The English language is complex. Different words have the same meanings, and the emotional intensity of these words differs considerably. Every language has its own complexities as well. When you go into the literal translation of a word from one language to another, it may turn out that the word has lost all of its emotional intensity. A sentence powerfully structured in English can become dull when translated into another language. This fact is important when you translate your marketing content into other languages and want to ensure the same impact is created on your target audience in each market.

Transcreation is a process that involves translating content from one language to another while keeping the true essence of the message intact. Most marketing campaigns target their audience’s emotional side to create the impression that purchasing the product will improve their quality of life. This fact becomes clear if you take the marketing campaigns for soda or fast food.

They target the emotional or pleasure-seeking side of their target market to influence them to make a purchase. If this same message is translated into other languages and loses its emotional impact, the entire campaign will bomb. This is why most marketing campaigns are taken through the process of transcreation to preserve the original meaning of the message after it has been translated. This is especially true for creative content as the words are strategically put together to achieve an oomph factor that must be duplicated to all languages.

If the content being translated has no creative angle and requires literal translation, it wouldn’t require transcreation; only the translation process while keeping true to the glossary will suffice. The process of transcreation uses visual, audio and other cues to preserve the creative content across all languages. It also uses words that have the same emotional intensity and impact as those used in the source language.

This is crucial to prevent cultural mishaps that can occur if the suggested meaning of the campaign is translated literally and the audience takes offense. We have seen this happen time and time again, and this is why transcreation holds importance. On the other hand, if the message of a loud campaign is translated without transcreation, it may lose all of its meaning and translate to a dull and impact-less phrase. For example, the meaning of phrases like “Just Do It”, or “You Can’t Eat Just One”, will translate to taunts or negative and offensive messages.

However, transcreation cannot be just performed by anyone. A campaign that is produced by putting qualified creative heads together in one country needs to be done by professionals with the same level of expertise and creativity in another language. Most campaigns today struggle to bring out unique campaigns, which is why most taglines have meanings hinting towards something entirely different.

If a company intends to achieve the same level of success in all countries with its products, it cannot risk using basic translation services for its campaigns at the risk of losing its creative edge.