Fee wizardry: a free online conversion tool

Ruby red slippers from Wizard of Oz

No, Dorothy, we’re in Kirkudbrightshire. And they
use £ here (for now, anyway), not $

I spent a lot of time the other day (way too much time) on preparing quotes for translation jobs. Some were based on fee(£)/word, and a couple on fee(€)/standard page (which in my case equates to 1500 characters including spaces, as calculated by Microsoft Word). If you too find yourself having to switch between calculation methods and/or currencies, you might find Alessandra Muzzi’s Fee Wizard, an online conversion tool, useful:

You usually charge in GBP per source word and need to know the equivalent rate in EUR per target line? Or your usual method is target line, 55 characters spaces included, and now you are asked to provide a quote per source page, 1500 characters spaces excluded? No more headaches with FeeWizard, a free tool offered by AMTrad Services.

Try it out, translators, editors, proofreaders and anyone else who charges by the page/word/line. Let us know in the comments how you you get on!

By Marian Dougan

Published by Marian Dougan

Marian is a translator and editor (specialising in web content) currently based in Glasgow, Scotland. Marian previously lived in Italy for over 20 years, working as a language teacher, translator and policy analyst with the British Embassy in Rome. A qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and its Italian-language and ITI Scotnet networks, she is currently Scotnet's Convenor and Deputy Webmaster. From 2003 to 2006 Marian taught translation skills at the Italian Department of Glasgow University and now gives Master Classes as part of the new Masters in Translation Studies course. She also conducts web-writing and usability workshops to help people improve their websites and communicate more effectively with their readers, users and customers. In September 2014 Marian obtained User Experience Certification, with specialisation in Web Design, from the Nielsen Norman Group. She loves language, especially English, and is convinced that learning languages opens up people’s minds and horizons (and increases their brainpower!). To share her enthusiasm, she advises schools and educational authorities on language skills and enterprise. She gives talks to pupils on how to combine language studies with other subjects and so enhance their potential and increase their career options. Marian is an active member of organisations such as: Scottish Council Development and Industry (SCDI); Association of Scottish Businesswomen; Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Scotland. She also loves architecture, design, fashion (British Vogue!), cities and chocolate. She’s a great fan of Twitter and you can also find her on Linkedin.

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