Marketing content is transcreated, not translated
When businesses decide to use their existing marketing materials to advertise abroad, they need to call on the services of a translator. But the translation process is completely different for advertising copy compared to technical texts. When we creatively translate marketing content, we call the process ‘transcreation’ (translation + creation). Transcreation involves:
- Translating an advertising text into the target language and
- Adapting it to align with the cultural norms in the target market.
There are several important points for translators to consider when working on transcreation projects.
What does the world look like through the target audience’s eyes?
People who are not familiar with a culture might need more background information before they can fully understand specific references. For example, Disney World in Florida is often described as being “roughly half the size of Rhode Island” in its promotional materials. That won’t mean a lot to people who don’t live in the USA, though. If we were adapting that reference for a UK audience, we might say that the resort is “roughly the size of Greater Manchester” instead.
What happens when a concept doesn’t even exist in the target market?
Culture-specific terms can turn out to be ‘untranslatable’ because the things they’re describing just don’t exist in the target audience’s culture. In these cases, it’s down to the translator to decide if they’re going to leave the terms in the source language, adapt them so they work in the target language or explain them to the reader. Here are some UK English concepts that don’t have an equivalent in other languages: Yorkshire pudding, Morris dancing, Bonfire Night and cream tea.
Is there enough space on the page?
The length of a text often changes in translation. Translations from English into French or Spanish can be as much as 33% longer than the original text. This can cause all sorts of issues with the layout of marketing materials. It works the other way too. If a translation turns out to be a lot shorter, the visual impact of an advertising text might be lost. The best strategy for translators here is to discuss any space requirements for specific parts of a text with the client before starting to work on the translation. For example, the solution may be to deliberately leave out some of the content.
What do you do with slogans and taglines?
Slogans and taglines are key to building a brand’s image. In most cases, a literal translation wouldn’t make any sense to the target audience and so these branding elements usually have to be rewritten from scratch. Here are a couple of examples:
- American Express: Don’t leave home without it. – Bezahlen Sie einfach mit Ihrem guten Namen (Payment is made with a good name).
- BMW: Freude am Fahren (The joy of driving). – The ultimate driving machine.
Does the text match the images?
If there’s a link between the text and images in marketing materials, it’s essential that any wordplay between the two in the source text is captured in the target text. Sometimes that’s just not possible. In that case, the images will need to be updated and/or the text will need to be adapted.
Transcreation toolbox
Ideally, clients should provide as much reference material and information about the product and company as possible. There’s no such thing as TMI here! The very best transcreations are based on previous translations, reference material, background information, glossaries, style guides and parallel texts.
Back translations, comments and options
Literal back translations into the source language can give clients who don’t speak the target language the reassurance they need that their original message is being conveyed in the target text. Translators can also add comments to explain their choices to clients. This is even more helpful when several options have been provided. Apostroph usually asks translators to provide at least two versions of a slogan – as per the Apostroph Group Service Level Agreement (SLA).
More on transcreation
Keen to find out more about transcreation? Here’s some recommended reading for you...
