What clients want: AI translation or transcreation?

Key takeaways:

The question is no longer whether AI translation is good, but whether high-visibility marketing copy and user-facing content should undergo the same standardised process as plain text (emails, memos, simple informative documents).
Translation is about accurately rendering meaning, whereas transcreation is more on the side of cultural adaptation for pre-set marketing purposes: “How can I recreate the effect of the original to have the message fit the target culture and spark the same reaction?”
GenAI translation isn’t suitable for advertising and marketing content because it entails confidentiality risks for sensitive commercial information, IP infringement risks, and a general lack of branding specificity, among other reasons.

In a world where more international brands are bringing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into their multilingual content strategy and workflows, the question of whether AI translation is tolerably good seems to have already been answered: GenAI can often produce good enough translations for simple, generic, straightforward content. However, when it comes to high-visibility brand communications, culturally sensitive messages, and user-facing UI copy, is AI-powered translation enough?

In this article, I will address how transcreation differs from AI translation, the real risks of using GenAI translation instead of transcreation in marketing and advertising, and the key benefits of onboarding transcreation and cultural assessment specialists for high-visibility and user-facing content.

The problem(s) of using (just) AI translation

According to the Transcreation Code of Practice, “The rise of AI catalyses the commoditisation of transcreation. Generally, without a clear understanding of what AI can or cannot do, clients increasingly use AI-powered translation platforms for creative content, asking human transcreators/translators to review.” Let’s delve into why AI-generated translation falls short of what’s in scope when it comes to launching a product in a new market and culture.

While generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) may produce good-enough target versions of straightforward, informative content, there are several reasons worth considering before your marketing team trusts your organisation’s brand value, reputation, and budgets to AI alone.

Here are some of the main reasons why GenAI isn’t suitable to perform a full transcreation cycle:

AI translation has no real feeling = no human connection 😥

AI can reproduce content from a zillion databases, help repurpose a message, and rephrase it. But it can’t feel, think, or perceive cultural nuance, bias, or intrinsically human emotions. You need to be human to develop such skills.

AI lacks of real-life interaction and strategic consulting skills 😶

AI can process lots of words in milliseconds, but it can’t sit and discuss with your brand content owners about the project’s scope, the intended message, your KPIs, and so on. Only a human transcreator and cultural consultant can.

AI translation can become a costly burden for your in-house teams 😩

AI output depends on previous setup and prompting, and when prompting is done by the people in your organisation who are already overwhelmed with a bunch of other tasks that do match their positions, it’s unlikely that they’ll also be able to do a stellar job at using GenAI tools and surveying their output for issues. Even when a company wants to use AI, a human expert should be on board to free your other teams’ time, so they do what they know best, and to ensure you get the most out of your investment in AI and your marketing budget.

Key legal and brand risks 👀

Advertising and marketing content involves dealing with sensitive commercial information. While transcreation specialists will usually sign a comprehensive Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for that matter, using GenAI means you’re literally feeding such confidential data into it. This creates the risk for your proprietary and sensitive information to be published or reused to train AI models without your consent (c.f.: IBM Report: 13% Of Organizations Reported Breaches Of AI Models Or Applications, 97% Of Which Reported Lacking Proper AI Access Controls).

More risks of using AI translation vs. transcreation 🙆

As quoted from the Transcreation Code of Practice cited earlier on, “It makes no sense to ask a machine to create a feeling when they cannot feel it in the first place”. Moreover, AI is unreliable; it hallucinates, and it can “endorse harmful and delusional content because AI tends to be sycophantic i.e. agreeing with humans and seeking human approval rather than improving the responses objectively.”

Add to that gender and racial bias, and the infringement of intellectual property: I’ve been hired by advertising agencies to perform product naming and brand name assessment tasks precisely to ensure that whatever product names a given organisation has come up with, they won’t plagiarise other brand or product names, nor be negligently disclosed to the public before a project is actually signed off.

