A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a notary office I have worked with many times as a translator.

Over the years, they have sent all sorts of documents my way: wills, international academic records, documents concerning inheritance and division of assets, marital property regimes, certificates, declarations and other paperwork where terminology is not something you can simply approximate and hope for the best. – I already wrote about that here.

This time, the project involved nine pages of highly specialised legal content to be translated from Portuguese into English.

So I did what I normally do before quoting for this kind of work. I looked at the document itself, the word count, the formatting, the complexity of the terminology and, most importantly, the amount of time I would realistically need to research, translate, revise and format everything properly.

Then I sent my quote.

I was asked whether I could lower it because the end client simply didn’t have much money.

And I understand that. I genuinely do.

Life is expensive for everyone at the moment, and translators are not somehow living outside that reality. Clients have budgets, unexpected expenses happen, and sometimes people genuinely cannot afford the price they are quoted.

But translators also have bills to pay, and understanding somebody else’s financial limitations does not make our own time less valuable – I, for one, have two kids to feed, and I know what is like to survive on a tight budget.

I didn’t lower my quote. Instead, I offered what I thought was a reasonable compromise: the original amount could be paid over three months.

The client declined, so I lost the job.

A few months ago, I would probably have spent a lot of time wondering “Why didn’t accept a lower rate?”. After all, some money is better than no money, right?

No. Wrong. I no longer think it is quite that simple.

“Time is money” is not just about the number of hours we work

Professional time costs money because of everything that exists behind that hour.

When somebody pays me for an hour of specialised translation, they are not simply paying for sixty minutes of typing. They are paying for the education, training, professional experience, terminology research, reference materials, software, quality checks and judgement that allow me to make decisions during those sixty minutes.

And legal translation makes this particularly obvious.

If I translate car as vehicle in an ordinary piece of marketing copy, chances are the world will continue turning.

When I am translating legal terminology in a document concerning someone’s assets, inheritance, marriage, academic status or legal rights, that is an entirely different conversation.

Words and terminological choices have consequences, and most important: my name is forever attached to that legal and certified translation.

That means I need time to check terminology when I have doubts. I need time to investigate the legal concepts behind apparently simple words. I need time to understand whether two terms that look equivalent actually function in the same way in two different legal systems. I need time to revise the document properly rather than reading it once and deciding that it “looks fine”.

Research is work. So is studyin, checking, rechecking, revising, comparing terms, search across official denominations and institutions and roles and acts.

And professional responsibility is part of what a client is paying for.

Lowering the price doesn’t lower the responsibility

If I accept a legal translation for half the price, the consequences of a serious mistake do not suddenly become half as important.

I cannot tell myself, “Well, they paid less, so this terminology only needs to be approximately correct.”

The standard of work I am expected to deliver remains the same.

More importantly, the standard of work I expect myself to deliver remains the same. Translation quality can never, ever, be left aside.

So the hours of research are still necessary. The terminology still needs checking. The document still needs revising. The formatting still needs attention. I still need to be able to stand behind the finished translation.

The only thing that changes when I drastically lower the price is how much I am being paid to assume exactly the same responsibility – and that can’t happen within the scope of legal translation. No legal translator should ever accept this, because the responsibility falls also on us.

That was the part I used to overlook.

So yes, I lost the project

And no, I’m not particularly happy about losing work. I’m a freelancer. Of course I would rather have projects than not have them.

But there is a difference between wanting work and accepting work under conditions that no longer make professional sense.

My quote was based on the actual document in front of me, the amount of work involved and the responsibility attached to translating it properly. I was willing to make payment easier for the client, but I wasn’t willing to pretend the work itself had suddenly become less valuable because the available budget was smaller.

The client had every right to say no; but so did I.

Sometimes being professional means accepting that a project is not financially viable. Sometimes it means watching work go elsewhere rather than lowering your rate until the numbers stop making sense.

I don’t know where other translators draw that line, and I don’t think there is one universal answer.

But I know where I draw mine now.

If a project carries significant legal responsibility and requires substantial research, knowledge and time, I want to have enough time to do it properly — and I expect that time to be paid accordingly.

That is not inflexibility.

For me, that is simply professional ethics.