Thanks Irina. Yes, I also have my doubts because I am not "native", but I lived in the USA for 10 years and did a MFA in Creative Writing. But yes, I know my limitations. It is a friend but the work is paid and it will be published in the USA, but I do not know the publishing house. And yes, an editor, not "checked", sorry for my ignorance.
If I take this is not to make a living. I make my living doing something else. So I was thinking that it would take me 3-4 months, and that is something also for the publisher to consider. They want someone from Argentina or that knows "Argentinean" to translate it.
But I am also willing to recommend someone if I can find here the right person. I still didn't officially take the job. I am investigating in order to decide that. Sending a sample to an editor seems like a good idea.
IrinaN wrote:
A Spanish native living in Netherlands to undertake first literary translation into US English for a friend... Does your friend intend to sell the book in the US? Is it the first book? Self-publishing in mind?
Book translation is a grossly underpaid area in general, and often brings only 6-7 cents/word. How much below $1000 you are willing to go for a friend is up to you. It should be doable in a month considering a much slower pace for literary translation and lots of gobacks, but working for a 1000/month will not pay your bills so it would be better to spread it over 3-4 months to make ends meet in between.
I would suggest to start with translating a couple of pages and sending it to a serious professional editor native in US English... You can find a few good... humans
here on Proz. Just pay for 1 hour of reading and quick feedback, ask for willingness to accept future editing, and rates. I can guarantee at least 60 and up to 80 dollars an hour (for a SERIOUS professional), or a drop dead minimum of 5 cents/word = $850 but no serious editor would accept per word pay for literary work unless you would entrust it into someone from the US but without any experience, also willing to accept minimum charge for "checking".
Literary translation does not get "checked", it gets edited in a full sense of the word. Even Tolstoy, Dickens and Mark Twain had editors
Mind it, I am not a member of "into native only" club but there are things to be considered in certain fields and under certain circumstances.