Using AI-generated content without proper human expert research and quality checks can entail a high risk of the company being sued for violating third parties' IP. Additionally, based on the Transcreation Code of Practice:

You can’t trademark your AI-generated copy. AI-powered translation can be so generic and off-brand that it violates the tacit principle of differentiation.
AI can’t be held formally responsible for AI’s mistakes. If a software engineer or a marketing manager have been trusted with performing AI translations of your BrandComms, and they lack the expertise to properly audit it for potential risks, whatever damage such content causes to your audience or even your competitors, your organisation will be held accountable for it. Not AI.
AI reuses previously generated content without appeal. AI stands for artificial intelligence; its output is based on whatever content has been previously fed with. If you don’t expect your copywriting team to plagiarise and imitate any existing content or campaign ideas, why would you let AI do it? And only to get generic copy that speaks to everybody yet resonates with no one in particular.

👉 Learn more: AI risk atlas by IBM

Found in transcreation—let’s go!

Transcreation of advertising and marketing content is defined in the Transcreation Code of Practice as “the professional practice that combines translation, copywriting and intercultural consultancy; it usually, but not always, involves adaptation.” (Ho, N.-K. M. (2026). Transcreation Code of Practice. The Institute of Translation and Interpreting).

In practice, transcreation consists of first creating or interpreting a brief, then producing at least one target version of the source copy that is culturally appropriate, on-brand, and true to the source message’s intent and ultimate effect on consumers, users, etc.

When a transcreator sets to work on an international brand’s slogan, claims, product pages, or advertising scripts—to name just a few content types suitable for transcreation—, they will combine “intercultural awareness, interlinguistic skills, marketing acumen and more” (idem).

What makes a good transcreation product

In a nutshell, a good transcreation (the target copy produced by a given transcreator) will recreate the impact that the original message had on the original audience; evoke the same feelings, emotions, and ultimately, the same change in behaviour or reaction.

For example, if the source message motivates readers to click on Learn more in a social ad, so must the transcreated version. Or perhaps the original campaign feels inspiring and prompts spectators of a TV commercial to make monthly donations to an NGO. Well, the transcreated script for that TV spot should motivate the new target audience to do the same.

Nike’s spot in What Women Want (2000) calls for transcreation

Have you seen the film What Women Want? If you work in marketing or advertising, I can’t recommend it enough. A quick synopsis: Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) is a Chicago advertising executive and copywriter who can “hear” women's thoughts after an accidental electrocution. Throughout the film, he’ll use his new superpower to steal his female colleague’s ideas for crafting a winning script for a Nike commercial.

Now, the Nike commercial we see in the film is an exquisite work of art (in my humble opinion) that focuses on the emotional release and sense of freedom a woman can experience while going for a run. The spot compares “the road” a woman runs on with a man’s judgment, and how each can make a woman feel: “You don't stand in front of a mirror before a run and wonder what the road will think of your outfit. You don’t have to listen to its jokes and pretend they’re funny.” You get the point. The script ends with a witty tagline: “Nike. No games, just sports.”

Regardless of the gender bias you may or may not identify when reading between the lines of the concept behind this fictional commercial, let's focus on the topic of this article. Imagine simply translating the tagline above...

Okay. Let’s not imagine, let’s just do it 😉

Source: Nike. No games, just sports.

Target in neutral Spanish: Nike. Sin juegos, solo deporte.

Back-translation: Nike. Without games, only sports.

Ouch, that hurts, right? Personally, it hurts my eyes, my ears, and my heart. Because Nike is a top-of-heart brand for me. Their English campaigns have been making history... this tagline deserves more than a plain, word-perfect translation, right?

While the translation per se may read as tolerable as it does in Spanish, it doesn’t sound natural. It doesn’t flow. It’s not catchy and it sounds off. Like it’s not Nike speaking at all. It also reads and feels quite literal, inanimate, kind of soulless, if you ask me, as if lacking something—the spark, even the rhythm that the source line boasts (No games, just sports).

