Q: What is your rate? The Quote/Orçamento form on the website front page is there to gather the information I need to frame a proper answer. One reason I am affordable is that my software performs some secretarial functions while I am anxiously meeting deadlines.
Q: What is your rate? A: Show me a sample, tell me how fast you want it done, when & how you intend to pay for it, and I'll give you a bid. Those who pay soonest pay least.
Q: What is your rate? A: Again, I translate in three different directions covering several different subject areas. Please be specific, use the form, send a sample, and I'll provide a timely bid.
Q: What is your rate? A: Tell me what you are willing to pay, send me the required sample, and I'll either send you a bid or turn you down.
Q: What is your rate? A: Your web site fields no such question. The agency websites I visit ask the same questions I ask. Once you extend the courtesy of dealing with others on an equal footing, the bids you obtain will be prompt, timely and as low as reciprocal courtesy permits.
Q: Can't you give me a ballpark figure? A: I deal in precision, not guesswork, and I like to know who I am dealing with.
Q: I have ten documents aggregating 100 pages and no time to separate out samples... can't you just guess? A: Then I suggest you send the title and page count of each document, and several pages chosen at random. These I will examine in absolute confidence and bid responsibly rather than blindly.
Q: What is your rate? A: Another problem is that beginners--with no experience or knowledge of the market--call and pretend to be agencies in an effort to trick professional translators into bidding for them. You'd be amazed how many poseurs with no credentials or experience surround the language industry.
Q: What is your rate? A: Another problem is that rates change with time and technology--like the price of fish on a restaurant chalkboard. I cannot today bid the way I did in August 2001. Translators who blurt out facile answers to ill-posed questions are taken to have priced themselves out of the market for unseen work years after the fact.
Q: I have a document which I am not showing you. What is your rate for translating it into Spanish? A: I neither bid on unseen documents nor translate into Spanish.
Q: What is your rush rate? A: Show me a sample and let me know your expectations, and I'll send you a bid.
Q: Do you have a minimum charge? A: No. For single-paragraph or similar small tasks I charge amazingly low rates, and my turnaround is about as fast as your payment via the PayPal button on my home page.
Q: Do you translate school, marriage and personal documents for agencies? A: No, not for agencies. Thelma Sabim is in charge of that department.
Q: Do you sign hold-harmless agreements? A: No, but I understand there are insurance companies in the liabilities business eager to work with you on that score.
Q: Do you sign market allocation agreements? A: No, those are illegal. I realize lots of folks like to dress them up as confidentiality agreements, but I doubt federal prosecutors would be fooled.
Q: What's to stop you from robbing "my" clients? Greed, and good sense. Most of the companies that hire large agencies would never dream of hiring a freelance outfit. They prefer artificial persons like themselves. I never contact companies for work anyway. I let them find me on the internet, and when they do, they have every right to hire me and I have the right to work for them. It doesn't matter whose work they were not satisfied with.
Q: Are you ATA-accredited? A: Yes: English into Portuguese, Portuguese into English & Spanish into English. (see credentials link main page) I also translate Spanish to Portuguese, for which there is no accreditation.
Q: Do you have a University degree? A: Yes, a Bachelor's in Portuguese/Spanish (see credentials link main page). Before that I majored briefly in Engineering & Mathematics.
Q: How long have you been in business? A: Since 1987 in the US. Formally, with a registered dba, since April of 1990. My second company, Portugueseinterpreter.com, was organized in 2002.
Q: Will you translate a document using expensive dongleware, waive payment for what we regard as "repeated" words and give us the "memory" glossary at no extra charge? A: Not any more than you would. I spent over a thousand dollars on terminology managers and dongleware to speed up my output and get around goofy formatting. Nobody ever offers me more for having made the investment. I write flat-fee, turnkey or per-word bids with full awareness of competitive market conditions. All terminological information I compile is mine to dispose of as I see fit.
Q: Will you translate hypertext for the same price as ordinary text? A: No, but I'm willing to bid on website translations. The several websites I have in the US and Brazil are my own work, and am familiar with how they hang together.
Q: Do you interpret for Texas state courts? A: Yes, but since enactment of the bribery law whereby some persons can buy a license with no testing required, a party can stipulate in a motion that a licensed interpreter must be used. Because of the uncertainty this raises for honest interpreters, I charge in advance for such assignments. If you want a record of all the errors committed by a court interpreter licensed for Portuguese, my fee for producing that is not high.
Q: Will you agree to let us decide whether to pay you the full amount based on our subjective assessment of your work? A: Nope. I agree to be objectively accountable for my own errors or omissions. That is covered in the "satisfactory" link in my standard agreement. You'll need a password to access that part of the site.
Q: Will you waive copyright before you even begin a work for hire? A: Nope, and the question does alert me about your intentions. Anyone who has ever read a Federal Form TX Copyright application knows that works for hire--that is, for pay--automatically belong to the party paying for the work.

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