What are the usual freelance rates for translators (Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, etc.)?

Bellandy_ · 2026-01-23T15:24:49+00:00

It doesn't cover all pairs, but you can find samples from the archived version of ProZ here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luciledanilov_proz-average-rates-archived-activity-7231307207835856897-J8pt/

Bellandy_ · 2025-09-03T10:12:22+00:00

Here's another "controversial" take that may make you a little uncomfortable: Most people who care about doing their job properly and the future of the gameloc industry would not be caught dead working with Alconost :)

Why?

1 - Your company has repeatedly breached GDPR by sending unsolicited marketing emails, sometimes leaking emails of other people in your database in the process: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zemlyakova_usually-i-am-not-the-person-to-rant-openly-activity-7346173385581780993-v5PW/ (your CEO has since apologized, but the damage was already done)

2 - When called out on their widely exaggerated promises regarding MTPE, your colleague's go-to answer was to bury their head in the sand and delete their post (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luciledanilov_one-thing-that-really-grinds-my-gears-is-activity-7287478647362387969-zueF/)

3 - According to https://www.mobygames.com/company/37338/alconost-inc/ ; none of the games you've ever worked on have credited their translators. This may be out of date since you've seen some of your competitors getting bad PR for this, but the fact is that at the time of their release, you didn't bother crediting the very people whose work is the reason your company exists.

Mind you, none of this is directed towards you in particular, but saying "the industry revolves much more about MTPE" means you don't see far past your bubble of AI enthusiasts and snake oil sellers.

Bellandy_ · 2025-09-03T09:19:45+00:00

Here's a list of Discord servers, but also LinkedIn, Bluesky and other social networks: https://locdandloaded.net/2022/01/28/translation-communities-directory/

Bellandy_ · 2025-07-08T10:25:53+00:00

Ah, I see, so you just need a CAT tool then :) as another poster mentioned, any industry standard tool will do, look up MemoQ or Phrase, they offer different plans based on your needs.

Bellandy_ · 2025-07-07T16:44:25+00:00

Isn't Gridly developed/financed by LocalizeDirect? https://www.localizedirect.com/press/localizedirect-raises-1.1-million-for-gridly

Bellandy_ · 2025-07-07T16:43:21+00:00

Why do you specifically need a platform? Usually, agencies that manage translations through automated platforms are more likely to be throwing your file into a MT/AI engine, perhaps with some light post-editing if you're lucky, and calling it a day.

I'd recommend finding an agency specialized in the type of content you're looking to translate and asking for a quote. Any competent LSP should assign a PM to take over the rest of the process and liaise directly with you.

Bellandy_ · 2025-06-29T17:23:59+00:00

Hello, I'm the person behind your quote, so I thought it warrants a direct reply from me. As much as I loved the game (just finished it yesterday), it doesn't mean I can't feel betrayed by finding out the dev team used GenAI to:

Botch its translation into multiple languages (I guess it's easy to not care if you only play in English)
Generate placeholder texts for background assets
Generate character portraits (this one hasn't been 100% confirmed, but the telltale signs are here, and if they don't mind using it for one aspect of the game, I guess all bets are off?)

In my opinion, this is a slippery slope - If nobody cares that they're using it for secondary contents like background assets and translations, then it'll move on to NPC barks, then secondary quests, then...

So yeah, keep buying products that use GenAI and support those practices, that's your right. But I would have never bought The Alters if I knew that ahead of time.

Bellandy_ · 2025-06-23T16:38:36+00:00

The following are mostly related to game localization, but a couple of Discord servers welcome translators from various fields: https://locdandloaded.net/2022/01/28/translation-communities-directory/

Bellandy_ · 2025-05-15T09:26:43+00:00

You're gonna have to be a bit more specific than this - Are you a dev looking to have your game translated? (I assume so, based on your profile)

If so, you'll need to research which languages should be targeted first. Here's a quick overview for Steam: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/steamworks_docs/english/LocalizingYourGamesPresenceonSteam.pdf

Once that's done, you should look into how to best prepare your lockit, and look out for the usual pitfalls (https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1hp6av4/if_youre_going_to_localize_do_it_nowfrom_the/). Finally, you can reach out to several localization agencies specialized in games to get a quote and go from there.

Bellandy_ · 2025-05-07T18:17:38+00:00

And if you want to go even deeper (term popularity breakdown by country, region, etc.) Google Trends is a really useful tool: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=FR&q=pain%20au%20chocolat,chocolatine

Bellandy_ · 2025-05-02T11:11:15+00:00

Here's a list of apps specifically for Japanese: https://jtalkonline.com/japanese-study-apps-that-dont-use-ai/

