How Long Does Professional Translation Take?

Baseline Speed: Where 6–8 Pages per Day Comes From

One standard translation page is 1,800 characters with spaces of translated text. This is not an arbitrary number but an industry standard established in Russian state standards (GOST) and used by most translation agencies in Russia.

A speed of 6–8 pages per day (10,800–14,400 characters) includes:

• The actual translation — 4–5 hours
• Self-review by the translator — 1–1.5 hours
• Working with terminology databases and references — 30–60 minutes

This speed applies to medium-complexity texts in common languages (English, German, French). For rare languages (Japanese, Korean, Arabic) and highly specialized texts, speed drops to 4–5 pages per day.

5 Factors That Affect Deadlines

1. Subject matter and complexity. Translating a marketing brochure — 8–10 pages per day. Translating a patent application with claims — 3–4 pages. Medical clinical trial protocol — 4–5 pages. A 2–3x difference.

2. Language pair. European languages are translated faster due to shared structure and available terminology databases. Chinese, Japanese, Korean require more time for character processing and context verification.

3. Source text quality. Handwritten documents, low-quality scans, texts with typos — all add deciphering time. Clean text in Word or selectable PDF format is ideal.

4. Formatting requirements. If complex layout needs to be reproduced — tables, diagrams, formulas — budget an additional 20–30% time for DTP (desktop publishing).

5. Translation Memory availability. If you previously translated similar documents with us, we use TM — a database of previously translated segments. This can speed up work by 20–50% and simultaneously reduce cost: discounts apply for matches (fuzzy matches 75–99%).

Rush Translation: When the ×1.5 Surcharge Applies

Rush translation means completing an order in timeframes that exceed standard productivity. A ×1.5 cost multiplier applies when:

• Volume exceeds 8 pages with a 1 business day deadline
• Work on weekends or holidays
• Need for overnight translation (to accommodate time zone differences)

To ensure rush delivery, we distribute the project among multiple translators. One coordinator ensures terminology consistency through a shared glossary in SDL Trados or memoQ. For projects of 50+ pages per day, 3–5 translators and 1–2 editors work in parallel.

Maximum guaranteed speed: up to 30 pages in 24 hours for one language pair. For multilingual projects, all languages are processed simultaneously.

How Translation Memory Speeds Up Projects

Translation Memory (TM) is a technology that saves every translated segment (sentence or paragraph) in a database. When translating new text, the CAT system automatically finds matches:

• 100% match — exact match. The translator checks context and confirms. Time savings — up to 90%.
• Fuzzy match (75–99%) — partial match. The translator edits the differing part. Savings — 30–60%.
• No match (0–74%) — new text, translated from scratch.

Real example: a client translates monthly technical documentation updates of 40–60 pages. Thanks to TM accumulated over 2 years, matches reach 45–60%, and translation that previously took 8 business days is now completed in 4.

Typical Timelines by Document Type

Approximate timelines for standard (non-rush) translation with editing:

• Passport, certificate, reference letter (1–2 pages) — 1 business day
• Agreement, contract (10–20 pages) — 2–3 business days
• Technical manual (30–50 pages) — 5–7 business days
• Medical dossier (100–200 pages) — 15–25 business days
• Book / monograph (300+ pages) — 40–60 business days

The exact timeline depends on the language pair and complexity. Send your file — we'll calculate cost and timeline within 30 minutes. Current prices — on the Prices page. More about the process — Written Translation.

How to Shorten Deadlines Without Losing Quality

Recommendations we give clients based on 13 years of practice:

1. Send editable files (Word, Excel, InDesign) rather than scans. This saves up to 20% preparation time.
2. Provide glossary and TM if you previously translated with another agency. We work with SDLXLIFF, XLIFF, TMX, TBX formats.
3. Specify the usage context. Text for internal use can be translated faster than text for publication.
4. Plan ahead. Orders placed 5+ business days before the deadline are always cheaper and higher quality than rush jobs.