What drives the cost
- On-screen text: slide text, quiz questions and feedback, button labels. This is the word count a translator quotes on.
- Narration: every minute of voiceover has to be transcribed, translated and re-recorded or re-generated. This is usually the most expensive part.
- Text inside images: screenshots, diagrams and callouts have to be redrawn, which is design work, not translation.
- Rebuild and test: if each language is rebuilt in the authoring tool, someone imports the text, fixes layouts, republishes and tests the package in the LMS.
- Review: a fluent reviewer checks terminology and context. This should never be skipped.
How SCORM Packager meters a translation
Usage is counted in translated words per month, with multipliers for media that needs more processing. On-screen text counts once. Narration counts three times the transcript words plus the translated words, because it is transcribed, translated and synthesized. Text translated inside images counts twice. Generated captions count three times.
Worked example: one course into Spanish
| Part of the course | Quantity | Metered words |
|---|---|---|
| On-screen text | 2,500 words | 2,500 |
| Narration | 8 minutes ≈ 1,050 spoken words, ≈ 1,150 in Spanish | (1,050 + 1,150) × 3 = 6,600 |
| Screenshots with text | 15 images × about 10 words | 150 × 2 = 300 |
| Total | ≈ 9,400 |
That fits the Growth plan, which includes 10,000 words per month for €75. If you upload a recorded voiceover instead of generating one, the narration line drops out and the same course uses about 2,800 words. Spoken-word estimates assume about 130 words per minute, and Spanish text usually runs a little longer than English, so treat the numbers as an estimate.
Plans
| Plan | Price per month | Words per month |
|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | 500 |
| Starter | €15 | 2,500 |
| Growth | €75 | 10,000 |
| Premium | €250 | 50,000 |
Paid plans can buy extra word packs of 2,500, 10,000 or 50,000 words, which do not expire. Yearly billing costs 20% less than paying monthly.
The cost that does not show up in a quote
Rebuilding each language in the authoring tool creates a second source of truth. Every later content update has to be made once per language, and each version is re-published and re-tested in the LMS. Translating the published zip keeps one master course: when it changes, you translate the new export instead of editing every language by hand.