With this post I am opening a forum for your experiences with big translation firms and localization agencies, good and bad. I'm not looking for flaming threats or rants about particular agencies--unless they are well-deserved. Let me know what you thought of the process of employing the agency, how you selected them, how they communicated, their professional conduct, their guarantees, and the results of the transaction. Especially let me know how you, the client and non-speaker of the target language, felt about putting your materials into their hands.
It's important that you get good translations of your materials when heading into another language market. There are numerous stories of the disastrous effects of bad translations, even at the highest levels and with the biggest companies. Similar stories tell how not translating product names has led to trouble. The most famous is probably the introduction of the Chevy Nova into the Latin American market. "Nova" is Latin for "star"; "No va" is Spanish for "It doesn't go". All it took was a few stories of car trouble to seal the fate of the Chevy No-Va. In Chile I learned of a toothpaste maker named Krapp. I thought their catchphrase should have been, "Put Krapp on your teeth and smile!" The name was safe in South America, but it wouldn't sell in America.
If the term "localization" is new to you, see the website of the Localization Industry Standards Association. In short, a localization firm is one step broader than a translation agency. They can handle translation, but they are also aware of and concerned with cultural adaptations.
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