What do translation services actually cost?
Real per-word rates by content type, what makes prices rise or fall, and how to keep costs down without sacrificing quality. No games, just the numbers.
Professional translation costs between 0.05 and 0.15 EUR per word in the European market, depending on language pair and specialisation. For English-Spanish: business correspondence runs 0.09 to 0.12 EUR, marketing and web content 0.10 to 0.14 EUR, technical documents 0.11 to 0.15 EUR, and literary work 0.12 to 0.18 EUR per word. Sworn translations are quoted per document.
Why we publish our ranges when most agencies hide them
Most translation agencies make you request a quote before revealing any number. We think that wastes your time: if the budget does not fit, you should know in thirty seconds, not after two emails. So the indicative ranges are on this page, and the quote exists to turn a range into an exact, fixed figure for your specific document.
What the ranges cannot capture is your document: its repetitions (discounted), its formatting, its deadline and whether it needs certification. That is why the final quote, delivered within one business day, is always itemised and always fixed. The price you accept is the price you pay.
Translation cost per word, by content type
| Content type | Indicative rate (EN-ES, per word) | Pricing note |
|---|---|---|
| Business correspondence | 0.09 - 0.12 EUR | Emails, memos, non-legal documents |
| Website and marketing content | 0.10 - 0.14 EUR | Includes cultural adaptation; transcreation per piece |
| Technical and business documents | 0.11 - 0.15 EUR | Manuals, specifications, reports |
| Literary and editorial | 0.12 - 0.18 EUR | Style complexity drives the range |
| Sworn / certified translations | Per document | Quoted after seeing the document, fixed price |
| Rare language pairs | +20-40% | Japanese, Arabic, Nordic languages and similar |
What makes translation cost more, or less?
Upward pressure: specialisation (legal, medical, patents), certification requirements, rush deadlines, complex file formats and rare language pairs. Downward pressure: repeated content captured by translation memory, sending final text instead of drafts, realistic deadlines, and volume. On manuals and catalogues, memory discounts routinely cut the effective rate well below the headline per-word price, and every update after the first translation costs a fraction of the original.
The cheap-quote trap
If a quote is dramatically below market, the work is machine translation with cursory editing, no independent review, or a translator working outside their specialism. For throwaway content that can be fine, and we offer transparent AI-assisted workflows for exactly those cases. For contracts, medical content or anything public, the cost of redoing a failed translation, plus the damage it did, always exceeds the savings. Pay once.
How to get your exact price
Send the document, target languages and deadline to info@oriontranslations.com, via the quote form below, or by WhatsApp. Within one business day you receive a fixed, itemised price and a firm delivery date. Free, no obligation, and the price never moves after you accept.
A fixed price in one business day. No surprises, ever.
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Upload your document and tell us what you need. We respond within one business day with a fixed price and delivery date. No hidden costs. No obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- In the European market, professional translation typically costs 0.05 to 0.15 EUR per word depending on language pair and specialisation. As indicative English-Spanish ranges: standard business correspondence 0.09 to 0.12 EUR, website and marketing content 0.10 to 0.14 EUR, technical and business documents 0.11 to 0.15 EUR, and literary or editorial work 0.12 to 0.18 EUR per word.
- Sworn translations in Spain are priced per document or per page rather than per word, and the price depends on the exact document: word count, formatting and certification requirements. That is why serious providers quote sworn work only after seeing the document. Upload yours via the quote form and you will have a fixed price within one business day, at no cost or obligation.
- Four honest reasons: whether a qualified specialist or a generalist does the work, whether an independent second linguist reviews it, whether the price includes project management and formatting, and the language pair itself, since rare combinations cost more than English-Spanish. A suspiciously cheap quote usually means machine translation with light editing and no review.
- Yes. Combinations like Japanese, Arabic, Chinese or the Nordic languages typically run 20 to 40 percent above English-Spanish rates, because fewer qualified professionals cover them. We quote rare pairs per project rather than publishing a misleading flat number.
- Three levers that actually work: translation memory, which discounts repeated content and makes updates cheap; sending final (not draft) text, so you pay for one version; and planning realistic deadlines, since rush surcharges are avoidable. For high-volume, low-risk content, AI-assisted translation with professional post-editing cuts cost further, and we tell you honestly when it fits.
- No. Interpreting (spoken) is priced per day or half-day, not per word, and depends on the event duration, languages, specialisation and location. Audiovisual work such as subtitling and dubbing is priced per minute of content. Each needs the project details for an accurate figure.
- Send the document, the target languages and your deadline via the quote form, by email to info@oriontranslations.com, or by WhatsApp. You receive a fixed all-inclusive price and a firm delivery date within one business day. The quote is free, and the price never changes after acceptance.