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8 The Linguist Vol/59 No/5 2020
thelinguist.uberflip.com
Is a marathon session with a team of creatives and translators an
effective way to localise an ad campaign, asks Vasiliki Prestidge
O
ne evening in February, when Europe was not
yet the epicentre of a pandemic, one of my
regular agencies called me and asked if I would
be available for an on-site, live transcreation assignment.
At first, I was rather confused. 'Surely they mean
simultaneous interpreting,' I thought to myself. But after
asking a few questions, I understood.
Let's look at transcreation first. I am aware that the
word can cause lively conversations among both
supporters and sceptics. Many translators argue that
transcreation is nothing but a trendy term for good
translation, and a way of charging more by spicing up
the service with a fancy description.
In my experience, transcreation is translation
performed for the creative industries (marketing,
advertising, design, illustration, the visual arts, film etc.).
Specifically it refers to work intended to be used by
these industries to sell, promote and appeal to the
emotions of a targeted audience. In this context,
creative translation does not only imply creative texts
and writing, but also the framework within which the
text is used.
It requires a set of additional skills, including copy
editing, copywriting, understanding advertising
techniques and writing methods. Transcreators deliver
three versions of the source text along with back
translations for each version and a detailed rationale,
justifying their word choices, word order changes, and
why moving away from the original is necessary. The first
is close to the original, the second a little bit further away
and the third quite far from the words of the original. In
essence, it is rewriting taking inspiration from the original.
The main goal is to transfer the tone of voice (TOV),
brand messages and emotions, rather than worrying
about the words and their order. In addition, content for
transcreation is very often accompanied by images,
video, sounds, leaflets, style guides, brand guidelines
and TOV instructions, all provided by the client.
10 LINGUISTS, 6 HOURS, 7 CONCEPTS
Typically, a transcreator will be given a copy, a brief and
a timeframe within which they need to produce the
transcreated copy from the comfort of their home office.
In my case, the client was looking for a linguist to visit
CREATING A BUZZ
LEVEL UP
Two coffee advertising
concepts (above and
top). Vasiliki worked
on various concepts for
a drinks campaign