What this slogan actually “wants” 😏

The emotion conveyed by the analogy in English between the ups and downs of dating/romantic relationships (“games”) vs. the unconditional, non-judgemental presence of the road when you go for a run (“sports”) is all somehow lost in straightforward translation.

In English, the polysemy of the word “games” allows for a catchy double entendre (a figure of speech or expression that has two meanings); the Spanish version feels more like… meh. As it is, the Spanish slogan goes either unnoticed or noticed for the wrong (unnatural) attributes. Is that how you’d expect a proper Nike commercial to end? Surely not.

The case above is a clear example of the fact that, even when a translation reads okay as such, it’s not enough to rebuild and reflect the source message’s tone and intent. Indeed, marketing and advertising content calls for something else, something beyond translation. It’s “wanting” in transcreation.

👉 You may also find this interesting: “Nike's Just Do It into Spanish and German”

In this interview with German transcreator Eva Katernberg, we discuss a few potential transcreations of Nike's well-known slogan Just do it, the world-famous line that we see printed on countless t-shirts and sweatshirts, yet has been strategically untranslated by its very own brand. 😱

Product pages, social ad copy, commercial scripts: why AI translation isn’t enough

An AI-translated slogan can be correct from a lexical-choice point view and still fail to rebuild the brand’s personality and intent in a manner that prompts consumers to action and fosters brand awareness among its target audience.

While translation is more about accurately rendering meaning (What’s the best equivalent for this term in the target language?), transcreation is more on the side of cultural adaptations for pre-set marketing purposes (How can I recreate the effect of the original to have the message fit the new target culture and prompt the audience to the same action?).

Therefore, for advertising and marketing-oriented content, transcreation is your go-to service if you want to get the most out of your localisation budget.

Key benefits of partnering with an experienced transcreator and cultural consultant 😎

I get it. You now realise transcreation can simply be dodged, but still, you need to cut costs and make the most of your marketing budgets. The good news? You can hire a transcreation specialist on a project basis. Or, if you’re like my dream client, you’ll want to be able to delegate high-visibility and user-facing content to them every month, for a fraction of a cost at an affordable monthly fee.

Thinking of writing a job description or reaching out for transcreation help?

Here’s what you should be looking for in a transcreation expert:

Bilingual copywriting skills (proficiency in at least your message source language and the intended target language; ability to provide back-translations)
Marketing and branding knowledge
Critical analysis and strategic thinking skills
Knowledge of rhetorical devices and target language standards
Cultural assessment skills
Responsible use of AI technologies (understanding its limitations and ethical implications)
Accountability for their own work
Consulting skills: willingness to come up with multiple versions in the target language (where needed) and readiness to present a rationale per transcreation
Problem-solving skills (to tackle feedback and implement changes where appropriate)

👉 You may also want to explore: Why Brands Need Creative Translation Solutions, an insightful podcast interview with German transcreator and cultural consultant Belinda Fischer.

Remember: a machine can suggest the words, but only someone who experiences feelings and cultural differences will be able to tell whether a given target message fits the target culture, sounds on or off brand, and whether or not it'll click with the people you’re targeting in a new market.

* * *

As a Transcreation and Cultural Consultant for the EdTech, FinTech, and SaaS industries, my job isn't about translating words; it's about safeguarding your brand's reputation across borders.

If you are using artificial intelligence to scale your international content, don't leave your regional voice and brand value to chance. Let's make sure you sound like a local and 100% on brand. 😍

Contact me to learn more about my transcreation and marketing localization services for LATAM/US/Argentinian Spanish. 😊

Note: None of the brand names or trademarked phrases mentioned in this article are my own and they belong to their corresponding owners or entities. They have been cited for illustrative purposes only.

3 Reasons Why You Need a Spanish Localization Style Guide

A client recently asked me to create a comprehensive US Spanish style guide based on over 8 months of continued collaboration in marketing localization and UI copy transcreation services. This task got me thinking about how global marketing is constantly evolving, how “Spanish” isn't specific enough when creating SOPs in localization, and why human expertise is still essential in automated localization processes.

