How do you define transcreation? What is it?

First, here are a few random transcreation definitions from around the ‘net, which kind of get there:

“…a packet of services aimed at those operating in the advertising sector, including translation, localisation and copy editing services.“

“…a form of translation, closer to copywriting, resulting in a text linguistically and culturally adapted for its intended audience. Transcreated material is supposed to have the same impact on the target audience as the original source text.”

“… a bundle of services designed for clients operating in the advertising sector. It consists of the complete set of translation, localization and copyediting services. Transcreation is a more complex service as it involves the creativity and discipline of professionals whose core activity is content adaptation.“

Clearer now, or not?

Long story short: if you want to ‘translate’  a global or regional ad campaign, time and budget will largely dictate your approach. Accurate but straight or literal translation offers the cheap but workmanlike solution; using an ad agency network multiplied by 13 or 26 languages provides a culturally attuned but lengthy and expensive solution; and using Google Translate or other forms of machine translation is pure madness (but not unknown!).

So you need to combine and cross-fertilise the approaches to get a creative, adapted, idiomatic version that’s more effective than straight translation and quicker and more economical than the agency network.

Eureka! Transcreation.

Here’s how we at Wordbank define it:

Wordbank transcreation services adapt rather than translate your marketing and advertising campaigns, ensuring that, by staying true to the original while reflecting the local culture, you achieve maximum impact in each market in a cost-effective manner. Typically, transcreation is applied to the many forms of advertising.  In practice this means TV advertising scripts and voiceovers, print, banner and radio ads.

In fact all the advertising examples shown here would require transcreation to work effectively in another language and culture.

Technical translation note:

Most professional translators would argue that proper adaptation of the original to ensure that it is not only suitable for, but also enthusiastically received by, the local audience is the definition of a good translation.

I don’t disagree in principal .  But in practice this argument has two major flaws:

• The street price for translation and campaign time constraints dictate that you ain’t going to get copywritten-standard, creative translation in the price and time bracket of a technical author. But then you don’t need to get JWT, Publicis or Omnicom to do it either.
• It is human nature to reject anything that appears to be being foisted upon us – hence everybody always thinks they can come up with a better headline. The only way to defuse and harness this to the good is to offer several alternatives and let nature take its course.

Purely by chance it appears that I have just articulated another test for artificial intelligence – should you be concerned that you might be addressing a cyborg rather than a human being just ask for their opinion on a popular commercial strap line.