Assignment quote
Enter your numbers above and click Calculate my rate.
Suggested assignment fee
Late-cancellation fee
Working out what a previously scheduled booking owes after a late cancellation? Enter the fee that was scheduled and the notice given.
Default schedule: full fee inside 24 hours, half the fee 24-48 hours, no fee beyond 48 hours — a commonly cited starting shape, adjust to your own contract.
What this does and doesn't do
This applies commonly cited freelance interpreting conventions — a booking minimum, portal-to-portal travel billing, an after-hours differential, a team-interpreting flag, and a tiered cancellation schedule — to the numbers you enter. It does not know your specific market's going rate, a particular agency's contract terms, or what a specific client is willing to pay. It is not legal or medical advice about the assignment itself, only a pricing calculator for the interpreting work. Treat the output as a starting point for a negotiation or an invoice draft, never a quote, guarantee, or valuation performed on your behalf.
Common questions
How much should a freelance sign language interpreter charge for an assignment?
Start from your own hourly rate, then apply the conventions that actually move the number: a commonly cited two-hour minimum for a freelance or contract booking, portal-to-portal travel time and mileage, and an after-hours, weekend, or holiday differential if the booking falls outside standard business hours. This calculator applies all four to your own numbers and returns a total, never a fixed quote.
Why does a two-hour minimum matter if the assignment is shorter?
A freelance interpreter who accepts a 45-minute booking has turned away any other work that could have filled that same block, including the travel time on either side of it. A minimum-booking policy is the industry's commonly cited answer to that: the interpreter is paid for the time reserved, not only the time actually interpreting.
When should an assignment be staffed with two interpreters instead of one?
RID's own Standard Practice Papers recommend a team of two interpreters, splitting turns roughly every 20-30 minutes, for assignments running past about two hours or carrying high cognitive load — legal, medical, and mental-health settings are the ones most often named. Sign language interpreting is simultaneous, bidirectional cognitive work with no natural pause, and interpreter fatigue on a long, high-stakes assignment measurably increases errors. This calculator flags the recommendation rather than pricing it automatically, because the actual decision depends on the specific venue, funder, and interpreters involved.
Is a late-cancellation fee normal, and how is it usually calculated?
Yes — a freelance interpreting contract commonly carries a tiered cancellation schedule, because a cancelled booking is unsold time the interpreter already turned other work away for. A commonly cited starting shape charges the full scheduled fee inside 24 hours' notice, half the fee between 24 and 48 hours, and nothing beyond 48 hours — adjustable here to match your own contract.