Prices

Prices: What does a translation or editing job cost?

The prices for specialized translations (such as of legal texts), personal document translations and editing and proofreading are calculated differently.

Personal documents

I calculate the price for a certified translation of a personal document from English into German or German into English by estimating the amount of time that I would take to do it. This depends on how much text there is and the amount of formatting work that has to be done, both of which can vary greatly. The translation has to resemble the original document closely enough for them to be easily compared. In many cases, I actually take longer to do the formatting than the actual translation.

The minimum price for a basic birth certificate without much text or complicated tables is 35 euros (including value-added tax). The prices go up from there.

Legal translations

In Germany, translations are charged either by the word or by standard line (55 characters including spaces) in the source text. How the text is formatted doesn’t affect the price. There is now a clear trend toward charging by the word.

Official documents are often still charged by “standard line,” which isn’t actually much of a standard because there is very little agreement on how long it is. Government bodies and courts calculate on the basis of Article 11 of the German Judicial Remuneration and Compensation Act (JVEG), which since mid-2025 prescribes a price of 1.95 euros per 55 strokes (including spaces) in the target language. This traditional method is also still used by many large translation agencies. Outside the judicial context, lines anywhere between 50 and 55 characters long are used. Because German words are longer than English words on average, charging by the line in the target language benefits translators who translate from English into German.

However, for quite a few years there has been a general trend away from line-based prices. Today they are predominantly calculated on the basis of words. The German Translators and Interpreters Association also recommends this approach.

My usual price for legal translations from German into English is 26 euro cents per word in the source text, with a minimum total price of 50 euros. Value-added tax (VAT) at the rate of 19% is additionally charged.

Urgency: If a translation is needed faster than usual there is an express surcharge, especially if I have to work outside normal office hours to complete it on time.
I’m also willing to work on weekends and holidays and in the evening if a translation can only be completed by the stipulated deadline by doing so but charge 50% extra for this service.
File format: I charge at least 10% extra for translating PPT, XML and PDF files in their original format, depending on the amount of extra work involved.

I’m happy to make you an individual offer for a translation if you send me the text (or at least an excerpt that gives me a good idea of what is involved).

I reserve the right to charge a higher line price if this is warranted by a job’s urgency, level of difficulty and formatting requirements:

The prices given above are primarily for law offices, translation companies, notaries public and corporate clients and additionally subject to 19 % VAT.

Editing and proofreading

I charge editing and proofreading work at the rate of 50 euros an hour plus 19% VAT. Please note that I only edit and correct English-language texts.

For basic proofreading – checking a text for typos, spelling errors and grammatical mistakes – I need a minimum of several minutes per page, resulting in a price of around four euros* per page (1500 characters). It can also take longer and cost correspondingly more.

Thorough editing – in other words, not only checking a text for typing mistakes and spelling and grammar errors but also improving its style and coherence – the price can amount to around seven euros* an hour (or more, depending on how much work is involved).

* The prices for editing and proofreading are addressed mainly to business clients, and 19% VAT is therefore additionally charged.

It’s difficult to calculate a lump-sum price for this type of work in advance since the amount of time needed depends mainly on how much needs to be corrected – and I don't really know that until I've worked on a job for a while.

Gregory Woods, Translator and Editor

Gründenseestr. 34

D-60386 Frankfurt am Main

+49 (0) 69 90 54 58 52 • english@mrwoods.de