Transcreation Quality—What Defines It?

Despite being around for nearly 20 years, transcreation remains somewhat ambiguous in terms of its definition. So, if we can’t agree on a clear definition, it’s no surprise that determining the quality of transcreation is even more perplexing.

While measuring translation quality has evolved with tried and tested metrics focused on linguistic accuracy and fluency, these traditional methods often don’t cut it when it comes to transcreation. This is because transcreation requires more creativity and cultural adaptation. Therefore, to properly measure the quality of transcreation, we need to rethink our approach and combine two core components—linguistic quality and content quality.

In this article, we’ll explore what quality transcreation looks like and how to build quality into your transcreation process. But first, let’s clear up some ambiguity and offer our own definition of transcreation.

What is Transcreation?

Transcreation is the process of adapting a message from one language to another, ensuring it is culturally relevant, resonant, and appropriate. A successful transcreation replicates the intent, style, and tone of the original piece, creating the same emotional response from a new audience.

What sets transcreation apart is its focus on messaging. This means transcreations can differ significantly from the original content, even to the point of creating something entirely new. In fact, this is what differentiates transcreation from localization. While localization adapts content for a target market, transcreation can involve creating something completely different, as long as it delivers the same emotional impact in the target market.

The Difference Between Transcreation and Localization

Transcreation is often seen in TV commercials, which also illustrate the key difference between transcreation and localization. A localized commercial might retain the original text with minor design adjustments, while a transcreated version may completely rework the commercial, changing the setting, storyline, or elements to better suit the local audience. As long as the final product conveys the original message and emotional undertones, transcreators are given a lot more creative freedom to make the content new and relevant for the target market.

Ensuring Transcreation Quality

Since transcreation can lead to significant changes in the original content, it’s crucial to ensure that the creative process results in high-quality content that supports your business goals in a new market. Here are some tips to ensure your transcreated content is a success:

1. Understand the Purpose of Transcreation

Transcreation is about recreating the emotional impact of content and achieving specific objectives across languages. It’s not just about switching languages; it’s about transferring a concept. This means that we must treat it like the creation of entirely new content for the target market.

Just like the original content had an objective (whether for thought leadership or marketing purposes), transcreation has its own goal in the local market—whether it’s to increase brand awareness, generate sales leads, or achieve another goal. Once the purpose of the transcreated content is clear, the next step is to secure the right talent.

2. Get the Right Transcreation Talent

Transcreation requires more engagement than traditional translation. Consider the amount of collaboration involved in crafting the source copy, researching the market, understanding the end consumers, and aligning the messaging with the communication objectives.

While transcreators don’t always start with a blank canvas, they need to understand everything the content creator knows about the target market, audience, and content goals. Then, they need to apply their understanding of local culture, language, media platforms, and objectives to ensure that the intended message is communicated effectively.

Transcreators need to bridge two worlds: the linguistic world of translation and the creative world of copywriting. These are distinct skill sets, but there are three key qualities to look for in a transcreator:

• Creative Writing Skills: Many content pieces are created with specific goals in mind, such as improving online presence, increasing sales, or building brand communities. Experienced copywriters often make great transcreators because they understand how to create local content with a purpose while also adhering to layout and media constraints.

• Cultural Understanding: Transcreators must have deep linguistic and cultural knowledge in both languages to effectively transfer the nuances from the source language to the target language—whether they are working on financial reports or creative marketing campaigns.

• Research Skills: Research is a skill that is essential for both translators and copywriters. Understanding the target audience, market trends, competitors, and content objectives is key to a successful transcreation.

3. Measuring Transcreation Quality

Although a transcreator might start with a source, they have the flexibility to move away from it. However, without clear guidance on the intended direction, it's easy to go astray. Like creating content from scratch, it’s important to consider why the content was originally created, why it needs to be transcreated, who will read it, and what action you want the local reader to take. Once these elements are clear, you can establish metrics to evaluate the quality of the transcreation.

Here are some key steps to ensure high-quality transcreation:

• Create a Transcreation Brief: A well-crafted transcreation brief that explains the brand values and the desired local perception of the product or brand will help the transcreator understand what they need to achieve. For example, marketing materials for a product that is already established in one market might need a different approach to enter a new market. Without a clear brief, the transcreator is left to rely on the source material, which could lead to a result that feels more like a translation or fails to compel the local audience to take the desired action.

• Pre-publication Checks: Most transcreated content can be quality-checked before publishing using readability tools or checking for passive voice. For online content, it’s also advisable to ensure the content follows SEO best practices for the local market.

• Post-publication Monitoring: After publishing, transcreated content should be monitored and measured against the objectives—whether it’s increasing customer engagement, building brand awareness, or driving sales conversions. Ideally, transcreated content should be evaluated and adjusted post-publishing to ensure it is achieving the desired impact in each market.

4. Starting the Transcreation Process

Ultimately, the success of transcreation comes down to a clear communication strategy for the target languages and cultures, along with well-defined content objectives. Once these are established, they provide a solid foundation for the transcreator to craft local content. They will use their linguistic expertise, cultural understanding, and research to make sure the content resonates with the target audience.

When you’re ready to start transcreating, you’ll need an expert partner to help you capture the linguistic and cultural nuances of your content in the target market. At Arrow Translation, we’ve spent over 20 years helping businesses of all sizes connect with their global customers through transcreation. Contact us today to learn how we can support your business in reaching new markets.

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