The Linguist

The Linguist 59,5 - October/November 2020

The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology

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FEATURES 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

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