How Is English Translation Priced? Standard Rates and Billing Explained

English is now the second most widely used language in China and is becoming a major industry. Many people think the cheaper the translation company, the better, but pricing actually depends on translation quality and speed.

A common question is: how much does it cost to translate 1,000 Chinese characters into English? Translation companies typically solve this by providing clear pricing standards.

For general documents, the standard rate for Chinese-to-English translation is 360 RMB per 1,000 Chinese characters, with the word count based on the original Chinese text. You can check the character count in Word using “Tools” > “Word Count” > “Characters (no spaces)”. Text in images is also counted.

The general formula is: (number of characters in the file) × (unit price per character).

For example, if a file has 1,000 characters and the unit price is 0.36 RMB, the translation fee is 160 RMB.

For most files, the standard rate is 160 RMB per 1,000 Chinese characters, calculated based on the original text, not including spaces. Some clients may not know how to count characters, but translation companies usually use the character count without spaces.

Translation companies typically charge 360 RMB per 1,000 characters for general translation, 450 RMB for professional translation, 650 RMB for publication-level translation, and 800 RMB or more for highly specialized work. However, the final price depends on the actual situation. For reliable service, choose UITG Translation!