How much should you pay for a Korean to English translator?

Over the past few years we have handled hundreds of review requests as a third party reviewer. There are a few reasons why clients request a third party review of translated files. One of the most common reasons is that one of their clients or customers complained about mistranslations or errors, and now it’s time to determine if their claims have any merit. Another reason is that often clients want to spot check material and make sure that the translations are fully correct and that quality concerns are not creeping into their Korean to English translations.

As more and more people who speak Korean and English enter the Korean to English translation field, filling the increase in demand for Korean to English translators, competition will likely continue to intensify.

When we first started out offering Korean to English translation services more than 10 years ago there were so few competent translators around who understood both Korean and English that clients were willing to pay whatever we quoted. However, we have lost a few big projects to cheaper and less experienced translators, over the past few years. Fortunately, most of these clients have returned at the last minute pleading for us to repair a low-quality translation they ordered elsewhere. Based on the volatility of the economy these days, we absolutely understand companies trying to keep costs low. In the end, it’s clear that there is a temptation to go for the cheapest solution when it comes to translation, often with disastrous results.

We are certainly not claiming that by choosing a cheaper Korean-English translator that the end quality will be poor. There are a number of places in the world where the cost of living is so low that translators could easily support themselves on very low rates. However, many of these regions are outside of the English-speaking zone, and so such translators may not be native English speakers.

The main question to consider is, how important is your Korean to English translation request? Does it involve information you will be using to make a legal, insurance, or financial claim? Before going with the lowest cost translator you can find, make sure you are aware of the possible fallout if they cannot get the job done right. It is likely that someone with somewhat more experience will charge a bit higher than the lowest cost solution. If you try and track down another translator to fix things up, it’s possible they will need to do a fresh Korean to English translation, and the rate may be even higher than Translator A.

We’ll simplify the rate for ease of illustration. Let’s say Translator A was $100. Their delivery didn’t make the cut - it’s hard to understand, and has poor formatting. You then go ahead and contact Translator B. Their quote is $175. Another translator, Translator C, who uses the model below charges $300.

Translator A ($100) + Translator B ($175) = $275.

This is still cheaper than Translator C, but it may take more than twice the time for two separate translators to complete their work.

Based on our experience, Translator B likely has a good flow of work from another of their clients with the following arrangement, so for some requests, it may make sense to choose Translator B instead of Translators A or C. However, for some other cases, it may be best to go with Translator C from the beginning, for added peace of mind on important requests.

Paying more is by no means a reflection of the quality you receive when it comes to translation, so it does pay to shop around and compare options, as well as translation experience and competency. Consider how valuable the end product is to you or your organization, but also how much you value quick and accurate delivery, as opposed to going through a number of options and taking weeks to find the best deal.

Korean to English translator + Korean to English proofreader - monolingual English editor (a good editor who doesn’t know any Korean).

This set-up ensures that the translated file is reviewed from a few angles prior to final submission. Even the best of translators benefit from working in this type of team format. When we started working with this type of model, the feedback we received from colleagues was something that really helped in improving our translation craft.