In modern localization, the one thing that is pretty hard to come by is the kind of hand-crafted and compelling “no nonsense” marketing translation quality you need if you want target language content that actually helps to sell your products or services in a certain market.

What usually does not help our clients is the usual type of generic, lackluster and uninspired literal translation. Yet, instead of going through a (much more expensive and non-professional) local advertising agency, the job ends up being sent for translation.

Transcreation requires translators to go the extra mile and think outside the box for clients, so that localized content spurs interest and inspires action in target audiences.

Transcreation

In order to enable and value high-quality translations, you need to first understand what the term“transcreation” really entails and embrace the idea that you need to move away from the source text for a work of transcreation to be successful.

For marketing translations, it is often necessary to freely and completely move away from the source in terms of syntax and words – by thinking about what is meant and coming up with creative solutions to express it so it fits naturally in another market.

We need to give thought to how people in the target language would express the thought, rather than processing words and grammar and continuing to think in the English “source world”.

Literal translation and transcreation

If the translator does not go that extra mile during a marketing translation, you can almost bet that the original translation goal could not be achieved.

Typically, the client prefers a better and more fluent translation – that’s all! They are merely putting the finger right where it hurts - the sting of literal translations as compared to high value target texts.

You might often encounter situations where you have a solid (but not great) initial translation but a client reviewer who is looking for a work of transcreation (one that really speaks to audiences in target markets and sells products better than regular translation).

As a language service provider, ideally, Myngo like to get feedback from the client with suggestions for improvement along with their examples. This can help not only the translator, but also the client to get understanding of the transcreation.

What a good marketing translation looks like and how to achieve it? How to create catchy transcreations and think outside the box? This is the art of transcreation.