In this article, I'll outline three key reasons why an effective style guide is an asset in Spanish marketing localization and what some key considerations are when creating one for your localized product or service.

What is a localization style guide

First things first, I like to define a localization style guide as a key element of your global brand’s survival kit. In a nutshell, a style guide is a clear set of language and brand identity guidelines that your translators and localization specialists can easily refer to while performing any translation, marketing localization, or transcreation task for your organization.

An effective localization style guide helps ensure your brand reads, sounds, and feels like one and the same across channels in a given target locale.

Key benefits of having a localization style guide

A good localization style guide isn't a “fossil” document: your style guide should be alive and kicking, meaning that it should evolve as your brand identity does and keep up with any changes in your localization workflows. Let's take a look at three key benefits of owning a style guide:

Your international brand is perceived as one, anywhere, any time. Everybody localizing content for your brand should be aware of a few general guidelines based on the target Spanish variety (which depends on your target market), as well as more specific rules, such as a list of do-not-translate terms (DNT) or which competitor keywords to avoid.
It helps launch products faster. By having the main guidelines for localization clearly set in a single document accessible to everyone in your localization team, your project managers can focus on high-impact tasks instead of repeatedly handling the same linguistic queries across projects.
It builds trust and engagement among your international audiences. Localizing your BrandComms shouldn't feel like taking a risk with every message you need to translate. With a proper style guide in place, your verbal identity is clear and consistent, helping build trust and foster continued engagement among your target consumers.

How to create a Spanish localization style guide

Here are some key things to consider when creating your Spanish localization style guide.

1️⃣ Create one localization style guide per target market. If 65% of consumers prefer to access content in their own language (“Can’t Read, Won’t Buy”, © CSA Research), you want to ensure you address each Spanish-speaking audience in their mother tongue. Therefore, your localization style guide needs to be tailored for a specific Spanish variety or dialect, as grammar and vocabulary can significantly differ from, say, Spanish to Mexico. Ask yourself: Which country or region are we aiming to serve with our product?

2️⃣ Adopt a collaborative approach, but assign a style guide owner. The best style guides are built by the people who actually write and localize content for your brand. Therefore, while you may assign the task of creating your localization style guide to one expert linguist, it may be best if that person gathers insights from the rest of your localization team. Furthermore, once the first version of your style guide is created, you'll need to decide who owns the style guide (i.e., who is responsible for updating it every now and then).

3️⃣Include DOs and DON'Ts. A good style guide doesn't just compile a set of guidelines and rules—it leads by example. Make sure you trust the style guide development task to a language expert who can look at your content assets in the source language, your branding guidelines, and your previously localized content to draw examples from your real-life BrandComms. If you're starting out with localization and no content's been transcreated or localized yet, include examples of DOs and DON'Ts that help illustrate potential content localization scenarios. Using a tick (✅) and a cross (❌) can help make your examples more visual and memorable.

Why relying on AI alone for your style guide is too risky

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be useful for a first draft, but it needs a roadmap. While AI is incredibly fast, it’s culturally blind. Without strict, human-defined ”guardrails,” AI defaults to a generic Spanish that sounds robotic, addresses everybody and no one at all, or worse: it mixes regional dialects like your content is a chaotic linguistic cocktail.

It takes all sorts (of Spanish!) to make a world: a marketing campaign tailored for Madrid will sound alien in Buenos Aires. The same goes for literature—no matter how much the editorial market insists on importing translated books from Spain, the reader experience in countries like Mexico or Argentina is negatively impacted.

Why?

Well, vocabulary, formality levels, and cultural touchpoints vary wildly across borders. What is punchy and friendly in Spain might completely miss the mark, fail to resonate, or even offend in Mexico, for instance.

Teaching the machine is key to success: a great style guide doesn't just guide human writers; it helps train your AI tools to scale your content without losing your unique brand voice or alienating your target audience. It also helps set the tone so your human experts don't find themselves correcting the same AI or machine-translation mistake over and over again.

