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Woodside Translation Translation Office
Get an estimate
A desk with a document, a pencil and a calculator under a lamp

What would this cost

Get an estimate

About eight questions, every line of the arithmetic shown, and four worked examples printed further down this page before you answer any of them.

  • At most eight steps
  • Every line shown, not just the total
  • Not an offer, and not binding

What this does, and what it cannot do

Arithmetic on what you type, shown line by line. It is worth knowing which of those two words is doing the work before you spend four minutes on it.

The estimator asks about eight questions, branches on the first one, and adds up the same rates that are printed in full on the rate card. It shows every line it adds rather than only the answer, because a figure you cannot check is a figure you have to take on trust, and this is the page where that would matter most.

Where you have counted something — pages, mostly — it returns a figure. Where you have estimated something, it returns a range, because that is what an estimate of an estimate is. A band of length always prices at the top of the band, deliberately: a figure that comes in under the eventual quote has misled somebody, and the direction of the error is the whole difference between a useful number and an irritating one.

Here is the list of things it is not able to do. None of them is a limitation this software could be improved out of.

  • It cannot know how many words are actually on your document, which is why anything estimated rather than counted comes back as a range.
  • It cannot tell you which document to file or which certification your case needs. That is legal advice and nobody at a translation counter may give it to you.
  • It cannot promise that the office you send it to will accept it. Nobody can, and a company that offers to is offering you a refund policy under another name.
  • It does not include an authority's own fee for an apostille, which is set by the state, changes, and is passed on at what it costs.
  • It prices a band at the top of the band, on purpose, so the figure is the most it should be rather than the least.

Four estimates, worked out before you answer anything

These are not illustrations. Each one was produced by running the same calculation the page below runs, on the answers described, against the rates on the rate card.

A calculator whose answers you cannot read in advance is asking you for four minutes on trust. So the four commonest shapes of job in this office are worked through here first, with every line shown — what the translation costs, what each act that is not translation costs, what the total comes to and how many working days it takes.

Read the one nearest to your own document. If the figure is roughly what you expected, the estimator will take you four minutes and tell you something more exact. If it is not, that is worth knowing before you spend them.

A Colombian birth certificate for an immigration filing

One page of Spanish, certified, standard turnaround, PDF only — which is what most filings want and all most people need.

How that is arrived at

  • Certified translation
    1 page at $32 the page, group one     $32
  • Minimum charge
    Raised to the $60 minimum     $28
  • Estimated total $60

two days of work. Starting the working day after we have a legible copy of everything.

What goes with it: a certificate of accuracy.

Small jobs meet the $60 minimum, because the checking, the formatting and the certificate take the same time on one page as on three.

A Polish university transcript going back to Poland

Four pages of Polish, certified, notarised and apostilled, with a signed hard copy in the post, because the receiving ministry wants paper with a seal on it.

How that is arrived at

  • Certified translation
    4 pages at $38 the page, group two     $152
  • Notarised signature
    $25     $25
  • Apostille handling
    $95     $95
  • Signed hard copy, posted
    $15     $15
  • Estimated total $287

seven days of work. Starting the working day after we have a legible copy of everything.

What goes with it: a certificate, notarised, and an apostille.

The authority's own fee for the apostille is not in this figure and is not ours to quote. It is set by the state, it changes, and we pass it on at what it costs.

A supply contract from an Italian manufacturer

About nine thousand words of Italian, legal, with a second translator reading it before it goes out, and no certificate because nobody official will ever see it.

How that is arrived at

  • Legal
    9,000 words at 24 cents a word, group one     $2,160
  • Independent second reading
    9,000 words at 8 cents a word     $720
  • Estimated range $2,448 to $3,312

six days of work. Starting the working day after we have a legible copy of everything.

An interpreter at a clinic appointment

One interpreter in the room for an appointment somebody thinks will take an hour, which in a clinic it never does.

How that is arrived at

  • On site, consecutive
    2 hours at $115 the hour     $230
  • Estimated total $230

The minimum booking for this is two hours, so that is what the figure covers even though you asked for less.

Who is going to read it changes what you should buy

The estimator asks this because it is the question that most often saves somebody money, and it is the one nobody thinks to ask themselves.

None of the answers below changes a rate. What they change is how many of the acts that are not translation you actually need, and the commonest expensive mistake in this trade is buying a notarial signature that the office receiving the document never asked for. The six paragraphs here are the ones the estimator will show you at the end; they are printed on the page as well so that you can read them without answering anything.

  • A United States federal agency

    A certificate of accuracy is almost always the whole requirement, and a notarial signature is almost always money you did not need to spend. Nobody can promise you the filing will be accepted — that is the agency's decision and it turns on several things a translator has no part in.

    You may be buying more than you need. The estimator says so if you choose more than a certificate, signed before a notary public.

  • A court or an attorney here

    Your attorney will say what form they want and it is worth asking before you buy: some want a notarised certificate for an exhibit and most do not. If what you actually need is somebody to interpret at a hearing, ask the court rather than us — courts appoint their own interpreters.

