Anna, I run a translation/localization company and worked with software publishers to help them localize their software over 16 years.
Software localization is not just translating the text. There is a lot involved in making sure that your end users get a working product in their native language. What you should ask is not if you want to use this person’s assistance, but if localizing in this language is useful to your company.
Translation costs, although not inexpensive, are usually not the primary factor in deciding to go forward or not. If you do decide to do it, please make sure that you have the correct process in place and that you are using the right people and technology, not necessarily the free people. Sometimes saving a few dollars ends up costing you and your company a lot more in reputation and brand equity.
You want to keep control over the ownership, quality and schedule of your product releases.
Please refer to the blog posts that are published on the Intel Network:
To Localize or Not to Localize… http://software.intel.com/node/326564
How To Select Your Localization Team http://software.intel.com/node/327552
Think Global and Act Local, but Be Holistic http://software.intel.com/node/326480
Top Five Software Localization Myths http://software.intel.com/node/172731
Also, our blog at http://www.globalvis.com/blog contains a wealth of additional information to help you make an educated decision. If I can be of assistance, do not hesitate to let me know.
Localizing software
I am curious how other software companies handle this particular subject. We will sometimes get a letter from a user in a country whose language our software hasn't been translated into. The user would offer their help in translating our product into their language promising to do a good job. Do any software companies ever accept these offers? If you've done that, what was the result?
I just wanted to see some opinions on this subject.