* * *

As a Transcreation and Cultural Consultant for the EdTech, FinTech, and SaaS industries, my job isn't about translating words; it's about safeguarding your brand's reputation across borders.

If you are using artificial intelligence to scale your international content, don't leave your regional voice and brand value to chance. Let's make sure you sound like a local and 100% on brand—localization style guide included. 😍

How is your brand navigating regional nuances in your global marketing strategy? 🌍

Contact me to learn more about my transcreation and marketing localization services for LATAM Spanish.

How to Price your Services as a Freelance Translator

Any freelance translator out there will tell you the actual translating is the easy part of their job.

It’s the running a business part that generally causes translators headaches. Particularly when it comes to the numbers.

A lot of us like to hide behind the excuse that we’re words people, not numbers people.

But the fact is, if you want to run a successful freelance translation business then you can’t avoid the finances.

Because, as Susie Jackson puts it:

“If it doesn’t support you financially it’s an expensive hobby, not a business.”

Luckily for us, there are lovely people like Susie out there, on a mission to help freelance translators take financial control of their businesses. 😍

I spoke to Susie about the ins and outs of pricing your services as a freelance translator in March 2022.

Read on for the highlights, or watch the full video recording for yourself here:

Meet Susie Jackson: The Organised Freelancer

Susie Jackson mentors freelancers on all things finance and pricing.

She helps them figure out how much they should be charging and create businesses that align with their own values while supporting them financially.

She wants to see a future where every freelancer feels supported and empowered.

She also works freelance as a copy editor and Spanish-to-English translator specialising in academic texts for the social sciences.

Now you know a little more about Susie, let’s dive into just some of the invaluable advice she shared when we spoke. 😎

What are the main struggles freelance translators face?

According to Susie, most of the freelance translators she helps are struggling with the same three things:

● Anxiety around having to discuss money 😵

It’s super common for freelance translators to get anxious about the money side of things. This can even lead to physical symptoms like stomach aches or headaches.

This can be paralysing and stop you from taking action in your business, even if just subconsciously.

Getting new clients will mean you have to talk money, so you won’t want to actively market your services.

● Feeling powerless in client relationships 😢

Feeling like your clients call all the shots, and you’re just putty in their hands.

This is often the case with freelance translators that mostly deal with agencies.

● Overwhelm 😩

If you find your business finances to be all a bit too much, then you might just bury your head in the sand and keep putting off actually addressing them.

The more you put it off, the more the problem snowballs, and the more overwhelming it becomes.

Does any of that sound familiar? I know I’ve felt all of the above.

And it can be easy to accept all that as the reality of freelancing, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Susie has all kinds of insights to help us transform our relationship with our business finances, starting with a concrete formula for setting your translation rates.

How should translators price their freelance translation services?

So, you’re new to the translation industry and want to know what to charge.

Your first instinct will probably be to try and find out what other people are charging so you can set your prices accordingly.

But that strategy doesn’t work long term, as it isn’t financially sustainable. 😐

Everyone’s needs are different. Even if someone shares your language pair or niche, they will have different financial needs or different availability.

You need to set your translation rates based on the realities of your business and your life.

Understanding the numbers

Think about what you need for all of the below over the course of a year:

Personal living expenses
Business expenses
Pension
Tax or social security

What does all that come to?

Then think about time. ⏳

How many hours can you realistically, consistently dedicate to paid client work?

And how much time do you need for all the other non-paid tasks surrounding running your business?

Finally, add days for sick leave and holiday into the mix.

If you divide the total amount you need to earn in a year by the hours you have available for paid client work in the same year, you’ll get the minimum hourly rate you need to charge.

And there you have it. You’ve got a non-negotiable rate that you should never go below to keep your business on the right track.

When should translators offer discounts?

“Don’t assume they can’t pay your rates before you even quote.” 🙉

Don’t just assume that a client can’t pay your rate. You might be surprised!

And if you never get a quote rejected, then you’re probably undercharging.

If you’ve done the calculations above, then when a client tries to negotiate you down, never go lower than your minimum.

Having those numbers in black and white makes it far easier to stand your ground.

