2009 survey

     
Thanks for taking part! Please base your answers on information for the 2009 calendar year (from January 1 to December 31, 2009)
   

For some questions, answers are not required. If you do not wish to answer a question or cannot answer it, go straight to the next one.
   

(Your answers to this questionnaire are naturally anonymous. Survey results will be posted in the public area of the SFT site at www.sft.fr)
 

    
Professional information

Are you an SFT member?

Mandatory question

Are you

Are you based in France or in another country?
Mandatory question

Which region are you based in?
Mandatory question

Which country are you based in?
Mandatory question

Drop-down lists below post only the first 30 countries in the alphabetical order, to seize the first letters of the country to help in the selection.

    
Professional information
  

Do you hold one or more higher-education qualifications?

Mandatory question

How many years of higher education have you completed?

Mandatory question

Is your degree in translation and/or interpreting?

Mandatory question

Translation experience: how long have you been in the profession?

Mandatory question

Were you in another field of activity before you became a translator?

How old were you when you began translating professionally?

    
Business sectors and education
    

Indicate what percentage of your revenues come from each sector.
The total must be 100%
If tou did not work in a given sector, tick 0 %
Mandatory question

Note that the business sectors below are intentionally very broad to allow for as many areas of specialization as possible.
To see what sub-sectors are included in each, go to the list on the SFT site:
www.sft.fr/fo/public/adherent/recherche/index&avance=1

Click English at the top of the screen, click Advanced search, then click Area and sub-area of specialization.

How many professional training courses did you attend in 2009?

Mandatory question

   
Language pairs
  

Please indicate your main language pairs, each of which should account for at least 20% of your revenues. You can enter up to five pairs.
     

How many language pairs do you personally work in?

Mandatory question

Please enter your language pairs in diminishing order of their contribution to your revenues.   

Drop-down lists below post only the first 30 languages in the alphabetical order, to seize the first letters of the language to help in the selection.

   
Salaried translators
 

Are you a salaried translator?
(Note that for these questions, independent professionals in France receiving salaries under arrangements such as portage or sociétés coopératives de production (SCOP) are not considered salaried employees of a business entity, government department or institution)

Mandatory question
 

   
You and your employer
     

Is the entity you work for in?

Is your employer based in

Mandatory question

What sector does your employer operate in?
Mandatory question

Do you work for a translation agency/company?

Mandatory question

   
How many employees does the entity you work for have?

How many in-house translation professionals does it employ?

How long has the entity you work been in existence?

Are you a civil servant?

What type of employment contract do you have?

Do you work:

Mandatory question

How long have you worked for your current employer (business, institution/government department)?

Mandatory question

Is this your first job?

    
Your salary 
   
Have your pay slip handy to help you answer the following questions.
 

Definition: “gross salary” means before deduction of welfare contributions and other direct charges. Please use euros.
If you work in another currency, you can use this converter: www.xe.com/ucc/ 

    
Are there annual negotiations to increase your salary?

Is your annual salary based on payment for:

Do you do any freelance work in addition to your salaried job?

Mandatory question

   
Billing
        
Please indicate the rates you charge for your three main language pairs (those accounting for the bulk of your revenues).
  

Calculation
    
There are different ways to quantify a translation assignment (number of words in the source or target text; number of characters; number of lines; time actually spent; prior estimate of time; etc.)
 

Do you charge for translations:
more than one answer possible
Mandatory question

For standard pages of another size, enter the number of keystrokes:

If you answered “other”, please specify:

If you charge by word, do you count:

more than one answer possible

Mandatory question

   
Rates
      
Please indicate your rates in euros, excluding tax.
If you bill in another currency, you can convert your rates into euros at: www.xe.com/ucc/

Rates for main language pair:  to

Maximum one answer per line.

* By arbitrary convention to facilitate comparison for the purposes of this survey

Do you apply the same rates for all your language pairs?

   
Rates for your second language pair:  to

Maximum one answer per line.

* By arbitrary convention to facilitate comparison for the purposes of this survey

Rates for your third language pair:  to

Maximum one answer per line.

* By arbitrary convention to facilitate comparison for the purposes of this survey

   
Billing by time
     
Do you ever bill by time?

Mandatory question

   
Please indicate your rates for a day, a half day and an hour spent on translation, revision, proofreading or other tasks. Indicate your rates in euros, excluding tax.
If you bill in another currency, you can convert your rates into euros at: www.xe.com/ucc/ 
  

   
If you work on a client's premises, do you charge for travel time and/or expenses?

    
Surcharges and discounts
  

In this section, please indicate percentage surcharges/discounts relative to the standard rates entered above.
   

Do you charge extra in certain cases?

Mandatory question

   
For each of the situations listed below, please tick the type of billing you apply.
You can then indicate the percentage surcharge if any.
 

What percentage surcharge do you apply?
(Answer in percentage only)

Mandatory question

    
Do you offer a volume discount?

If you use translation memory tools, do you offer reductions for exact and fuzzy matches?

Do you have a minimum charge?

Mandatory question

How much?

If you bill in another currency, you can convert your rates into euros at: www.xe.com/ucc/

Do you provide other services in addition to translation?
more than one answer possible

Other (please specify):

   
Sworn translators
   

Are you a sworn translator?

Mandatory question
 

   
If you bill in another currency, you can convert your rates into euros at : www.xe.com/ucc/
   
What is your minimum fee per document for individuals?

Mandatory question

What is your minimum fee per document for translation agencies/companies?

Mandatory question

What is your rate per word for agencies/translation companies?

Mandatory question

What is your rate per word for direct clients?

Mandatory question

What is your price per additional page?

   
How you work
  

What is your average output per hour, measured in number of source words translated and ready for delivery?
(not including admin, marketing, invoicing, etc.)

Mandatory question

   
Do you use computer-assisted translation (CAT) software for some projects?

Mandatory question

If you answered yes, which package(s) do you use?
Several answers possible

For “Other”, please specify:

   
Do you generally submit an estimate?

Mandatory question

Do you generally request partial payment in advance?

Mandatory question

Do you insist on a purchase order?

Mandatory question

   
On average, how many hours a week do you work? (including translation, marketing, admin, accounts, etc.)?

Mandatory question

How many weeks’ holiday did you take in 2009 (including end-of-year)?

Mandatory question

    
Other
    

Which client profiles do you work with?
   
Indicate the percentage of your annual sales in each case. Note that the total must not exceed 100%.

Mandatory question