20SECRETSYOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUTTRANSCREATION

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1KNOW HOW TRANSCREATION DIFFERS FROM TRANSLATION.Transcreation entails adapting or recreating your messaging and content for a given target audience, instead of translating it from the original.

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2KNOW WHY TO USE TRANSCREATION.Customers in different markets buy for different reasons. Transcreation helps you focus on what motivates the behavior of buyers in a new market, which is usually different from customers in your home market.

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3KNOW WHERE TRANSCREATION COMES FROM.Transcreation comes from the video gaming industry, when game publishers realized that simply translating words was not enough to provide an equal user experience.

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4KNOW ITS TYPICAL USES.Transcreation usually is used for marketing and advertising content, as well as SEO keywords.

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ADVERTISING

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5KNOW WHAT TRANSCREATION NORMALLY INCLUDES.Most transcreation includes a mix of content adaptation, custom-selected imagery, and direct translation.

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6KNOW TRANSCREATION BY ITS OTHER NAMES.Transcreation is also known as “creative translation,” “cultural adaptation,” “in-language copywriting,” “copy adaptation,” and many others.

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7KNOW THE CLUES THAT TRANSCREATION IS NEEDED.Does your content contain cultural references? Wordplay? Humor? If so, it will likely require transcreation instead of regular translation.

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8KNOW THAT TRANSCREATION ISN’T FAITHFUL.Transcreation by design is not faithful to the source. As a result, you may need to obtain a “back-translation” into English so that you understand what the message means.

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9KNOW THAT NON-SPECIALISTS MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF TRANSCREATION.If you ask a translation provider if they offer “transcreation” and they have not heard of it, it’s a clear sign they are unfamiliar with the service.

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10KNOW THAT IT TAKES TIME TO IMPROVE TRANSCREATION QUALITY.Transcreation providers take a long time to build up expertise with your brand. Over time, expect your turnaround times to shorten while your quality increases.

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11KNOW HOW TRANSCREATION WORKFLOWS ARE DIFFERENT.With a transcreation workflow, you’ll have a larger number of stakeholders involved, a longer up-front planning process, a more extensive review process, and a larger number of review cycles than you would have with translation.

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12KNOW THAT TRANSCREATION REQUIRES A CREATIVE BRIEF.Your transcreation providers will work from a creative brief. This is absolutely critical, as it determines how the brand should sound and what the desired action is.

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13KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT NEED A BACK-TRANSLATION.If you don’t speak the target language, you will want to request a translation of the new messaging back into English, for your records, and to give you a sense of what the transcreated messages sound like.

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14KNOW THAT YOU CAN REQUEST RICH MEDIA FORMATS.Most transcreation providers can accommodate audio and visual content easily, and have access to their own audio and video production teams.

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15KNOW THAT YOU NEED TO GET EARLY BUY-IN FROM IN-COUNTRY REVIEWERS.Keep your in-country reviewers involved from the very beginning to ensure that they support the transcreation process and help to inform it.

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16KNOW THAT TIME PRESSURES CAN MAKE IT TEMPTING TO SKIP QUALITY STEPS.Transcreation projects are often rushed due to a specific launch date or other timely event. Be careful not to skip quality steps in the rush to get the job out the door.

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17KNOW HOW TO SELECT THE MEMBERS OF YOUR TRANSCREATION PROJECT TEAM.Look for people who live in the country where your customers live, but also include individuals who are familiar with your brand.

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18KNOW THE LIMITS OF USING YOUR BILINGUAL EMPLOYEES.Your employees know your brand, but cannot give you scalability due to limits around their availability.

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19KNOW WHEN TO CONSIDER A BLIND TRANSCREATION TEST.Provide a creative brief for a small project to two or three providers to determine the quality of their work. Give them the same test, and pay them both for this work. Avoid asking for free “samples” of professional services.

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20KNOW TO ENCOURAGE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.Make sure that you create a collaborative relationship that makes it easy for the vendor to tell you when you are doing something wrong.

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