Transcreation

For their campaigns, marketers worldwide are using this original method of translation. They are doing this while also considering the target audience’s cultural and emotional background and the language of their new market. Over the last five years, transcreation has become the best strategy for producing original content in a global corporate environment.

60% of transcreation is creation, and 40% is translation. It’s a creative method of translation where our linguist deliberately selects phrases and words to produce effective writing in the target language. They accomplish this while considering the area’s cultural context, traditions, and norms. A crucial step in localization is transcreation, which modifies the material for the target market.

What is the objective?

Regardless of the recipient’s background, you must convey the message and make the content resonate with the target audience. The goal is to develop a genuine, regional brand experience. The procedure necessitates creativity and linguistic elegance in addition to cultural awareness. It involves comprehending individuals within the cultural framework of their local area. Understanding the cultural nuances of the customer’s expected behavior, their perspective, what they genuinely care about, and what motivates them to behave is just as important as understanding the language.

Laguage, culture, and emotion are all factors in an efficient transcreation. Each market and target audience are carefully customized. Depending on what will best accomplish the specified marketing objectives, the transcreator may want the new text to have the same impact on its audience as the original, or they may desire one that is completely different. Alternatively, depending on the circumstance, it can be necessary to write a whole new text, in which case the task changes to copywriting.

Types of Content for Transcreation

What types of copy need to be approached creatively? Why does translating a press release with plenty of information take longer than translating a brief slogan or a simple app?

Here are some concrete examples where transcreation is the appropriate course of action.

Tagline & Slogans: Your brand and its goods should convey a clear message, which is frequently summed up in a slogan. A slogan should succinctly express the core values of your business or product. Unfortunately, however well-written they may be, most slogans cannot be applied to a different market. Sometimes this is due to linguistic factors; slogans frequently use rhymes, alliteration, wordplay, and cultural references. On the other hand, a brand can occasionally simply have a different reputation in the target market or target a different group of people.

Website Localization: Website translation involves more than just updating the payment methods and the content. Your company’s communications revolve around your website, which serves as both your digital business card and a platform for showcasing your goods and services and your marketing message. For an English-speaking audience, several brands modify their online messaging.

Newsletters & E-mails: Whether sent as an email or a letter, successful newsletters build client relationships. The key is to evoke an emotional response. Customers in other markets should also be aware of the time, effort, and creativity that went into the original. The reasonable option for newsletters and email marketing campaigns is transcreation. Consider the possibility that customers in various target markets may have diverse interests and observe various holidays and events.

Product Names: Before launching a global marketing campaign, it is advisable to have a native speaker verify the product name. What does your name signify in different languages? Is it simple to pronounce, read, and write? Does it make sense when spoken abroad? You might need to start over if a product name is already used in another market or has a different meaning in the target language.

Dubbing & Subtitling: Subtitle translation is never easy because there are time and space restrictions on how long and where they can be shown. People can read about 21 characters per second on average. This indicates that a line of subtitles shouldn’t contain more than 42 characters as a general rule. As a result, it is frequently necessary to abbreviate and rephrase subtitles without losing their significance. Additionally, dubbing calls for a script that has been modified for speaking and timing with video. The field of translation for cinema and video has advanced to the point where subtitling is now thought of as a separate, specialized science.

Ads & Commercials: The frequent use of time and space constraints in marketing and advertising materials serves as a strong justification for transcreation in advertisements and TV/radio commercials. Furthermore, they typically contain cultural references that must be modified for new audiences or target groups.

Apps & Digital Tools: Apps are typically created with the simplest user interface. This restricts the amount of room available and necessitates the use of clear, concise language. Buttons, directions, and menus may also need to be translated differently depending on the circumstance. The keywords for the app must mirror user behavior in the target market for it to be found quickly in the app store. Again, a direct translation will not work; each new market’s keywords must be completely studied from scratch. A text should have the same influence on your target market as it does on your current market, according to the goal of transcreation.

This includes considering all the factors considered when the original text was written. Consider the time, work, and research put into each campaign, website, and product. It simply makes sense to localize your product for a new market with the same level of care. Transcreation is typically necessary for any content that intends to advertise a product or establish a connection with the target audience. Simply put, transcreations translate more than simply words because they transmit feelings as well.

Film & Book Titles: For a movie or book title to be transcreated, the research process behind those alterations is essential. Through symbolism, metaphors, and sometimes even humour, movies convey messages. It should therefore come as no surprise that when it comes to adapting it for a foreign audience’s consumption, a literal translation of the screenplay simply would not do. Instead, it needs to be adjusted to the linguistic and cultural norms of the target markets.

