Thoughts From Coral

Transcreation is a process of adapting a creative piece of work into another language whilst maintaining its cultural impact. The term is coined by a beautiful harmonization of ‘Translation’ meaning ‘conversion of written communication to another language’ and ‘Creation’ meaning ‘something of human imagination’. This harmony of words further simplifies the definition of Transcreation as ‘Creative Translation’.

Difference between Translation and Transcreation

A lot of internationalization services are now into the act of transcreation as it has increased its hold in the translation industry. The difference between the two lies in their approach. Translation is a completely language-centric approach used to convert the language of the source text whilst retaining the meaning of the text. On the other hand, transcreation is a marketing-driven approach used to translate a creative piece of content into another language whilst retaining the objective and marketing intent of the content.

In mere words, it would not be wrong to say that transcreation is a refined extension of translation but it certainly is more inspired, effective and creative than translation. With this, translation needs to succumb to transcreation for a completely creative approach.

Objective and Scope of Transcreation

The chief objective of this creative art is to carry across the advertising message or marketing intent across global cultures. It helps companies and brands to transcend their promotional activities beyond language and culture boundaries.

Advertising, marketing, literature, speeches and movie scripts are the best examples where transcreation holds its significance. The process in these scenarios is used to craft documents with the perfect piece of transcreated content without any misinterpretation of the marketing text. In such cases if mere word to word translation is used, the impact of the message delivered may vary from one audience to another. Hence, a slight creativity is applied to ensure that the impact stays intact across all languages. Adding some creativity to the traditional form of translation makes all the difference.

Whether it is jingles, advertising slogans, PPC campaigns or movie titles, it’s all the game of words. Just a few words and an incredible impact! Transcreation is what makes these few words count even beyond cultural boundaries.

Conclusion

Transcreation is at its budding stage as of now but the globalized century is increasing its hold in the translation industry. Be it electronic, entertainment, media or literature, transcreation is gaining acceptance across all sectors. It is certainly gaining momentum in the translation industry with better marketing scope and business expansion growth opportunity.