Effective Wordcount
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Modern tools for computer-assisted translation, or CAT-tools for short, allow linguists to calculate the precise volume of original information in a given text and exclude obvious repetitions from the bulk of work — as a result, the total cost of translation goes down and customers don't have to pay for translating the same sentence twice.
The volume of text minus the repetitions (be it in a sentence, a paragraph, or even across several different files) is called the effective wordcount of the project, and the price per word is calculated based on this metric, which can be significantly lower than the total wordcount. Solus Rex provides discounts per word at the following breakpoints:
| Repetitions | Value |
| New & 50–74% | Full |
| 75-94% | 3/4 |
| 95–99% | 2/4 |
| 100% | 1/4 |
For example, let's say you have a 10,000-word-long text broken down into three or four files. Some sentences of the text repeat across these files, while several others only differ by one or two words. In that case, after the initial analysis and translation count the resulting volume of work will go down depending on how much content is repeated. Consider the breakdown in the table below:
| Type | Cost | Wordcount |
| Context Match & 100% | 25% | 1,500 |
| Repetition, Cross-File, 95-99% | 50% | 2,000 |
| 75–94% | 75% | 1,500 |
| New & 50–74% | 100% | 5,000 |
| Total | 10,000 | |
| Effective | 7,500 |
As you can see, only 5,000 words in our sample text have the ratio of 100% and are estimated at full value. Most of the segments with repetitions are arranged into different price brackets depending on how many new words they contain. Repetitions still need to be reviewed in the context during the work and after generating the final files for delivery, which explains why they aren't entirely free, but the work is only priced at a fraction of the initial cost.
The chart below will help you visualize the various segments of the text in question — in our example, only the first column of the chart is placed at full value:
As for the price of an individual effective word, it varies depending on the nature of the project. Needless to say, a non-specialized message intended for the general audience takes much less effort to translate than a highly technical article written for a narrow group of experts, so the cost per word is often calculated after evaluating the text at hand and giving the task a proper consideration. Language pairs, urgency of the project, and provided reference materials also play a major role. In general, the cost per effective word at Solus Rex varies from €0.04 to €0.10, but we're always open to negotiations and will thoroughly discuss the price and scope of the project with you to ensure mutually agreeable terms.