A brief primer

On Translations and Transcreations

Understanding the difference between translation and transcreation is essential in marcom and PR. Reading time: 7 minutes.

What is transcreation? Let us start with the extremes, using English as the original language and Spanish as the other language in this example: at one end of the spectrum is translation, defined as a faithful, accurate, and culturally appropriate rendering of a message in a different language; at the other end is Spanish copywriting, copy written in Spanish from scratch using a creative brief, and which may even include English and Spanglish.

Transcreation is something in between, a hybrid of the two, requiring the skill sets for both translation and copywriting.

Translations start with a source text (the original copy) and require a focus on accuracy and completeness. In fact, an Affidavit of Accuracy (for a Certified Translation) requires that the translation be accurate and complete: both are key factors in translation quality.

Copywriting starts with a creative brief and requires a focus on relevant engagement for an effective response.

Transcreations are a blend the two: A professional copywriter/translator who is bilingual and bicultural works from two key documents, English copy and the creative brief, to generate Spanish, Spanglish, and/or bilingual copy that delivers on the brief. The transcreation may not incorporate everything that is in the English version, could have added content, and potentially could be neither “accurate” nor “complete,” technically speaking.

Who does what

Translators focus on accuracy as a key concept in their work, and rightly so. Since much of the translation industry consists of technical copy, most translators, while competent writing professionals, tend to be technical writers, and seldom have the training or experience to depart in a creative yet disciplined way from what’s written in English. Buyer beware: There are translators and translation agencies who offer transcreation services without having actual copywriting experience.

Beyond "not literal" and "not culturally appropriate"

As expert linguists, translators work to develop culturally appropriate translations. They only produce a literal translation if the assignment requires it. Transcreators go beyond this by adding or eliminating content in the original text as needed, and acting as advertising copywriters and even journalistic feature writers based on project or campaign objectives.

Specialization

Since transcreation requires the skill sets for both translation and copywriting functions, a transcreator needs to qualify as both translator and advertising copywriter. Just as most bilingual copywriters do not have the technical writing skills to tackle many translation assignments, most translators aren’t copywriters and can’t do effective transcreations. Without education and experience working with marcom concepts such as consumer behavior insights, spending patterns, buying motivation, response to features and benefits, brand architecture and positioning, segmentation strategies, CTA generation, decision making and choice architecture, you can’t write effective copy, regardless of how comprehensive the brief may be.

A copywriter with market research experience, for example, is a valuable team member for translating and transcreating advertising as well as surveys, moderator guides, interviews, and questionnaires.

The mantra “Don’t translate, transcreate” points to the vast difference between translations and advertising creative copy. Translations can result, at best, in clever messages for the mind (at worst it can be the next marketing blunder), while transcreations produce powerful messages for the heart. (Remember that buying decisions, even in B2B, are primarily emotional.)

Deliverables

While translation assignments are typically delivered in two columns (original or source text and translated or target text), the deliverables for transcreation assignments often include three or four columns, and may include a backtranslation, as well as rationale and comments for art directors and for marketing and legal approval.

One difference I've noticed between translations and transcreations is copy length. A 500-word piece in English often results in a translation of 650+ words, but a transcreation of 500 words or less. This is critical when working with social media content, Google ads, and most other digital work such as email marketing. The key difference, however, is copy effectiveness. 

A few examples

When transcreating consumer communications for U.S. markets, the first step is to determine whether the campaign or creative concept could even be made relevant and effective for U.S. Latin consumers, and if so, what parts of the material should be translated and what needs to be transcreated or re-concepted and re-written. In rare cases, brands may decide to reposition and even rebrand based on their segmentation and targeting strategies.

Patient and consumer education materials may include topics and categories unfamiliar to consumers in immigrant communities, where we may face challenges such as deeply rooted beliefs, values, and attitudes. In those cases, to make the material relevant and effective, we may have to expand some sections and even add new ones, as well as explain and sell the category as much as the brand.

An online catalog or a packaging piece may include legal and technical copy that requires an accurate and very succinct translation (there’s never enough room in packaging), and headlines, taglines, subheads, features, benefits, CTAs, and other brand messaging that require transcreation and brand-new copywriting.