I began translating in 1972: An unavoidable skill in grad school. There were no desktop computers back in the day, but we worked with keypunch machines (IBM 125 !) creating the dot matrices which eventually became kanji input. Started free-lancing with translations for theses and dissertations. Around 1974, I found my niche in S&T translation, combining my science minor with my language(s) major.

Preferring to sight bid, and give my final price right at the beginning, I have four categories which are also pricing, production and delivery guidelines. The advantage is that even if you do not read the languages you can at least count pages, which is how I make a firm bid. Secondly all parties know the cost for services before the work commences.

Bulk Rate:This is economical for book translations, newspaper extractions. Sometimes data tables fit in this category. Suitable for long term projects done in increments. Routine:Daily output, day after day, at 5,000 words per day. Economy pricing for repetitive jobs and tasks. The deadline is firm. Priority:You need to make your deadline so you can move forward and meet other deadlines. Firm deadline. Urgent:You needed the job done yesterday, and you must have it tomorrow.