Results of Transcreation

Talent, time, and experience go into transcreations. The team’s planning will greatly influence a transcreation’s ability to shine and the directions they are given. A convincing brief will win you half the battle.

Before you begin:

What results do you hope the transcreation will produce? You can accurately adapt your copy to various markets using transcreations. The copy won’t be translated word-for-word; instead, there will be more linguistic freedom and allow for innovation. To create the emotional impact you seek, the outcome should be a fresh text that considers the culture and expectations of the target audience. We may evaluate the outcomes and determine how well a transcreation satisfies the criterion by understanding the procedure and the intended outcome of transcreating copy. Setting the limits for transcreation will require careful consideration of a few crucial issues.

For example:

1. Where will the marketing campaign or copy appear? Every text is written with a specific format and context in mind, whether it is headlines on a web page or image descriptions for social media. We must be mindful of character restrictions or other technical specifications that vary depending on where it will be published and limitations on the tone of voice. Any supplementary visuals, such as pictures, graphics, or video clips, are just as crucial as the background. In the finished product, the text should coordinate with these since it frequently makes direct references to them. Because imagery falls differently in other target markets—where alternative colors or patterns, for instance, are in demand—we might need to adapt the images themselves in the following step.
2. Who is the target audience? The geographical location of the target audience and other socio-demographic details like age, employment status, or educational level all matter, but they don’t make up the complete picture! Things get pretty fascinating when we consider the audience’s psychographics or what makes them tick. Do they prefer analogue media or are they digital natives? What are their preferences and needs? These elements impact consumer behaviour and, consequently, how a text needs to be adjusted.
3. What do you want your content to achieve? We then put your text’s objectives on paper. Are you trying to sell anything? or launch a fresh item? typically raise the visibility of your brand? increase the number of website traffic or newsletter subscribers? merely convey information? We must adapt your core message to a particular market based on your specific goals. The system in place for selling things is different everywhere.
4. Which sales strategy is best for this objective? Every market has unique preferences that impact sales and outreach, whether through social media, TV channels, or search engines. Being aware of these preferences can make or break marketing campaigns. While Yahoo!, Baidu, and Naver dominate in Asia, Google is the most popular search engine in the US and Europe. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct some research to determine which channels are effective in your target market and the key elements. You can solve this in advance by yourself, with a partner in the target market, or through your language service provider.
5. What should we know about the voice of your brand? Here, there are several queries to consider: How do you communicate with your target demographic? Do you want to be succinct or have room for humour and a light tone? What vocabulary or phraseology do you use? The objective is for the brand voice to be the same in all languages and for the brand values to be effectively communicated. Therefore, the briefing should contain all you have defined for your initial discussions.
6. What is the budget, and when is the deadline? We must consider the time commitment necessary to get outcomes when assessing the budget and schedule for a transcreation project. Short-copy transcreation is often priced by the hour, and at the end of the day, you pay for how much effort the team puts in. Long-copy transcreation may be calculated by word.
7. The expense will be less if you create a strong briefing at the beginning. These six simple measures can have a significant impact on the briefing.

Why White Globe?

Our translators possess additional copywriting and marketing expertise, which when combined with their writing abilities results in content that is thoroughly familiar with the target country’s market and cultural norms. Our carefully chosen transcreators have competence in the following areas:

• Proficiency in multiple languages
• Knowledge of various cultures, and
• Writing skills in their native language

Our transcreators implement unconventional thinking and enter the minds of the target demographic. The transcreation process involves communication between the client and the linguist and exchanging ideas. Our transcreators were brought up in the relevant culture or market and are native speakers of the target language. They stay updated with regional tastes and cultural differences. They are fluent in multiple languages and are also skilled writers and thinkers.

The right approach is essential; you need project managers proficient in the transcreation process and linguists with experience who can select the best candidates and put up briefs. Both of these options are available from an appropriate agency. To ensure your message reaches your target market, you need a team that combines linguistic and cultural expertise and can immediately tell from your campaign what must be done.

“The skill set of an ideal transcreator combines language skills, copywriting skills, cultural sensitivity, subject-matter expertise, and the necessary technical skill set.”

To learn more about White Globe’s Transcreation Services, please contact us below.

022 – 46036584 / 022 – 46015292

Email: sales@whiteglobe.co.in