Transcreation

Why smart international retailers are transcreating their content

Transcreation involves the creation of content for separate purposes or audiences. This can be applied to particular niches within a market, but typically refers to the simultaneous creation of content suited to multiple international markets.

Differing from translation, in which an original is replicated into a new form, ie: language or dialect, transcreation works on the principle that the creation of each piece of content is completed entirely independently of one another, guided by a predetermined series of instructions.

The advantages of choosing transcreation over translation include the following:

Greater linguistic clarity

While certain documents and statements genuinely require translation, such as privacy policies, press statements, mission statements, etc., many can actually identify instances in which they are reading translations. Indicators include absences of meaning, odd sentence structures, terminology discrepancies, colloquialisms, proverbs and idiomatic expressions, and of course, let’s not forget that certain concepts can simply be ‘lost in translation’.

With a blank canvas, an artist can function at his or her highest level of creativity. The same can be said of the written word. Given an original and the instruction to translate, the creativity of the translator is restricted, the creativity of the end product, finite. In contrast, providing an author with necessary guidelines allows for natural creativity and freedom of expression to flow, making for far more interesting content as an end result.

Better information quality

The very nature of translation itself all-too-often removes the obligation on the author’s part to conduct external research. The original document is regarded as the source, and in the case of many translations, comprises all of the research conducted.

Inevitably historical, the facts and figures in a document undergoing a process of translation require external research to ensure that statistical and social references are current and up to date. While an additional requirement to the translation process, the conducting of research by reference to external information sources and industry authorities is an essential and standard part of the transcreation process – as there is no original to work from. To be sure of having something researched, rather than just written, choose transcreation.

Improved depth of information

Entire series of texts can be developed as content for your eCommerce site, or localised sites, from scratch, and in a single step. Example of texts in which transcreation really makes sense include product descriptions and buying guides – largely standardised in terms style, tone of voice, and key attributes related to the retailer’s image and business model.

Manufacturers provide generic descriptions and guides in order to help retailers, no doubt intended to help, but regarding these as sources texts to translate limits the depth of information in the product to that covered in the original, and the style to that of the original author. For the sake of content depth, it’s clearly better to transcreate, giving authors the necessary freedom to create quality new originals than to make direct translations of existing originals.

The prevention of duplicate translations

Following on from the issues surrounding the translation of manufacturer descriptions is the realisation that it’s actually possible to translate duplicate content issues. Assuming for the sake of example that translation were and entirely linear and rigid process, this implies that translators working independently, but from a single source text would produce duplicate translations.

In transcreation, however, briefings are used instead of original source texts, meaning as a basis for content, rather than the translation of originals, transcreation is a great way to avoid duplicate content issues, especially for the smart international online retailer.

It is a preconception that transcreation is strictly related to multlingual content alone, although it’s certainly a large part of it. Transcreation could also be applied to situations in which different demographic groups need to be considered.

Choosing marriage as an example topic, and a handbook as an example project, the concepts of transcreation can be seen by imagining a guide for women, a guide for men, and a guide for couples. Each should be written independently, and by the target audience. Writing a guide for one sex and adapting it for the other simply wouldn’t work – the only viable option would be transcreation – guides created independently of one another.

Budget constraints may prevent many online retailers from expanding into each of their target markets simultaneously. However, remember the process can be staggered. Pick up the phone to Textprovider to discuss how your transcreation strategy can be implemented according to your budget.