Transcreation Agencies: Transcreation Benefits and Uses 2024

Are you dealing with creative content and want to make it more effective? Do you want your audience to relate better with your content? If so, you need more than just a simple translation that might struggle when it comes to capturing the same meaning of your content in another language.

Fortunately, you can count on transcreation agencies for help not only in translating content but ensuring that it fits your target audience that speaks another language than what your content is initially written into.

What is Transcreation?

It’s the process of adapting content from the target language to another. It also keeps the current style, intent, and tone.  It also includes a complete reimagining of the content, adapting to the foreign market.

Its primary focus isn’t only on the material’s meaning but also on the response that it can encourage in the audience. 

In short, it is a creative translation, especially when the content’s direct translation doesn’t inspire the audience. It is also when the content has no direct translation in the foreign language of the target country. It is a more creative translation that can inspire people.

What’s the difference between translation and transcreation?

At its core, translation replaces words for their corresponding equivalent from one language to another. On the other hand, transcreation aims to convey the same concept or message from one language to another.

Translators working on a transcreation project can add their cultural knowledge and creativity to the translation, allowing them to recreate the material. This will help the content to resonate to the new audience having a different culture and norms aside from language.

How to distinguish translation and transcreation

Now that you know the primary differences between the two, you may be asking what to help you determine each of them.

Transcreation is very helpful for marketing-focused and creative materials

If you’re translating informative content, such as a user manual, translation may be enough. This is the opposite if you desire another effect or want to trigger an action from your audience. In this case, you’ll need transcreation agencies.

Expert transcreators can offer you with recommendations on the overall feel and look of your campaign for a target locale. This is to ensure that it will generally resonate or be accepted in the new market.

They can help capture the voice and messaging of the brand but only in a different language and tailor the content to the particular culture.

In most cases, transcreators are also copywriters not only translators. They are not only well-versed in translation but content creation as well.

So if you’re looking to transcreate creative content that needs capturing creative devices that include metaphors, slogans, and historical language, you might as well employ transcreation agencies that specialize in transcreation.

Transcreation also needs to start with a creative brief not with the source text that translation does. So, if you’re a business owner looking to transcreate your content, you also need to provide a creative brief to send to the transcreation agencies.

This will include giving them the entire picture of the creative concept along with the action, which you want the copy or content to achieve.

Unlike translation that may be more cost-effective for only needing the source text for translation, transcreation may be more expensive.

It is because the services of transcreation agencies will often involve an hourly pay or per project instead of per word by translation services. The reason for this is that the transcreator will need to recreate the messaging of your material and not just to translate it.

Your brand’s messaging that was intended for a particular audience might not be able to resonate correctly when exposed to a different group.

That’s why you may need transcreation that will result in a brand new messaging. This time, it will be more relevant to your target locale.

It is the opposite for translation that only results in new words presented in a new language, while keeping the literal translation or meaning of the words. However, literal or straight translation might result in content losing its impact.

When Transcreation Agencies May Help

Literal translations may not be what you need for translating creative works, including films and TV scripts.  For this application, you need transcreation that does not only translate but also ensures that your material becomes more relevant and relatable for its market in a particular locale.

Video games

If marketing to a different locale, you need to translate scripts, slogans, and titles, which all have to be in an appealing and creative language. 

This single project needs transcreation services; however, you might not need it when it comes to literal translations, which include terms and conditions and user manual. Nevertheless, you’ll need the services of transcreation agencies in areas where creative translation is a must.

Product names

There are product names that need a creative translation so that they appeal to the locale where you plan to launch your offers.

However, some instances will not need it especially if the product name you have chosen for your bestsellers, for instance, already are a great representation of the product and your brand. In short, you can leave those names as they are and no need to change or modify them.

But if your brand intends to change the name of certain products, you should be careful or you might experience a marketing flop that some big name brands experience.

Even if the translation can be technically correct, they can result in a big mistake because of their lack of resonance or double meanings.

For example, Ford’s Pinto Model was launched in Brazil in 1971.  However, its translated meaning in Portuguese and Spanish slang means tiny male genitals. The brand renamed the Pinto line to Corcel that translates to horse in Brazil.