  • A university, a school or a licensing board

    The certificate is usually enough. Ask the same office which credential evaluators it accepts before you pay anybody, because a translation and an evaluation are two different products and most evaluators want the translation first.

    You may be buying more than you need. The estimator says so if you choose more than a certificate, signed before a notary public.

  • A consulate, a ministry or an authority in another country

    This is the one where the extra steps are usually real. Many countries want a notarised signature and an apostille, and some want a translation made by a translator their own state has appointed — which is not something anybody in New York can be. Tell us the country and we will say which of the three it is.

  • An employer, a bank, an insurer or somebody else private

    A private reader sets their own rule and it is usually the lightest one. The certificate is plenty; ask them whether they want even that before paying for it.

    You may be buying more than you need. The estimator says so if you choose more than a certificate, signed before a notary public.

  • Nobody has told you which

    Then start with the certificate, which is what most offices take, and ask the office that wrote to you two questions: whether they want it notarised, and whether they want paper. Those two answers are the whole difference between the cheapest version of this job and the most expensive one.

    You may be buying more than you need. The estimator says so if you choose more than a certificate of accuracy.

If the office that wrote to you has not told you which form of certification it wants, ask it two questions — whether it wants the signature notarised, and whether it wants paper. Those two answers are the whole distance between the cheapest version of this job and the most expensive one.

What each of those steps costs

Now the questions

About eight of them, and which ones you see depends on your first answer. Nothing leaves this browser until you press send.

About this estimate. This estimator does arithmetic on what you typed and nothing else. It is not an offer, it does not bind anybody, and this is a demonstration site — no document sent here is read by anybody. A real quote follows a person reading the actual document, and it is the one to rely on.

Every question, on one page

This is the version that works without JavaScript. It asks everything at once rather than branching, so answer the questions that apply to you and leave the rest at their first option — the office prices the branch your first answer chooses and ignores the others.

What do you need?

This decides everything else. The three answers go to three different parts of the office.

What language is it in?

Into English, from any of these. What changes the price is how many people in this city work in the pair, and nothing else.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept; or A file for work — a contract, a manual, a website

Where does it happen?

In the room, down a line, or simultaneously through headsets.

Answer this only if you chose: Somebody to interpret, in a room or on a line

What sort of document is it?

It does not change the price. It changes what we will tell you to check before you send it.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept

What kind of work is it?

The rate follows the discipline, and the whole card is on the rate page if you would rather read it.

Answer this only if you chose: A file for work — a contract, a manual, a website

Roughly how long will it take?

Two hours is the minimum booking. An appointment somebody says will take an hour rarely does.

Answer this only if you chose: On site, consecutive — One interpreter, in the room, taking turns with the speaker.

Roughly how long will it take?

Booked in half-hour blocks, and often available the same day.

Answer this only if you chose: Remote, video or telephone — The same work down a line, in half-hour blocks.

How long is the session?

Three hours is the minimum, and simultaneous work always needs two interpreters.

Answer this only if you chose: Simultaneous, with equipment — Two interpreters in a booth, working in twenty-minute turns.

How much of it is there?

A page here is two hundred and fifty words, not a sheet of paper. A one-sheet birth certificate is one page; a dense sheet of a court order can be three. A band is priced at its top, so the figure is the most it should be rather than the least.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept

About how long is it?

A word count from the file it came out of is best. A guess is fine — the estimate comes back as a range for exactly that reason, and a band is priced at its top.

Answer this only if you chose: A file for work — a contract, a manual, a website

Who is going to read it?

This does not change the price either. It changes what we will tell you about the certification you are about to choose, which is usually where money is wasted.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept

Do you want a second translator to read it before it goes out?

Priced by the word and worth it where the text is going to be relied on or argued about. It is included rather than extra on anything certified.

Answer this only if you chose: A file for work — a contract, a manual, a website

What certification does the office want?

If you do not know, choose the certificate. It is what most filings take, and the result will tell you when the person you named usually wants more than that.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept

How do you want it back?

The PDF is included whichever you pick. Paper is the part that costs.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept

When do you need it?

Speed is a multiplier on the translation and on nothing else — never on the notary's fee or the authority's.

Answer this only if you chose: A document somebody official has to accept; or A file for work — a contract, a manual, a website

Send this to the office

We will read what you described, tell you whether the estimate is close, and say what to check before you send the document. Nothing here is a commitment on either side.

An estimate and a quote are two different objects

The second one is the one to rely on, and it is the one that follows a person reading your actual document.

An estimate and a quote are different objects. An estimate is arithmetic on what you typed. It is not an offer, it does not bind anybody, and it will move if the document turns out to be longer, in worse condition or a different thing from what it was described as. The quote that follows somebody reading it is the one to rely on.

Nobody is on the other end of this. This is a demonstration website. Woodside Translation is not a real translation company, nobody answers the telephone number on this site, no document sent here is read by anybody, and no estimate produced here is an offer. If you have a filing deadline or a document that has to be accepted by an agency, a court or a consulate, please instruct a real translation company.

What happens after you send a document — who reads it, when you hear a figure, and where a delay actually comes from — is set out step by step on its own page.

How a job runs, from the photograph to the post