Cultural adaptation

Transcreation is a term used chiefly by advertising and marketing professionals to refer to the process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone and context. A successfully transcreated message evokes the same emotions and carries the same implications in the target language as it does in the source language. Increasingly, transcreation is used in global marketing and advertising campaigns as advertisers seek to transcend the boundaries of culture and language. It also takes account of images which are used within a creative message, ensuring that they are suitable for the target local market.

Terms with meanings similar to transcreation include ‘creative translation’, ‘cross-market copywriting’, ‘international copy adaptation’, ‘free-style translation‘, ‘marketing translation’, ‘internationalization’, ‘localization’ and ‘cultural adaptation’. For each of these words and phrases, the thrust is similar: taking the essence of a message and re-creating it in another language or dialect.

Transcreation is a relatively new term and its precise meaning is still being defined. In 2000 the term was registered as UK Trademark No. 2222617 by United Publicity Services Plc; this registration as a trademark expired in February 2010.

When first used in the 1960s and 1970s transcreation was a term coined to describe the translation of creative ad copy. UPS Translations (now part of Intonation Translations) subsequently developed the term into a specific process for tackling the translation of highly creative language, rather than merely a general term to describe creative translations.

An alternative explanation of the etymology of transcreation is it is thought by some to have originated in the computer and video game industry in the 1980s. According to this view, early manufacturers found that merely translating the words (written and spoken) used in the games was not sufficient to satisfy the majority of users in targeted markets. To make the games more enjoyable and relevant to users in different cultures, the makers began to tailor images and modify story lines to match the culture and expectations of those users.

In the 1990s, marketers and advertising agencies with international accounts began using the term transcreation to distinguish their work in this field from translation. The implication is that, when bringing an existing advertising campaign to a market outside the source language, much more is needed than a translation.

Transcreation is now a mainstream term in the Anglophone advertising and translation community. The American market research company, Common Sense Advisory, one of the major publishers of industry references for language service providers (LSPs), has recently published a large selection of articles featuring transcreation. The term is also recognized in Asian countries, including China. In 2010, the Chinese design and advertising publication, Modern Advertising Magazine, discussed the term in an article for the first time.

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Wikipedia