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The Transcreation Process
Transcreation is more than just translation; it’s about capturing the essence of a message and recreating it in another language while maintaining its emotional impact and cultural relevance. Here’s a look at the creative process behind effective transcreation:
Understanding the Original Message
Understanding the source content is the first step – not just the words, of course, but the tone, style and intent. You want to ensure that the core messaging of the campaign remains the same, even if the language around it changes. This first step is crucial for ensuring that the transcreated content remains true to its original purpose.
Research, Research, Research
For us, we handpick our linguists for each project so we can match their experience – and interests – with the campaign itself. This means they’re able to bring a deeper understanding to whatever they’re working on. But, this doesn’t mean foregoing that all-important research, each of them takes the time to learn about the product(s), brand and audience they’re writing for.
Cultural Adaptation
The benefit of transcreation over translation is the cultural context it brings, meaning your target audience is far more likely to engage if they resonate with the messaging. Our linguists are all native, meaning they offer their knowledge of the local zeitgeist to every project they work on, and ultimately will inform us if something doesn’t work for the new target location or language. By understanding the cultural landscape, you can ensure that the message feels authentic and relatable.
Creative Rewriting
Another huge benefit of transcreation is the creative flair linguists add to the translation. Simply translating content may mean things sound unnatural or irrelevant to the target audience, and local idioms can be bungled, or even missed. It’s about finding the right words and expressions that evoke the same emotions without alienating your audiences by using blanket global references. This turns a simple translation into a powerful piece of communication.
Collaboration and Feedback
Effective transcreation is often a collaborative effort. We encourage our linguists to work together, to question the copy and to share ideas to find the perfect version. Consider it a team sport; everyone’s input is valuable in creating a winning message. Regular feedback and revisions help refine the content, making sure it hits the mark every time.
This is just the basics, of course – our linguists work hard to not just understand the copy itself, but the meaning and goals behind the marketing, the target market and the brand itself. So why don’t we hear from them too?
What Our Linguists Say
Flavia Palumbo
- I read the guidelines carefully to understand the target market and the goal of the transcreation project.
- I make sure that I have a clear grasp of the meaning of the source message and, if I am unfamiliar with the topic, I do some in-depth research and surf the web to see how similar brands have handled that topic. I can’t tell you how much time I usually spend researching rather than translating, as it really depends on the topic!
- Of course, since trancreating requires some ‘cultural adaptation’, I take my time to find the right ‘inspiration’. Once the message/slogan is finalised I try to let it ‘rest’ for a while so that I have time to rethink about it and refine it if necessary.
- Also, I check online that no one else has used the same or similar slogans/idioms to avoid plagiarism.
Transcreating is really a lot of fun, and I like to offer more than just two alternatives when I can.
Gosia Śnigurowicz
The less familiar I’m with the subject, the more time I need to spend on the research. And when I start the actual creative process, I tend to extract the essence and then forget about the source completely. This way I’m able to come up with an entirely new text – one that doesn’t follow English syntax or grammatical structures, and sounds as natural as possible.
Also, what often helps is to change the scenery: some of the most creative ideas came to me while I was doing something completely else, such as taking a shower.
Christina Faaborg
I usually dig right into it. If it is a subject I need to familiarize myself with, I typically do some research – mainly about the specific terms used, and then I always take a look at the glossary, if there is one.
Then, I start the transcreative process – often by brainstorming – in an offline document. It depends on the level of transcreation needed, but if it, for example, is a concise sentence with a pun – these often take the longest – then I try to brainstorm as many possible ways to translate a word into Danish or say the same in Danish.
And in the end, I put the words together. I also often play with alliterations to see if that works. And as Gosia mentioned, I also get the best ideas while going for a walking, going to the coffee machine or to the toilet!
Birgit Spalt Zoidl
That depends on the topic: If I’m familiar with it, I just dive right in and only do research when I’m stuck. When the text covers topics I don’t know much about, I usually start with a little research to get acquainted with the lingo and the subject matter.
But whenever it’s something I know I prefer to not look at too much reference material because I feel it limits my creativity.
