How can Lexiteria Help me with Translation? Lexiteria is a company of word-masters who understand every aspect of language. We have taught languages and taught translation. 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.
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. No translation job is too large or too small for The 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 reads: 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, they probably increased business, 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 Company didn't change the name of its Pinto in Brazil until they discovered that the word meant "small male organ" in Portuguese by which time they had to pry all the Pinto name plates off and replace them with Corcel, which means "horse" (not the best name for a car, either).
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 country's flag to symbolize a language on a website, such as a French flag for French, might seem highly intuitive, but it could lose you customers in Canada, Switzerland, or other lands where French is widely spoken.
The Lexiteria and its network of translators around the world are aware of all these problems and we steer our clients easily around them. The results of our translation-localization processes 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 The Lexiteria's procedures and pricing.
Translation and Editing
If you need full-scale word-perfect translation and/or editing services, we are available to discuss your project and offer flexible customized solutions.. If the translation is critical, we will assign one translator to translate and another to edit the translation, to be sure every word is the best selected. We have translators that specialize in medical, legal, financial, business, mechanical, and scientific texts.
Do you have a text that needs translating into several different languages? Each language represents a distinct set of problems. Why not let the wordmasters at The Lexiteria solve all those problems for you? You send us one text in one language, we return the text perfectly translated into as many languages as you wish in a format that someone speaking only English can easily and accurately handle. You don't have to worry about finding qualified translators, testing translators, working around their schedules, or editing, correcting, and transmitting the translations. Don't forget those unexpected snafus. As a premium translation outsourcer, we resolve all these issues for you. Click here for more information about our translation services.
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:
The Lexiteria2459 Smoketown Road
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837
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
Premium 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. If your text contains fewer than 2,000 words click here.
