Localization
Translation converts words. Localization makes the product feel like it was built where your user lives.
What we handle.
Software strings, mobile apps, websites, help centres, product listings, and games. We work in the formats your developers already use: JSON, XLIFF, PO, RESX, strings, YAML, CSV, and properties files.
Locale, not language.
pt-BR is not pt-PT. es-MX is not es-ES. zh-Hans is not zh-Hant. ar-EG is not ar-SA. Shipping the wrong one is not a small error, it is the error your users notice first and mention loudest. Tell us the locale, not the language, and if you are not sure which you need, ask us before you commission it.
The things that actually break.
German compounds and overflows your buttons. Spanish runs 25 percent long and breaks your fixed layouts. Arabic and Urdu run right to left and your entire interface has to mirror, not just the text. Russian has six cases, so concatenated strings that work in English come out ungrammatical. Japanese has no spaces, so your line breaking is wrong. We flag all of this at quote stage, and we pseudo-localize first if you want to find the breakages before you pay for the translation.
Why we are good at this.
We build software ourselves. Our own translation pipeline is an application we wrote. When your engineers ask about CI integration or a webhook on string updates, they are talking to people who have the same problem.
What file formats do you accept?
Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, RTF, and the usual localization formats including JSON, XLIFF, PO, RESX, and strings files. Scanned documents and photographs of documents are fine, and are common for certified work. You get the translation back in the format you sent it, with the layout intact.
Who actually does the translation?
A human linguist who works in your subject and translates into their native language. We match by field before we match by language, because a translator who is fluent but does not know your industry produces something readable and wrong.
Do you use machine translation?
Not as the translation. Our linguists use professional tools, including translation memory and terminology databases, and those tools are what keep your terminology consistent across years of work. But a person translates your document and a second person reviews it. If a project would genuinely be better served by machine translation with human post-editing, and some high-volume, low-stakes projects are, we will offer it, price it as what it is, and tell you exactly what you are getting.
What if the translation is not right?
Tell us within 30 days of delivery and we correct it at no charge. The correction is against the original brief: if your requirements change, that is new work and we will quote it.
Is every file reviewed?
Yes. One linguist translates, a second reviews. It is not an optional tier and it is not an upsell. It is the reason our delivered work comes back accepted.
Which variant of my language will you use?
The one your reader uses. Latin American Spanish and European Spanish are not interchangeable. Neither are Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Brazilian and European Portuguese, or Modern Standard and Gulf Arabic. Tell us the audience and the jurisdiction and we will tell you which variant you need. Each language page explains what we default to and why.
Tell us what you need translated.
Send the file, the languages, and the deadline. A person replies within 12 hours with a price and a person to talk to.