How Do Professional Translation Companies Price Rare Language Services?

— A Practical Guide from Elite Translation

As globalization accelerates, businesses increasingly require translations in less commonly spoken languages, often referred to as rare or minority languages. Whether it's Arabic, Thai, Finnish, Dutch, Swahili, Polish, or Urdu, these "rare languages" often come with higher pricing and greater complexity than mainstream language pairs.

So how do professional translation companies determine the pricing for rare language projects?
At Elite Translation, we believe in transparent, logic-based pricing. Here's what truly influences the cost of rare language translation.

1. Language Rarity Drives the Base Rate

Unlike widely spoken languages like English, Chinese, French, or Spanish, rare languages involve:

• Fewer qualified translators, often concentrated in native-speaking regions

• Time zone and availability challenges, especially for urgent work

• Directional differences: Translation into the target language as native typically costs more due to quality and fluency expectations

• Some rare language projects may require pivot translation through a bridge language like English, increasing the workload

As a result, the base rate for rare languages is typically 1.5 to 3 times that of standard languages.

2. Language Pair Matters — Not Just the Language

The language combination (language pair) greatly affects pricing. For example:

• English ↔ Dutch: Common and well-resourced = moderate pricing

• Chinese ↔ Hungarian: Limited direct translators = higher rates

• Urdu ↔ Korean or other niche combinations may require double translation paths, raising both time and cost

It’s not just whether it’s a rare language — it’s which languages are paired.

3. Subject Matter Complexity Affects the Rate

As with any translation, the more technical or specialized the content, the more it will cost — especially for rare languages.

• General content (emails, marketing blurbs) = lower rate

• Legal, medical, engineering, and technical documentation = higher rate, due to the need for domain-specific expertise

• If the project requires a native translator with professional background, pricing increases accordingly

Rarity + specialization = premium rate.

4. Level of Service: Basic, Reviewed, or Localized

The depth of service directly influences pricing. Professional translation workflows may include:

• Draft translation by a qualified linguist

• Native-language editing or quality assurance (QA)

• Formatting, terminology alignment, and style consistency

• Cultural adaptation (localization) — especially for marketing, websites, or UI content

If the translation is for internal use only, a basic service may be sufficient and lower in cost.
However, for legal documents, public release, or user-facing content, full QA and localization are recommended — at a higher rate.

5. File Format and Delivery Requirements

Technical complexity also impacts pricing:

• Files like PDFs, images, or design layouts (InDesign, Illustrator) may require manual extraction and reformatting

• App strings, website localization, or social media content must fit platform-specific constraints

• Subtitling or voiceover scripts must follow timing, character limits, or dubbing standards

• Some clients may require certification, stamps, or hard copy delivery, all of which add service charges

The more complex the format, the more time is needed — and the higher the cost.

6. Project Volume and Long-Term Collaboration

Translation companies often offer volume-based pricing and custom pricing models for ongoing clients:

• Large projects may qualify for bulk discounts

• Long-term partnerships allow for translation memory (TM) and termbase creation — improving quality while reducing costs over time

• Clients may also request staggered delivery and flexible billing terms to match operational needs

At Elite Translation, we tailor every quote to fit your project scope and timeline.

Final Thoughts

Pricing for rare language translation is not fixed — it depends on a combination of language availability, subject matter, file complexity, workflow depth, and urgency.

At Elite Translation, we follow a content-driven, value-based pricing model. We don’t undercut quality for price, and we don’t charge for services you don’t need.
Our goal is simple: to deliver accurate, reliable, and scalable multilingual solutions — within your budget and with complete transparency.

Need a quote? Send us your sample file or language combination — we’ll walk you through every detail.

Elite Translation — Making rare languages reliably accessible.

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