Should you be looking into subtitle translation for your business?
3rd December 2021
Global companies dedicate considerable resources to crafting their communications. Some have large in-house teams, and some use the support of a specialist agency to ensure that their message makes the right impression. When it comes to adapting this message for a new market, you want to give the same care and attention to every translation that you commission.
Today, globalisation is a part of everyday life and we are more aware than ever of the main differences between cultures, but are we sufficiently aware of the adaptations that we might need to make to our copy? Sometimes a message needs to be adapted for a specific market, and what works in one country won’t necessarily make the same impact elsewhere. This might relate to the imagery and colours used in your branding, or you may find that a direct translation of your original text isn’t quite what you require to make an impact overseas. This is where our transcreation services can help.
Transcreation is essentially a more creative translation service – instead of focusing on the exact words in your document, we work on the message behind it.
Our translation teams around the world are experts in tailoring business communications to fit their local markets. As natives of their particular country, they know what will work locally and what won’t, and have the experience and skill to shape your messages accordingly, whilst still retaining the overall direction and sense.
By allowing the translator more creative freedom, you can produce communications that will have maximum impact in your target markets.
How does transcreation differ from translation?
At first glance, these two seem like they should be one and the same. After all, it’s just rendering words into another language, right?
Not necessarily! For translations in the technical, legal and medical fields, accuracy is key. However, when it comes to marketing texts, this is less relevant. Perhaps you’ve referenced a particular English custom, or you’ve used a few puns or plays on words? The most important consideration is that your text maintains the same message and tone. It might be appropriate for the translator to change a cultural reference, or to explain a double meaning. Their aim is to write copy that sounds like it was originally written in the target language.
Is there a different process to follow?
When it comes to transcreation, we like to work collaboratively with you. Our project management team will work with you to discuss your campaign in more detail. We support you to come up with a brief; similar to that provided to a copywriter. We will agree style guide points about tone of voice and writing conventions. Most importantly though, we will send your project to one of our experienced team to make sure that your message receives the same degree of care and attention for every target language.
Translation is the grammatically accurate conversion of a message written in one language into another language so that it reads naturally. Transcreation is employed when, for example, a marketing message needs to elicit a similar reaction in a foreign language, and this is not possible through translation alone. It generally requires a more creative, less restrictive approach and sound cultural knowledge of the target market in order to achieve the same effect as the original message.
Because we foster close relationships with our customers, we’re able to gain extensive knowledge of the specific industries in which they operate. Translators are by nature voracious researchers and therefore experts at quickly getting up to speed on the specifics of your industry. We have a vast repository of high-quality reference material available, both on and offline, allowing us to source in-depth, targeted information. In addition, all of our translators hold postgraduate qualifications in translation, which include specific training on technical research.
Our in-house team handles most of our German, French, Spanish, Norwegian and Swedish to English translation work, but we also have a large network of trusted freelance translators on hand to take care of work in other language combinations and out of English. Freelancers are selected on the basis of their experience and their performance on rigorous test translations, and many have worked with us for several years.