If it’s your first time seeking professional localization services, you’re in for an interesting adventure, that’s for sure. On your journey, you will probably encounter some of the following characters, if not all:

• The hermit, non-communicative freelance word wizard who will make you feel like you just asked Frank Sinatra to come perform at your daughter’s sweet 16.

• The freelance “polyglot” who claims to be capable of translating your document into Spanish, German, Chinese and Arabic, for cheap and in 2 business days. Let us put it in a way that any Star Wars fan will understand…”It’s a trap!”

• The localization “Hydra”. This mythical creature will take your translation project and put all 9 heads to work on it in a collaborative effort which will probably result in the textual equivalent of Frankenstein. Don’t even try to cut one of the heads off because 2 more will grow to replace it.

• The tortoise and the hare. It sounds hard to believe, but these two creatures are actually only one. Let me explain: that company will respond to your e-mail in 2 minutes, get you a quote in 5, sign you up for their translation “flat rate” in another 10 minutes and then, when you think you hit the translation jackpot, they’ll suddenly go into “tortoise” mode. I mean, you paid up front for a year of “all you can translate” so, what’s the hurry?

If you want your journey across the perilous lands of localization to be a successful one, you’re going to need a savvy and experienced partner to guide you. At BeatBabel, we’re dedicated to defeating this cacophony of offers. We believe localization can and should be simple for our clients, and we believe that it’s possible to offer competitive prices, good turnarounds and tailored solutions without ever compromising quality or sending you through a maze...