Support The Auto Industry Initiative

We are so excited about the grassroots initiative our company started only 4 weeks to get help support the Automotive Industry.

Iterotext has served the auto industry and its suppliers for over 30 years and wanted to give back.

We are looking for suppliers to offer incentives beyond the vendor plans OEMs offer to encourage new American Made vehicle sales.

With more vehicle sales during this slow recession we hope to at least sustain the industry until the economy bounces back and people are better able to purchase vehicles on their own.

We would love your support.

Please visit www.SupportTheAutoIndustry.com for more information and to sign up your company’s incentives.

Salem Cigarettes, Lost in Translation – Translation Mistake

The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, “Salem – Feeling Free,” got translated in the Japanese market into “When smoking Salem, you feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty”.

Not really something you want associated with your brand – right?

When you are taking your products and services global be sure to have a professional translation agency translate the words and localize the meaning of your slogans.

Scweppes Tonic Water, Lost in Translation – Translation Mistakes

In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name into Schweppes Toilet Water.

Be sure to have your translation company translate the words and their meaning before you take your product or service into the global market.

Colgate, Lost in Translation – Translation Mistake

Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a notorious pornography magazine.  Not a very good job of localizing the name for the target market.

When taking your products or services global be sure to not only translate but also research the target market to make sure that there aren’t any Lost in Translation moments for your brand.

5 Tips for selecting fonts for your documents that will be translated

Font choice for your source documents is critical as it will need to be used by a foreign language translator and graphic designer.  Keep these five items in mind when you choose a font for translation projects to avoid hiccups in your final translated project.

1. Try to simplify the total number of fonts used in the document.
2. Ideally select fonts that are available on both Mac and PC.
3. Avoid custom and proprietary fonts that can add extra expense to the project.
4. Remember, character styles used in Western Europe or US English layouts are not always transferable to Asian languages (e.g., bold and italic, upper and lower case).
5. Decorative fonts can be make accents and special foreign language characters difficult to read or illegible.

There are ways to work around these issues, by sending over your fonts or by converting files to a foreign language font that is similar.  We are used to working in these situations but your forethought is greatly appreciated.