What is transcreation (creative translation)?
If you have a good sense of sight, you've probably noticed right away that translation (translation) and creation (creation) are mixed words. But isn't there anything strange? It's easy to guess that it's related to Translation or Creation, but you might be wondering why the two words, which seem far apart from each other, were put together. Also, I think there are many people who feel that transformation is an unfamiliar word for the first time in their lives. But the truth is, we've run into this guy named Transcreation many times before.
Cultural (cultural), Emotional (emotional), Colloquial (colloquial)
As explained above, Transcreation is a neologism that combines Translation and Creation, and refers to a field of translation where colloquial (Colloquial) sentences containing cultural (Cultural) and emotional (Emotional) values are transferred from one language to another. Also, one of the important features of this kind of transformation is that when it comes to translation work, Creation's share of translation work is at least as large, if not as large as Translation. For that reason, Transcreationist (this word is also a combination of Translation, Creation, and Specialist) can be translated properly by not only understanding the language in question, but also understanding related culture, history, and even the latest trends, as well as humor and gag sense.
Now let's take a quick look at the chart below that we've prepared to help you understand. Maybe people who know a little bit about translation say, “Wait a minute, why are localization (localization) and copywriting (copywriting) located here?” I think you might think that. However, even though they seem similar, they actually have completely different purposes.
Professional Translation vs. Copywriting (Copywriting) vs. Transcreation (Creative Translation)
Most localization tasks are information-centric. It is used to convey information to facilitate understanding, for example, about changes in exchange rates and explanations about the unique direction of letters in Arabic or Chinese (read from right to left). In particular, professional translation (Professional Translation) is subject to more restrictions because it follows strict writing rules that leave little room for creativity, such as manuals, contracts, and legal documents.
Copywriting (copywriting), on the other hand, is a marketing sentence that is highly subjective or assertive. Therefore, if only the intended message can be conveyed well, there is no big problem even if it is translated with more creativity without having to act directly from word to word. Also, since it's commonly used in advertisements, the message must be short yet effective. Therefore, compared to the relatively short length of sentences, the translation fee is also more expensive.
Also, creative translation (Transcreation) can obtain satisfactory results when translating by appropriately reflecting the characteristics of the above two fields together. This is because it is necessary to translate complex original texts that are difficult to divide into any one field, from websites, speeches, programs, and press articles to subtitles for videos such as movies and vlogs (Vlogs), and online shopping malls.
Evolution of Translation (Evolution of translation)
As days go by, people around the world are becoming more closely connected, and a huge amount of information and culture is being shared every day. Also, demand for translation is growing at an exponential rate due to marketing needs associated with such changes. Also, in the midst of this trend of change, translation is also being called upon for the difficult mission of not only conveying meaning, but also conveying the same impact as the original text. As a result, it seems that translation continues to evolve into new forms such as creative translation (Transcreation) as part of a strategy to survive in line with such changes in the market.
*This content has been transferred from Gicon Studio to Letterworks.
