“Let's add English” fits into a single sentence. It leaves open whether you mean a few essential pages or a complete version of the site, including news, forms and documents.
Define the second language's scope before requesting prices. Otherwise the translator, designer and development supplier may each estimate a different job.
Choose content around the reader's needs
An international student may need admissions information and contact details rather than the entire notice archive. List that audience's tasks and the content needed for each. Mark what will exist in both languages and what will appear in only one.
Count text outside ordinary pages too: field labels, errors, confirmations, emails, downloads and image descriptions. These small pieces are easy to miss in a translation estimate.
Agree how the website behaves
What happens when someone switches language on a page with no translation? Are they sent to the homepage or given a clear explanation? Who marks translated content for review when the source version changes?
Ask to see one complete task in both languages. Longer headings, date formats and form messages need to work in the design just as well as the original sample text.
Separate launch costs from ongoing updates
The quote should distinguish language configuration, translation, editing, content entry and publication checks. Name the person responsible for later updates and explain how new material reaches the translator.
If you intend to use machine translation, agree who checks the output before publication and what that review covers. Switching on a tool does not complete the editorial process.
Take a content list and an update workflow into the budget discussion. They provide a much clearer basis for pricing than multiplying the website cost by the number of languages, and make it easier to keep both versions useful after launch.
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