Without prior localization experience it can be tricky to know who to pick to translate your game.
I’ve been a translator for over a decade, and a localization producer and localization director for almost eight years. I’ve worked with a lot of vendors as both a freelance contractor and as a project manager and there are patterns—green flags, if you will—that indicates a company is worth working with.
So, let’s go over some of those green flags!
A Good Balance of Cost and Quality
The cheapest option is almost always cheap for a reason. The quality is often terrible. If low cost is your only criteria, then you’re going to be in for a bad time. A cheap translation or LQA company often results in poor quality work that results in paying more later to get things fixed. (Or leave it as-is, which can impact reviews and sales.)
But that doesn’t mean the most expensive option is always the best.
You want to find the company who has the best cost-performance for what you’re looking for.
How do you determine this? Ask a few companies (about three to four) for a quote and short translation test.
If you don’t have any in-house translators then you’ll have to ask another company (not included in your potential vendor list) to review the test for you. Make sure you have a metric for determining the quality of the translation. Such as a score for accuracy of original meaning, creativity, and whether there are spelling or grammatical mistakes.
Afterwards, compare the results of the test with their quoted price and decide which best fits your needs and budget.
The Translators That Do the Test, Translate the Game
You might be surprised to hear that some companies will give their test to a great translator but then hand the project’s translation to one of their less experienced (cheaper) freelancers. I’ve even seen vendors use their best translators to win a project only to then sub-contract the translation to a third-party translation company. All without the client knowing!
When you’re reaching out to potential vendors, make sure to insist that the people that do the translation tests also work on the game. Otherwise, there’s really no point in the test.
Also remember to ask them in advance if they sub-contract any languages to other companies. Sub-contracting isn’t bad, but the vendor should be transparent about what languages are sub-contracted and to which companies.
The Vendor Credits Their Translators
A big green flag is when the language service providers credit the freelance translators they work with. It’s a small thing, but a good sign that the translation company is proud of the people they work with and treats them well.
Some translation and LQA companies say clients don’t ask for freelancer’s names when crediting. This is sometimes the case as some large AAA studios won’t credit any external vendors. But it can also be an excuse, shifting blame of not crediting to the developers.
Usually, it’s easy to tell when a language service provider is willing to credit their freelancers as other developers will mention if their vendors refused to give them credits.
You can also check MobyGames for a vendor’s credits and see how many of their linguists are credited. And also look up #TranslatorsInTheCredits on social media to see who does and doesn’t credit their translators.
Ask a vendor if they allow all contractors and staff to be credited when you’re asking for a quote, and make sure to chase them up when crediting time rolls around.
The Vendor Offers 100% Human Translation
Nothing screams red flag more than a company that pushes machine or AI translation. Even when post-checked by human editors there’s a clear difference in quality.
Translators, editors, and testers are more motivated and do a better job when they can take ownership of their work. Being forced to edit slop for half the pay is demoralizing.
Machine translations also often requires complete re-translations, meaning the translator has to either eat the loss and spend more time on the translation for less pay or spend as much time on it as they’re paid and only do a cursory check of the text.
A vendor that makes it clear they only use humans and standard CAT tools (Computer Aided Translation tools) is a must have.
The Vendor Specializes in Game Translation and Translators
One of the biggest red flags in my books is when a company says they offer every single language under the sun for every type of translation. Medical, legal, business, engineering, game, etc. It’s very likely your text will end up in the hands of a non-game translator.
It pays to find a company who specializes in game translation and has dedicated game translators on their books.
Game text comes with its own quirks that can make it very different from, say, legal text. And each game genre has its own specialized language. A fighting game has very different linguistic quirks than a visual novel, and a game set in a fantasy world uses different language than one in a dystopian cyberpunk future. You want people who enjoy playing and translating the type of game you’re making.
My favourite thing to hear from an agency is, “We try to assign projects to linguists who are fans of this type of game.” That’s a good sign that your project will be in the best hands.
Vendors Will Ask Good Questions
I am often suspicious of companies that doesn’t ask questions.
A good game localization company will ask questions during your initial meetings about the schedule, the context of the text, letter supported in the font, the character limits, style guides, reference documents, and other information they expect from you.
A not-so-great company will only care about the numbers and be quick to agree to anything you ask. (Beware the ones who say “yes” to everything without question or checking if those requests are feasible.)
The good ones will also post questions and comments in the translation test, showing that they’re thinking about the text and game itself. Those should be the kind of questions to expect during translation too, clarifying the context of the game if it’s not clear in other reference documents.
The Company Allows Communication Between Everyone
Communication is key to getting a good localization. This includes between you and your chosen language service provider, and between their staff (including freelancers.)
Communication between linguists and editors of different languages is incredibly important when localizing a game, as they can support each other with answering any questions that may arise. The best companies will have chat groups between all members involved in a project.
The company should also have a Q&A document which they share with you on a regular basis. These mostly involve context questions related to the game or technical questions like character limits. And getting basics like that done right during translation make for an easier LQA process later.
When looking for a vendor, check if they normally allow their linguists to talk to one another and if they have a Q&A sheet for fielding queries. It also can’t hurt to see if they’d be open to weekly meetings with your so you can check on progress and go over any potential issues or larger queries.
Questions to Ask When Looking for a Translation or LQA Company
If you’re a game developer, project manager, publisher, etc., looking for a language service provider to work with to translate your game, you should absolutely set up a meeting with potential vendors and question them about how they work. Especially if you don’t know much about localization.
Here are some key questions I recommend you ask every company:
- How many linguists would you recommend for a project this size? How would you split up the project between linguists/testers?
- How many words a day do you normally schedule for a project like this?
- Are your linguists familiar with this type of game?
- Are your linguists/testers normally in communication with each other?
- Do you normally use a query sheet so we can answer the linguists’/testers’ questions?
- Is there anything you need from us ahead of time?
- What steps do you take to ensure quality?
Green Flags When Picking a Localization Company
Picking the best company that suits the needs for your project can only save headaches down the line.
And it’s not just a one-way street. The best localizations come from collaboration and communication between all members, both you and the company you choose.
Making sure expectations are established early will help you find the right people for your game.
Looking for more information on localization for games? Check out Game Localization for Devs.
Article and photos by Jennifer O’Donnell
Edited by Wesley O’Donnell
