At the Transcreation Agency, our belief is that transcreation requires much more than just a translator fluent in their native tongue.  Grammatical correctness is not all that you need to put your message across in another language.

In a world where it is ever more important to promote yourself across multiple nationalities, it is important that you are able to put your message across succinctly and accurately, while maintaining your relevance to new cultures.  Native translators can help you here, as they are fully versed in their language and culture.  Some may even have a background in your sector of the market, meaning that they are in a good position to translate documents relating to your business.  Others may come from a creative writing background, able to bring you new ideas on marketing yourself to their culture.

For a truly creative approach, however, translation needs to give way to transcreation.

Transcreation is the art of bridging languages through the use of concepts rather than just words.  This is usually applied to the marketing of a product or service to an international audience which must impact the intended audience in the same fashion.  Transcreation requires an entirely different, more creative, mindset.

If you were to write up a document to promote your latest product, you might word it in such a way as to intrigue your target audience, or inspire them to seek out your service.  Your audience should see your product as something important to them.  This process is called copywriting.

However, if you were asked to take a similar document in another language and translate it into your native tongue, how would you approach this?  Would you go for a literal translation?  What if some of the meaning is lost?  Is the product able to resonate with your culture as well as it does in its native format?  This is where transcreation comes in.

Translation of a document requires that the text be faithfully reproduced into the new language.  The text may not be exactly the same, but overall the message is identical to that of the original brief.  This is often accomplished by a sole translator so that there is consistency in the document, and the original text is really all that is required for the translation to be successfully completed.

Transcreation is handled differently.  Transcreation is most often a team effort so that the text remains fresh and vibrant, and the team will correspond with the client on a regular basis in order that the brief is completed successfully.  The ability to simply translate the text is of secondary importance compared to the ability to think creatively about the text, what it means, and having the conceptual dexterity to apply the meaning to a new language and culture.

It may seem more practical to hire a team of copywriters in the target country to produce the campaign text from scratch.  However, if the overall ‘feel’ of the original text is important, then transcreation is really the only way to go.  Transcreation is better able to deliver a cohesive campaign over multiple languages, then creating a different campaign in each market.

In short, it is the goal of transcreation to figure out why the original text works effectively in its original language, and then to translate that same feel and reaction to a new language.  So that wherever you go, your product or service will provoke the same response, regardless of the language spoken.

If your looking to break into new markets or have an existing project that you need a hand with then get in touch with us

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