Transcreation: translation for marketing and branding purposes

What is transcreation?

Transcreation is a term that was coined by combining the words translation and creation. It might also be defined as creative translation. It’s the art of adapting a message, advertising copy or creative content from one language to another while maintaining the original intent and having a similar emotional impact on the target audience. Unlike traditional translation, transcreation takes into account cultural, regional and linguistic factors in order to ensure that messages are conveyed in an appropriate and engaging way.

What are the differences between translation and transcreation?

1. The main aim of translation is to transfer the meaning of a text from one language into another accurately and faithfully, preserving the grammatical structure and the key information. Transcreation, on the other hand, aims to express not only the meaning but also the feeling, tone, creative intentand impact of the original text.
2. While translation focuses on getting across the literal meaning and staying true to the source text, transcreation requires creative adaptation that takes into account cultural, linguistic and communicative differences. Therefore, transcreation might involve wordplay and changing the toneand style of a text in order to provoke a similar emotional response in the target audience.
3. The cultural context is taken into consideration in translation, but the main goal is to keep things accurate and consistent. In transcreation, there’s a bigger focus on the cultural context and adapting the message to suit the sensibilities, cultural normsand preferences of people in the target market.
4. Translations have to remain very faithful to the source text, whereas a greater degree of creative freedomis possible with transcreation. Messages can be adapted more flexibly in order to achieve the desired effect.
5. With transcreation, clients arealways involved in the creative process. As well as taking part in briefings and debriefings, they are given a choice of at least two different solutions.
6. While the aim of translation is to reach an audience that speaks a different language, transcreation does more than just break down language barriers. It seeks to get a message across to a specific target audience, adapting it to cater to their cultural, linguistic and communicative needs.
7. Copywriters, translators and marketing professionals all work in close collaboration on transcreation projects. The process begins with in-depth analysis of the original message and the target audience. Copywriters with expert transcreation skills then adapt the text, preserving the essence of the message and the brand identity, establishing a genuine, significant connection with the local audience, promoting effective communication and forging emotional bonds.

What are the benefits of transcreation?

Transcreation allows you to reach a wider and more varied audience, with a more pertinent message that has a greater impact. In addition, it preserves your brand identity and tone of voice, while establishing a genuine connection with the local audience.

So if you want to translate an advertising slogan into English, adapt a brand name for a foreign market, or have marketing content or advertising copy translated into another language… now you know that transcreation is the answer.

For quotes and information about transcreation services, click here.