $75 to $250. A quote for the pair typically lands between $4,400 and $5,200 before any rush surcharge.

Revision by a second linguist is assumed inside that base rate. Billed separately as a bilingual pass, it adds 50 to 100 percent of the translation line, so $990 to $1,980 per locale.

Delivery runs 5 to 8 working days per locale once the final source arrives: 12,000 words at 1,500 to 2,500 words a day. Both locales run in parallel, so the calendar does not double.

Worked example: an interface string quote

The same eleven blocks, with three differences that matter.

A typical export holds 1,200 strings averaging six words, so about 7,200 words per locale. Agencies price strings at $0.15 to $0.35 each or by the words inside them, and the two methods land close together. Expect roughly $0.20 to $0.30 per word for German and $0.25 to $0.40 for Japanese.

Import, export, and a build handover are engineering work, billed at $75 to $150 an hour or a flat $250 to $600 per batch.

Deliverable: the string file, 1,200 strings, exported on the freeze date. Source assumption: strings come with context notes and character limits. Strings without limits are translated to natural length and may not fit.

Included: translation, revision, and a length check against those limits. Not included: layout fixes in the build, testing in the running product.

Change trigger: strings added or edited after the freeze date are a new batch.

Crowdin and Lokalise both run QA checks that flag any string over a character limit set in the project. That turns the length problem into a report you can send before delivery. Weglot's website plans are tiered by translated words and language count, which suits marketing pages rather than product strings.

Phrase and Smartling move to custom, account-level pricing as volume grows, so ask for a per-string rate at your volume rather than a list price. Rate benchmarks by language pair also circulate through Slator and CSA Research, which publish localization market data.

Note the third line: length behavior turns a clean string project into an emergency. The same idea can take noticeably more or fewer characters in another language, and a button designed around the source text can break.

Requesting limits at quote time is cheap, but finding the problem in a release build is not. A length check at quote time belongs in the project delivery checklist before translation starts.

Two habits that make quotes win

Explain the breakdown in one sentence. "About two fifths of this file has already been translated for you, so the new words carry the full rate and the repeated words carry half of it." A buyer who understands that will forgive a rate they thought was high.

Quote the option they did not ask for. If a client asks for translation only and the content is going in front of customers, quote translation with revision as a second option and say plainly what the difference is. Presenting both is more useful than arguing for one.

What to keep and what to be careful claiming

Everything a quote asserts about coverage, turnaround, or who performs the work is a claim you may be held to. The FTC guidance on advertising and claims for small businesses sets the standard: claims must be truthful and supported. Write only what you can staff.

File the issued quote, the analysis it came from, and any change orders together against the project. That is how you reconstruct a price a year later, and it meets the expectation described in the IRS guidance on business records that records support what was billed.

If the quote covers spoken interpreting as well as written work, split it into two quotes. They are separate professions with separate scheduling, as the occupational description of the two sets out, and one document covering both invites confusion about what was promised.

Conference interpreters in the US commonly bill $500 to $900 a day with a two-hour minimum, while written work is priced per word. A blended line hides which of those costs you are quoting.

The numbers that fill the tokens come from the seven-step method for building a rate from cost upward and the break-even arithmetic for the month.

The policy behind the band rates sits in the pricing and profit guide. Once accepted, the quote becomes the input to onboarding and running the project. How the quote reaches the right buyer at all is a separate problem covered in demand generation for language services.

Common questions

Why are the example prices ranges rather than one agency's rate card?

Because a price only means something against a specific cost base, pair mix, and set of payment terms. A single figure printed here would anchor you to someone else's cost structure instead of your own. The table gives ranges, and your cost model sets the number.

Should the quote show the analysis breakdown?

Usually yes. It is the strongest argument you have, and hiding it makes the total look arbitrary.

How long should a quote stay valid?

Long enough for the client's approval process and no longer. Thirty days covers most approvals. Linguist availability is the constraint, not your rate.

What if the client wants a single number with no conditions?

Give them one, and keep the conditions in the scope note anyway. A total with no scope is not simpler. It is a dispute scheduled for later.