BeatBabel is celebrating 13 years in the translation and localization industry! And although the number 13 is often associated with bad luck and misfortune, this could not be further from the truth for the BeatBabel team: 13 looks great on us!
It is not an easy job to summarize 13 years of frenetic activity! From the completion of thousands of translation and multimedia projects, to world-wide team growth, and hundreds of conferences attended, a birthday is always a good opportunity to remind ourselves of all that we have accomplished together, including the very important stumbles along the road that made us stronger! Watch out world, this is just the beginning… For this special occasion, we have put together a revised and annotated edition of BeatBabel history.
2009: The idea that had been brewing for years finally comes to be, and its name is none other than BeatBabel. Founders Burckhardt Rueffer and Marie Flacassier bring together their experiences, ideas and superpowers to start a new company. From the beginning, their mission was to do things differently (i.e., better!). Plenty of challenges lie ahead, but none are strong enough to deter them. BeatBabel gets a plan, a logo and a motto! Our launch party in September is so crowded that we can’t all fit at Carpe Diem!
2010: Do you really exist without a good website? BeatBabel officially joins the virtual world with a brand-new site that outlines all there is to know about our company, including of course, the many services we offer. Along with our business site, we also created an online management platform that integrates project management, communication, reporting and asset management. Little secret: Our clients love it! And hey, it’s 2010, having a brick-and-mortar location is still a thing. This is the year we also move into our first-ever office: a simple and elegant space in the heart of downtown San Diego.
2011: Our family is growing! BeatBabel solidifies its teams of project managers and in-house linguists.
2012: This year, we get busy with several large healthcare projects. Aware of the highly sensitive material we were working with, and the importance of rendering perfectly accurate translations, BeatBabel refines its multi-step quality assurance process. We also start collaborating with universities across the world through year-long internship programs.
2013: There is never a dull moment around here. Because of the nature of our business, projects are always varied in subject matter, size and scope. A translator is truly a jack of all trades! From healthcare to financial clients, from software localization to marketing collateral projects, working with large international organizations and small local businesses, our clients and projects keep on diversifying and increasing. In the meantime, BeatBabel has become a regular at industry conferences. Brazil, Monaco, the UK and Turkey are just a few stamps on our passport by now.
2014: Our growth is evidenced by the fact that... we need to move! Our new office is now in the heart of the lively Gaslamp quarter, within walking distance of Seaport Village and the Convention Center. We can now go take our lunch breaks by the water. A forever favorite. The new location has an industrial chic design and is filled by wonderful new team members who make it vibrate with good energy and smiles.
2015: In addition to a number of e-learning projects, BeatBabel gets into the ever-challenging field of food and hospitality, that includes the local craft-beer scene and a top-secret cookbook. We also open a partner office in Madrid, Spain, our second in Europe, after our location in France.
By the end of this year, BeatBabel finds a new home in the Columbia neighborhood of Downtown San Diego. Our neighbors are the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, the Federal and County courthouses, and the State Office Building. We are also walking distance from Little Italy. Our team members start cycling to the office regularly.
2016: Between the many software and app localization projects we were tackling this year, we somehow also found time to combine our musical skills and give the performance of a lifetime. Our unofficial band Beat & the Babels was born! We only really performed in the office (you can check out the video here!) but our song became a cult-classic and our fans have been asking for a comeback ever since. Stay tuned for that!
2017: was the year we worked on one of the largest hospitality eCommerce redesign in the industry, millions of words across over 10 languages – a true team effort. Burckhardt Rueffer and Miguel Sevener give the keynote address on Change, Innovation, and Success for the Globalization and Localization Association Forum at Tcworld conference 2017. The presentation was so well received that it became a classic article in TC World: Is the translation industry suffering fast food syndrome? - tcworld magazine
2018: Exciting things are happening. BeatBabel becomes a Silver Sponsor for Translators Without Borders! GALA Boston almost snows us in during one of the spring blizzards. Our COO Marie Flacassier is elected to join the Board of Directors of the Globalization and Localization Association. And Burckhardt Rueffer joins LocWorld’s Program Committee and hosts one of the coolest Netflix Localization sessions ever.
2019: A big year for us: we turn a decade old! To celebrate, we launched the new and improved BBL TMBS. In simpler words, our sophisticated system brings a new face and set of functionalities to our translation business management. Of course, we also threw an anniversary party at Stone Brewery and got matching t-shirts with our company mascot: Mildew Mildred VW.
2020: We were doing remote working before it was cool, but of course, this year we had to take it one step further. Thankfully, we had all the tools in place to do this successfully. Of course, the global coronavirus pandemic was one of the most difficult issues we had to face at BeatBabel, but we got through it thanks to the commitment and dedication of our wonderful team and through our specialization in eLearning!
2021: To adapt to its new hybrid working model, BeatBabel relocates to its current address in Bankers Hill. A former fire station just a couple of minutes away from the beautiful Balboa Park, this office is full of character and color. Marie also becomes GALA’s President and Chair. This year, we worked on one of the largest e-learning projects ever with more than 1,000 hours of video and millions of pages. No bragging but, our team also grew by 40%…
2022: We are back to in-person conferences! We created so many happy memories in GALA San Diego and ALC Las Vegas that our team is now in full conference-mode. Our next stops? Loc World in Silicon Valley and tcworld in Stuttgart, Germany. Stay tuned because BeatBabel has a lot going on before the end of the year!