How much does church translation cost?

The honest answer has two numbers. One is on the invoice, the other is on the rota, and the second is almost always the one it fails on.

The costs that appear on no invoice

When a church works out what translation costs, it usually counts equipment. That is the smaller part. The larger one is: who does it, every week, when they are tired, in the summer, after they move house?

One interpreter per language per service, plus somebody to step in. For two languages that is realistically several people taking turns, and they are usually the same people who already carry the children’s work, the sound desk and the coffee.

Three ways, counted honestly

Interpreters with receivers

The purchase is modest: receivers and headphones can be bought used, and so can a simple radio link. After that it costs no money, only people, per language, per Sunday, permanently. Plus devices that want handing out, collecting, charging and replacing.

If you have the people, it is the best solution there is. An interpreter understands irony and the half-quoted verse. No machine does.

Subtitles on the screen

The cheapest, and no rota. It is paid for with attention: whoever reads along looks at the wall instead of the preacher, and more than two languages at once become unreadable on one screen.

Software with a translated voice to the phone

A monthly amount, no devices, no rota. Across the market, prices for a church sit roughly in the mid two- to three-figure range per month, depending on hours and languages; some vendors charge per hour instead. Check each vendor’s current page: they change.

The point where the sum turns

For one language an interpreter is almost always cheaper, and better. At the second it tips, because it needs the same person again, the one you already did not have. At the third it is no longer a question.

So the most useful question is not “what does it cost” but: how many languages do we want to offer in two years? For one, technology rarely pays. For three, it almost always does.

What to ask

Is it billed per language, per hour, or flat? Work through your real Sunday, not the example in the brochure.
What does an additional language cost, and does it need an additional person?
What happens at Christmas, Easter and conferences, when the hours suddenly double?
Is a contract required, or can you stop monthly?
Are transcript, summary and archive included, or extra?

Tick what you have asked. It stays on this device.

How Sanctavo bills

By Live Language Hours: one hour of one language going out live. A one-hour service in two languages uses two; a ninety-minute service in two languages uses three.

Starter, €97 a month: one weekly service of about an hour, in two languages.
Growth, €247 a month: several services a week, or one long service in more languages.
Network, €497 a month: one translation and teaching system across several sites.

Transcript, summary and the drafts for newsletter and social media are included, not add-ons. Extra languages or more live time can be added without moving up a whole plan. A plan can be started online; we still recommend hearing a real service with us first, and churches with an unusual shape are set up by hand.

We set it up free on one of your services. After that you know whether the sum is even a question for you.