Transcreation vs. Marketing Translation
Business organizations with a global—or even just a national—footprint are often faced with delivering compelling ad copy across multiple languages and cultures. Make no mistake; it is quite a challenge. What could be considered humorous in one culture may be offensive in another; what may build enthusiasm in one market may alienate consumers in another.
Accurate translation services play a key role in marketing success. However, should companies stop there? Or is there a need for a more dynamic, comprehensive approach to translation—namely, transcreation? We will discuss what translation and transcreation are, how they are different, and how each process can contribute to a winning marketing strategy for your business.
What Is Marketing Translation?
Simply put, marketing translation is translating ad copy from one language to another. It encompasses various advertising elements, including taglines, logos, online copy, printed copy, etc.
It is important to note that this only sometimes involves a literal translation from one language to another since the resulting copy would often be nonsensical to the target audience. Instead, the concept of each sentence is carefully recreated in the target language so that consumers will instantly understand it.
Idioms can often be an example of this.
What Is Transcreation?
Transcreation has been defined as "a distinct translation process that is mainly used to describe the adaptation of advertising and marketing copy." If you break the word itself down, it literally means "cross" (trans) + "creation." The thought is not just one of faithfully recreating marketing material; instead, a distinct element of unique creation is embedded into the process. It could be a significant extension and enlargement of standard marketing translation, complete with additional creative input from your transcreation team.
With transcreation, not only are linguistic idiosyncrasies (like idioms) taken into account but the entire project is also analyzed and rebuilt where needed. Apart from adjustments to the copy itself, transcreation may include an overhaul of imagery, color schemes, audio/visual elements, and anything else that may get "lost in translation" from the source language to the target audience.
What Are Some Major Differences Between the Two Processes?
As you can imagine from the above definitions, there are significant differences between "normal" marketing translation and transcreation. Here are some of the biggest ones to keep in mind.
1. The extent of creative freedom involved
The translation process is focused on faithfully recreating the specific thoughts expressed by the source language's ad copy in the target language. While grammar and idioms may change from one language to another, the ideas themselves remain the same. Thus, accuracy is one of the primary objectives of any traditional translation project.
On the other hand, transcreation typically allows for a wide range of creative freedom. For example, a team of transcreators may change marketing materials from one culture to another while retaining the basic concept the company wants to convey.
2. The scope of the work
Translation involves a lot of work in accurately getting your copy across to your target audience. However, the scope of the work begins and ends with the copy itself and does not involve other aspects of your marketing campaign.
In contrast, transcreation deals with all marketing elements. In other words, it has a much broader work scope than the traditional translation process. Think of it this way; an exceptional transcreator needs to be a mix of translator, copywriter, graphic designer, and marketer. That is a particular skill set involving a wide variety of responsibilities! Which leads nicely into our next big difference.
3. Time and cost
Simply put, transcreation takes longer and costs more than translation. Not only do transcreators have to use their translation skills to convey key concepts to your target audience, but they also have to devise creative ways to adapt your copy, taglines, logo, and imagery to a different culture. That will take quite a bit of time—and may cost more, too.
Of course, high-quality translation also requires a certain expenditure of time and money. There's no getting around that. Again, the point is that since transcreation encompasses a broader scope of work, it naturally is going to take longer and cost more.
4. The ultimate objective
In many cases, there is a subtle but significant difference between the primary goal of translation vs. that of transcreation. How so?
We could illustrate it this way: with the traditional translation process, the goal is to help your audience think what you what them to think. In other words, you want to get your message across so that nothing is lost in translation and your consumers immediately understand what your ad copy is saying to them.
On the other hand, the overall goal of transcreation is to help your audience feel what you what them to feel. A more profound emotional component is often part of the transcreation process. It is more than just getting your message across. You want to strike an emotional chord that resonates with your audience.
What Situations Call for the Use of Marketing Translation?
High-quality translation services will be sufficient in certain situations to accomplish your objective. There are even times when transcreation may be inappropriate. For example, when highly technical documents need to be translated from one language to another (such as medical directives, legal documents, blueprints, etc.), you want your translators to refrain from taking creative license with the information.
In a marketing context, you may feel so confident in your tagline/ad copy that you don't need to rework it for a different cultural audience. No major overhaul is required if the concepts are faithfully recreated in the target language.
What Situations Call for the Use of Transcreation?
On the other hand, there are times when it would be wise to employ a transcreation process to achieve your marketing goals. For example, what if your color scheme for a local audience needs to be adapted for an overseas demographic? When you don't need a literal translation of your ad copy and want your message to have a deep emotional resonance with your audience, transcreation is almost always a good option.
Suppose you carefully analyze the content and goals of your marketing campaign with linguistic and cultural differences in mind. In that case, you'll be able to make a sound decision about which process to use: translation or transcreation.