If you’ve used professional translation services in the past you may have heard your provider talk about transcreation, especially if it was in relation to a multilingual marketing project or an adaption of an advertising campaign for another culture, but you may not be clear on the differences between translation, localisation and transcreation.
Alternatively, it may be that you’ve never heard of the term ‘Transcreation’, but are looking to find out how to help your company achieve linguistic excellence and cultural relevancy within its marketing campaigns.
Either way, this blog will help you understand what transcreation is, how it can help your company, when you should use it, and why.
What is Transcreation?
Transcreation is a term that is formed from the words ‘Translation’ and ‘Creation’.
It is used by professional translation service providers to describe the process of crafting advertising copy and marketing campaigns for cross-cultural audiences.
It is a combination of localisation (see below) and the creative production of copy, or content, written by expert translators, in their native language, so that it is culturally specific and targeted to exact expectations.
The translator who is producing the transcreation doesn’t just translate an existing campaign, but instead, will recreate, from scratch, so as to create the same impression and influence within a different culture.
It uses more create writing skills than translation and localisation, but the linguistic and cultural expertise is highly relevant.
The confusion between translation, transcreation and localisation has arisen as transcreation is not an official word or term, but has been used increasingly since the 1960s in America, especially within marketing industries.
What is the Difference between Transcreation, Translation and Localisation?
There are certain key differences between transcreation, translation and localisation and they are often used for varying purposes depending upon your aims.
Below you’ll find a basic interpretation of each service which will highlight these differences.
Transcreation – is essentially an exercise in creative writing by an expert linguistic with a high level of cultural knowledge. It frequently deviates from the original text which will have been interpreted by the translator who is crafting the transcreation, so that it is culturally relevant and gives an emotive message to the intended audience. Transcreated work often differs vastly from the original, and if you translated it back, it may bear little resemblance to the original piece.
Translation – is an adaption of text from one language to another. The message within the text remains fundamentally the same as the original and does not account for cultural difference in instances such as, humour, colloquial phrases, tone, and so on. Readability is key with translation and there is usually little deviation from the original writing.
Localisation – is the conversion of an original text into another language but with the addition of adapting it to fit culturally. For example, you might consider localising your social media posts (as opposed to just translating them) as this gives greater cultural relevance for your customers and audience. Localisation will give a translation that is based upon the original but has been adapted to suit a local market and may include elements such as, time, date formatting, weights, measures, fonts, currencies, tone of voice, and so on. It differs from transcreation in that it is not written from scratch but it based upon the original text.
The above examples give you a basic glimpse into the differences between these services, however, many translation service providers may use different terms for transcreation.
These can include, adaption, creative translation, international copy creation, foreign language copywriting, localisation, and similar variations of the above.
It is also worth noting that many UK-based translation companies tend to consider that their localisation service is a form of transcreation, as they may often use creative content writers to craft localisation projects for advertising and marketing assignments.
If you aren’t sure which service is best suited to your requirements, speak to your chosen translation services provider and ask their advice, or contact us here, and we’ll be happy to help you.
When Should You Use Transcreation?
As transcreation is a creative specialism, it is generally used for marketing and advertising copy by international companies aiming to target campaigns to a specific region, culture, audience, or market.
If you have used an advertising agency in the past for global campaigns, you may well have used transcreation processes without being aware of it, as most marketing companies would use content writers to create their finished products.
The benefit of using transcreation services through a professional translation service provider, is that you are guaranteed expert linguistic and cultural knowledge, alongside the creative proficiency.
At Creative Word, our copywriters and marketing teams are all highly qualified translators, with additional expertise in sectors such as, law, and also in desktop publishing software and design, so you can be certain that your transcreation project will be crafted by specialists.
Transcreation projects may include the following:
• Brochures and Leaflets
• Product Packaging
• Marketing Ads
• Apps
• Radio or TV Campaigns
• Brand, Logo and Tagline Adaption
• Games
• Website Content
Recent Comments