How can Lexiteria Help me with Translation?
Lexiteria is a company of word-masters who understand every aspect of language. We know that cultural differences can be as important as the meanings of the words themselves, that not everyone who speaks two languages can translate. Lexiteria works with the world's best translators to provide the very best in human translation, internationalization, and localization (adjusting to the local culture) of documents, websites, and software.
Professional Translation and Editing
Lexiteria can translate and localize publications, manuals, brochures, websites and virtually any text, general or technical, over a wide selection of languages. We have certified legal and medical translators for many of the world's languages. All our translators are professional translators with at least five years experience and are native speakers of their language. No translation job is too large or too small for Lexiteria.
I have Native Speakers in my Company: Why Outsource?
Here are six examples of what can happen when non-professionals do the translation:
- Outside a Hong Kong tailor's shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
- In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk.
- In a Czechoslovak tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours—we guarantee no miscarriages.
- In an Acapulco hotel a sign read: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
- In the window of a Swedish furrier: Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.
These signs are so cute but do you want to risk the results of the kind of misunderstanding less cute mistranslations can lead to? If you think this can only happen to small businesses in foreign countries, consider these verified examples:
- Hunt-Wesson introduced its Big John products in French Canada as Gros Jos before finding out that the phrase, in slang, means "big breasts".
- Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious porno mag.
- In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.
- When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." However, the company's marketing team mistakenly thought the Spanish word "embarazar" meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that "It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant".
- The story about General Motors introducing its Chevrolet Nova in South America where no va means "won't go" is an urban myth but Ford Motor Co. didn't change the name on its Pinto in Brazil until they discovered that the word meant "small male organ" in Portuguese. By the time the company discovered the mistake, it had to pry all the Pinto name plates off and replace them with Corcel, which means "horse".
Translation + Localization
There is a moral to these stories: not only do you need professional translation but localization. Localization refers to adjustments made to translations that bring them into conformity with the cultural expectations of the people speaking the language in questions. Did you know that a black-and-white website can be effective in the U.S., but in Asia it implies a funeral? 
The Japanese prefer pastel colors on the Web. Showing alcohol, pork, or even a woman's bare arms in Muslim countries will be offensive—not good for sales. Using a flag as a symbol of a language, such as a French flag for French, might seem highly intuitive, but it could lose you clients in Canada, Switzerland, and other lands where French is widely spoken.
Lexiteria and its network of translators around the world are aware of all these problems and we steer our clients easily around them. Our translators and editors are native speakers of the target language who live in the country where that language is spoken. They are certified and have had at least five years experience as full-time translators; most have had much more experience. The results of their work and ours are translations that make your organization, service, or product look their best, without offending the culture the translations are addressed to. Click here for more information about Lexiteria's procedures and pricing.
Editing
No publisher publishes a text without editing it. The work of the finest writers of our time is edited before it goes into print—even if it is written in the native language of the author. For letter-perfect translations, Lexiteria recommends that all translations be edited by a professional editor. Translators aim for accuracy; editors aim for readability. The best writing exhibits both. If you have someone who speaks the target language of your translation, you may use that person to review our translation but not any native speaker can do this job successfully. Talk to us about what kind of editing your documents need.
Languages We Translate
These are the languages we translate to and from. If the language you are interested in is not in our list, contact us with the form below (or call the toll-free number); we probably can translate that one, too.
You may contact us at:
Lexiteria Corporation (TLC)2459 Smoketown Road
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837
Telephone Toll Free 877.656.3656
Local 570.522.0122
Fax 570.522.5053
or, for faster service, fill out the form below and we will contact you to discuss costs and deadlines.
Translation Inquiry
Translation Services Request
Fill out the entire form below correctly to send a request for translation services. You will receive a reply in 24 hours.