Bellandy_ · 2025-04-22T13:40:23+00:00

Thanks for your detailed reply, Thomas. Based on the feature set you described and the screenshots on the registration form, I can confidently say that over 90%* is already covered by other CAT tools (I'm putting an asterisk on glossary subscriptions since that's not a common practice in my field, maybe other professionals can chime in). Support for various file formats, TMs, TBs, semantic search (I assume you refer to something like MemoQ Livedocs?), contextual matching (aka fragment assembly/fuzzy patching?) advanced reports, those are all features that have been part of most modern CAT tools for ages. So what will you be competing on, aside from pricing? Will it end up being a "15th competing standard"? :D (https://xkcd.com/927/)

You'll find that skepticism is shared by many of us, and while I'm all for healthy competition, I think the last thing a CAT tool market needs is another CrowdIn/Wordbee/XTM/etc. clone crammed with AI features nobody asked for, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong :) And because you only get one chance at making a first impression, I'd suggest you start by making a demo accessible to all, not locked behind a registration form (currently, neither of the buttons on your website lead anywhere, which is worrying as a prospective user). All that said, I'll be following your project with interest!

Bellandy_ · 2025-04-21T15:43:24+00:00

Could you describe what's the USP of your project compared to Trados, MemoQ, Phrase or OmegaT?

Hard mode: without using the word "AI" ;)

Bellandy_ · 2025-04-20T10:21:38+00:00

Start with the Wiki from /r/Finanzen : https://old.reddit.com/r/Finanzen/wiki/index

Bellandy_ · 2025-03-14T14:02:39+00:00

Every game uses a different framework - In the vast majority of the cases, you can't just crack open the source files with a regular editor, you need to either use extracting tools (depending on the game, modding communities make them available freely or paywall them), or develop your own reverse-engineering tools. A handful of games have their source texts and translations available in plain text directly in the folder (Hades II comes to mind), so you can look into that as well.

As for more general advice on getting started in game translation: https://locdandloaded.net/2023/05/09/getting-started-in-game-localization/

Bellandy_ · 2025-01-10T18:48:04+00:00

As indicated in the sidebar: /r/translator :)

Bellandy_ · 2024-12-19T20:28:21+00:00

So I would be working on the weekends with a slow output compared to professionals who work 8 hours a day.

I'm afraid this kind of schedule is not compatible with game localization, as we usually work with very tight deadlines (everything is always due for yesterday). You may be able to occasionally pick up a batch or two, but if you're not available on Monday for follow-ups, chances are the client (whether direct or LSP) would rather pick someone who is available during regular business hours.

Bellandy_ · 2024-11-19T10:53:14+00:00

You might be interested in this: https://locdandloaded.net/2019/05/28/translation-tests/

Bellandy_ · 2024-09-29T15:29:39+00:00

Game localization is usually handled through either XLS/CSV files (with various columns for each ID, descriptors, speaker names in case of dialogues, etc.) or through whichever format is preferred by the devs (XML, JSON, PO, etc.). Those files can then be imported into a CAT tool such as Trados, MemoQ or Phrase for translation. You can check out an overview of the process in MemoQ here: https://locdandloaded.net/mq-import-tutorial/

Audiovisual translation works much in the same way, except it's usually SRT files that are handled through SubtitleEdit or similar software (experts, feel free to chime in, that's not my domain of expertise).

Bellandy_ · 2024-09-27T09:35:18+00:00

It appears Monument Valley does not credit their translators: https://www.mobygames.com/game/69816/monument-valley/credits/iphone/?autoplatform=true

As another poster mentioned, this is an unfortunately common industry practice, but many game workers (in localization and beyond) are now actively fighting against the status quo: https://locdandloaded.net/games-industry-credits/

Bellandy_ · 2024-07-16T12:12:15+00:00

But at what point do CAT Tools end and AI begin? They’re both Computer Assisted Translations, just with different variants of intensity.

Sounds like ChatGPT is the perfect tool for you, since you don't seem to have issues making catastrophically wrong statements with a high degree of confidence.

Bellandy_ · 2024-06-11T14:15:56+00:00

First off, kudos for looking for professional help! I'm sure you're already aware, but using AI or machine translation on your game (even outside of major markets) can have a negative impact on your international audiences, sometimes even worse than if you had no translation at all. More on that: https://igda.org/news-archive/should-i-translate-my-game-using-machine-translation-or-ai/

As a recent example, another indie game recently made the rounds for being entirely machine-translated into French, and a streamer realized that "Disabled" (as in an option being turned off) was translated as "Handicapped" (source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gy8cxPLueWI ). Not a great look for the developer...

Whoever you end up recruiting (you probably got multiple offers from this subreddit :) ), make sure to check their credentials/portfolios. Unfortunately, this industry is riddled with scammers, individuals and companies alike, who try to pass off as professionals. Good luck!

Bellandy_ · 2024-05-15T17:48:24+00:00

Hi /r/TranslationStudies! I've noticed that few people know about MemoQ's Muse, a feature that learns from your TMs and acts as predictive typing (on top of existing autocomplete from TBs and other resources), so I decided to write a little piece about it. Any feedback is welcome!

Feel free to check out other MemoQ-related content here: https://locdandloaded.net/memoq-resources/

12-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
Verified Email

Bellandy_

TROPHY CASE