Services and rates
Three kinds of commission, with the price and the pace written down. If a project does not fit one of them, describe it and I will tell you plainly whether it is work I should take.
Rates
| Work | Rate | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| Academic and policy translation | $0.08–$0.14 per source word | 5,000–8,000 words a week |
| Scholarly copyediting | $0.03–$0.06 per word | 10,000–15,000 words a week |
| Manuscript verification and TEI encoding | $45–$75 per hour | Scoped per manuscript |
Minimum project $150. Final rate depends on register, apparatus, deadline and whether the text carries a critical apparatus or transliteration scheme. Quoted in USD; invoiced on delivery unless a schedule is agreed for a book-length commission.
Academic and policy translation
Monographs, peer-reviewed articles and policy studies, in either direction, at the register the press expects.
- Translation in both directions, at academic register
- Transliteration to IJMES or Chicago, consistent across a multi-author volume
- A bilingual glossary of the text’s load-bearing terms, agreed before drafting
- Translator’s notes where an idiom or a political term will not cross intact
- Delivery in the press’s own template and reference style
Usually commissioned by: University presses, research institutes, journal editors and authors publishing abroad.
Ask about academic and policy translationScholarly copyediting
Manuscripts written in English by Arabic-speaking scholars, brought to the standard a peer-reviewed press will accept without a second round.
- Line editing for argument, syntax and academic voice
- Citation audit and bibliography standardisation (Chicago, APA, Turabian)
- Quotations checked against the Arabic and Western sources they came from
- One romanisation scheme imposed across every contributor
- Author queries written so they can be answered in a single pass
Usually commissioned by: Managing editors at Brill, UC Press and Routledge; conference conveners; book authors.
Ask about scholarly copyeditingManuscript verification and TEI encoding
Classical Arabic manuscripts read, collated and encoded for a digital critical edition.
- Transcription of Naskh, Thuluth, Maghrebi and Ruq‘ah hands
- Collation of divergent witnesses and construction of a critical apparatus
- Reading of colophons, marginalia (ḥawāshī) and ownership seals
- XML/TEI semantic markup to the P5 guidelines
- Provenance research and dating
Usually commissioned by: Libraries, heritage foundations, digital archive projects and oriental studies departments.
Ask about manuscript verification and tei encodingHow a commission runs
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Scope and style
I read the text, confirm the press’s guidelines and transliteration scheme, and send a fixed price and date.
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Terminology
A bilingual glossary of the terms the argument rests on, agreed with you before any drafting starts. This is where most disputes are avoided.
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Translation
The draft, with translator’s notes wherever a term carries an ideological or historical charge that English will not hold on its own.
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Audit
Footnotes and quotations checked against sources, romanisation swept for consistency, and a clean file delivered in your template.
Questions I am asked
What does academic translation cost?
Academic translation between Arabic and English runs $0.08 to $0.14 per source word, and scholarly copyediting $0.03 to $0.06 per word. Manuscript verification is charged hourly at $45 to $75. The minimum project is $150. Final rate depends on register, apparatus, deadline and whether the text carries a critical apparatus or transliteration scheme.
How long does a book-length translation take?
Roughly 5,000 to 8,000 words a week for academic prose, which allows for a terminology pass, a translation pass and a citation audit. A 90,000-word monograph is therefore about three to four months. Journal articles on a press deadline can be accelerated; manuscripts with a critical apparatus cannot.
How is specialised historical or ideological terminology handled?
Every project opens with terminology mapping. For political and historical texts — Arab nationalism, secularism, revolutionary movements — I build a glossary aligned to peer-reviewed convention (IJMES, Cambridge, Oxford) and agree it with the author or editor before drafting. Terms that carry a charge no English word holds get a translator’s note rather than a silent substitution.
Do you provide a sample translation before a book commission?
Yes. For monographs and multi-volume projects I provide a paid sample of 1,000 to 2,000 words so that voice, register and transliteration can be settled with the press before the full commission is agreed.
Can you work from handwritten or fragile manuscripts?
Yes. Training through the Wijad Academy grant programme — run with IFPO, Saint Joseph University, the American University of Beirut, INALCO and the Bibliothèque nationale de France — covers palaeographic reading of Ottoman and Arab manuscript hands, collation of witnesses, and TEI-compliant transcription. Work is done from high-resolution facsimiles; originals never need to leave the holding library.
Which citation and transliteration styles do you work in?
IJMES and the Chicago Manual of Style are the two used most often, along with Brill’s own house style, APA and Turabian. If your press has a house sheet, I work to that instead.
Still not sure which of these your project is? Send the text and the deadline; a scope and a price come back within two working days.