BabbleFish

Owners: Matthew Bronson &

Annou Davi

Address: P.O. Box 3625,

Fayetteville 72702

Phone: 501-601-1286

Hours: By appointment

Start-Up Date: June 1

BabbleFish is a full-service translating company that caters to the needs of Northwest Arkansas’ growing business community.

“My partner and I have been translating on a freelance basis for about three years, and we found that it was very difficult to find a translator in this area if you are a business owner,” says Matthew Bronson, who owns BabbleFish with Annou Davi. “Not so much for Spanish, simply because of the population, but if you need someone who speaks Korean or French or almost anything else, it is almost impossible.”

Translators can be dispatched for on-site services, or BabbleFish also offers document translation. The service needs about a day’s notice for on-site translation to ensure that an employee can be present, and fees are charged on an hourly basis.

Document translation is calculated by word, with different tiers for standard documents (menus, letters, etc.) and technical documents (medical or legal documents). Bronson says the service also offers the possibility of flat-rate fees or contracts for immigration lawyers, hospitals or other businesses that anticipate using Babblefish on a regular basis.

“We want to engage in complex negotiations and discussions where it would take a native speaker to get the idea across,” says Bronson.

BabbleFish currently offers Japanese, French, Spanish, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Farsi, German, Polish, Russian, Rumanian, Marshalese and sign language. Bronson says new languages are being added constantly.

“Business is growing every day,” says Bronson. “We started advertising about three months ago for bilingual speakers, and it seems like every week we get someone who calls up and says ‘Hey, I speak this, can you use me?'”

The name BabbleFish refers to a magical creature in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. The creature can translate any language in the Galaxy.

Bronson says Northwest Arkansas’ BabbleFish is attempting to offer as many Earth languages as possible and covers all of Benton and Washington counties.