Perhaps you are already wondering about the difference between transcreation and translation. The definition sounds very similar, doesn’t it? The answer is no – transcreation goes one step further than translation. Translations are never 100% accurate. It may differ from translator to translator, can sometimes be too technical and … well, different from the original content. In most cases, this leads to funny results and to the translation fails that we have heard about so many times (and laughed at). One important thing about transcreation is that it brings more changes than a simple translation. There is, shall we say, more “artistic freedom” than with a literally accurate translation.
As the name suggests, transcreation relies on creativity in the translation process. The intention is maintained wherever possible, but the content is recreated, adapted, revised to sound as authentic and culturally appropriate as possible in the target language. Because the response from the target audience is crucial. So the simple formula is: transcreation = translation + new creation. It’s pretty straightforward.
But I already have a translator for my project. Do I need transcreation? SOS!
Usually, transcreation projects are implemented in marketing. But it’s actually more than that. If you are working on some kind of project where content needs to be sensibly adapted from one language to another, then you are a candidate for the use of transcreation. It can be a marketing campaign for content that requires some kind of special localization (which, by the way, is a topic for another article). Or maybe you’re just working on a presentation that’s supposed to be shown to an international audience. Anyway, here’s a short list of some things that make up a transcreation:
■ Humor: Some terms need to be adapted or revised to stay funny in the target language.
■ Idioms: These sometimes very specific expressions need to be revised so that the meaning is still reflected.
■ Sensitive words: Some literal translations produce poor results because their direct translation has negative connotations for the target audience.
■ Slang: words and phrases specific to a particular country, region, state, city, sometimes meaningless at all when translated. Again, transcreation is required.
■ Bad taste: this speaks for itself. Some things are simply not appropriate when translated literally. You’re better off transgenicing them.