TV Scripts and Films

Translating these art materials into another language can be a problem if they’re literally translated.  For example, colloquial language and slang words may lose their meaning. They can even sound offensive and awkward, although unintentionally. On the same note, it can be problematic to translate scripts that intend to recreate a historical language.

Creative writing

Another important use of transcreation applies to translating creative works like novels, which authors and publishers intend to promote for international markets and countries where the material’s original language is different from the target locale.  It is very important to translate this content correctly other than only literally translate it. Or else, there can be many errors in the finished product.

But if they’d use transcreation, they can rest assured that the creative translation will be able to adapt to rich descriptions and even metaphors, allowing the content to make sense and become more relatable in the locale where the novel will be marketed.

Speeches

Politicians and other types of speakers use historical references, metaphors, and slogans, and other creative elements into their speeches. Thus, they’re also candidates for creative translations. Or else, mistakes in pause or repetitions that aim to create a dramatic effect can result in embarrassment.

Slogans

American Airlines had a funny case of translating the “fly in leather” tagline. It initially aimed to let passengers know about the leather seats. While the slogan sounded inviting for the English speaking market, it was not for the Spanish market. The slogan’s Spanish version “Vuela en Cuero” literally means “fly naked.”

Slogans, just like other creative content, can be hard to literally translate or it will result in a failure that other brands experienced.  

Poorly translated slogans – can produce offensive results. When this happens, a brand may not be able to connect with their target locale.

Nevertheless, you’ll need transcreation agencies that can help with creative translation that your target audience can relate with overseas.

Metaphors and headlines

Creative elements, such as rhymes, puns, headlines, and metaphors can add life to content and make them more appealing, no matter where you plan to market your content. It is also where you need help from transcreation agencies that can translate them more meaningfully.

There you have some of the most important use cases of transcreation that translation might fall short to.   So, when translation will be used for creative works, you’ll need help from transcreation agencies. They can help with creative translation for a more favorable reaction from audiences.

Transcreation Agencies: Can Your Business Benefit From Their Services?

Marketing your products and services in a competitive business world is crucial for your success. Especially if entering new markets, transcreation can offer you with plenty of benefits – some of them in the following.

Cultural awareness

Communicate your message effectively (e.g. happiness, togetherness…) through transcreation. As you may know certain words may have a different meaning in another country.  Thus, you must be aware of the culture of your target market before launching your marketing campaign in a specific region or locale.   Use transcreation agencies to help you with accurate localization of your marketing message to suit the new market.

Cultural sensitivity

Your brand must consider not only cultural awareness but also the cultural sensitivity of a specific locality or region before marketing or promoting your offers there. While you may have a well-meaning advertisement, it may be controversial if it contains elements that can trigger sensitivities, and this can result in your brand being perceived negatively by a specific group.

Save yourself from localization blunders by using transcreation agencies that can translate your marketing materials accurately and prevent any trouble associated with cultural insensitivity.

Accurate brand imaging and messaging

Creating a brand image is crucial for your marketing success. However, it is insufficient that you successfully created an image to your origin country if you’re promoting your products and services to a new locale.

Do you want to globalize your brand?  If you do, you should incorporate transcreation in your marketing plan. This will help you establish and keep your brand image in every country where you wish to promote your content, products, or services.

Otherwise, not transcreating might ruin your brand’s image that you’ve built for years. It will destroy your reputation, which isn’t good news for anyone who has spent money to establish a name in their industry. 

To improve your global brand and make sure that it is seen positively in every country where you’re promoting your offers, use transcreation agencies for transcreating content.

Acceptance

Increase the acceptance of your offers in a specific culture or market through transcreating your marketing messages.  This will help deliver your messages in a manner that your target locale can easily relate to. When this happens, they will be encouraged to buy your offers.

Sales

Marketing campaigns are designed and meant to increase a company’s bottom line.  One of the best ways to help you achieve that is to transcreate your campaign materials, including slogans, ad copies, and so on if you want to expose your business to other countries with another language.  

Increase your sales and profits through persuading your audience with better content that they can resonate to.

Final Thoughts

Certainly, transcreation agencies offer businesses with a lot of benefits. They can help them translate their marketing content from one language to another, while keeping the same desired action it wants to trigger from the audience.

They can help you overcome cultural and language barriers between your brand and customers. In addition, they can help you achieve global presence through the consistent marketing messages in many languages.