When looking to improve your company’s international growth strategy, it can be difficult to determine whether your business needs transcreation or translation.

Both translation and transcreation are strategies to make content accessible in a language other than the one it was originally created in. But the processes and results can be quite different.

So to make the right choice for your company, it is important to first understand the difference between both terms. Let's start with a breakdown of the basics:

What is Translation?

Translation has always existed as a way of transferring meaning from one language to another. For example, if you say “What’s your name?” in English, the translation into Spanish would be, “¿Como te llamas?. The final meaning is the same, but how it’s expressed in each language is different.

There should not be any deviations from what is said in the source content with translation.

What is Transcreation?

Transcreation originated from marketing, with the purpose of engaging with foreign audiences at an emotional level. Transcreated content uses locally appropriate cultural references and language to convey a brand's message.

A transcreation project usually starts with a creative brief, to ensure that the transcreators know exactly what the goals and meaning behind the text are, so that they can recreate content with the same impact and effectiveness in another language. This may mean changing the layout of the text quite a bit.

Transcreation is often used in marketing campaigns and branding, as they need to create an emotional connection with the chosen target audience, and transcreation is the best way to do this! A marketing campaign's key messaging may vary depending on the culture and language in which it is received. In these situations transcreation is vital, as it allows the native speaking multilingual experts the creativity and freedom to align your communication with the cultural nuances and linguistic interpretation of international target audiences.

Now it’s time for you to make an exciting decision. Which route do you think your company would benefit from the most? Are you looking for translation or transcreation?

Whatever your decision, with our multilingual experts, we’ve got you covered for either. So why not contact us, and let us know how we can build your company up both in and out of the country!

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