Negotiation should always be a compromise

Offering a lower price is compromising. So the client needs to compromise on something too. 👀

A good option here is to change the scope of the project in any way that makes it less time consuming or more enjoyable for you.

Perhaps you could agree on:

● Fewer words for translation

● A different, more straightforward delivery format

● A longer deadline

➡️ Tip: Try including a couple of options in your initial quote. That helps to encourage a discussion around price, rather than a flat rejection.

Remember, if you provide them with options, they won’t have to look for options elsewhere.

Value and affordability are different things

Rather than lowering your price, is there any way you could make your quote seem more affordable to your client?

You could offer them:

● Payment in instalments - rather than in one lump sum.

● Different payment methods - for example, a different currency.

● Different/longer payment terms - 30 days to pay rather than 15.

How freelance translators can raise their translation rates

First things first. Remember, it’s always easier to charge higher rates to a new client than it is to raise your translation rates with existing ones. 🎯

So, if you’ve done your calculations and realised you need to charge more, dedicate plenty of energy to your marketing to find clients that can pay.

👉 If you’d like to book an individual Marketing Mentoring session with me, Delfina, please visit my calendar and book your call.

● Step 1: Assess your clients

To raise your rates with current clients, start with an assessment.

What is your profitability for each of your clients? What hourly rate does it work out at?

You’ll need time tracking data to figure this out. If you’re not tracking your time yet, keep reading to the end for some tips on getting started.

You might be surprised by the answers you get here, because even per word translation rates that seem low can work out at good hourly rates if you work quickly.

● Step 2: Identify one or two clients to start with

Don’t raise your rates across the board. That’s a risky strategy, as if they all say no you’ll be in trouble.

Pick one you wouldn’t mind losing.

If you don’t have a testimonial from them, now is a great time to ask for one.

Because the things they say they like about your work are great bargaining tools.

For example, if they appreciate your fast turnarounds, then you can explain you’re very busy and need to charge them more to be able to keep delivering work so promptly.

Don’t be discouraged if the first client you try and raise your rates with says no. But stick to your guns and let them know you won’t be able to keep working with them, freeing up your time for a new, higher paying client.

Raise your rates with all your clients slowly but surely.

3 top tips for keeping your freelance translator business organised

Here are three tips you can start implementing today.

1. Track your time

Tracking your time tells you everything you need to know about your profitability. It’s far easier to know what to quote for a project when you have hard data to base that decision on.

Try tools like Toggl or Rescuetime. It can take a while to get into the habit of tracking your time, but it’s well worth it.

2. Track your finances

Keep a record of your business income and expenditure each week.

Get familiar with those numbers and you’ll start feeling like you’re in control.

3. Track your clients and projects

Make your life easier by using a project management tool to make sure you’ve got all the information you need about your projects, deadlines, invoices and clients in one place.

Susie uses ClickUp herself, but also recommends LSP.expert which is designed by and for translators.

Get more of Susie’s financial wisdom

There’s a lot to digest in here! But Susie has so much more goodness to share. Both her free content and the courses she offers are invaluable. Find out more about Susie’s Charge with Confidence program and other services for translators on her Instagram profile.

Translation vs Localization vs Transcreation—Which One for Your Global Brand?

In a world where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine translation (MT) are taking over, transcreation presents itself as the best-of-all-worlds for Global Brands seeking to talk to humans as humans, while connecting with their consumers heart to heart 🧡

But what is transcreation? And how can it help you boost conversions across markets for your Global Human Brand?

In this article, you’ll find clear definitions of translation, localization, and transcreation; why transcreation is considered to be an added value solution for brands, and a few examples of the industries and types of materials each of these language services might be the most suitable for.

Let’s go for it!

Found in translation: what’s in a name?

The origins of the English word “translation” can be traced back to the Latin traslatio. The Latin word traslatio is in turn a blend of the preposition trans (meaning, “across”) and latio (which means “to carry” or “to bring,” in the past participle form of the verb ferre). So a translated version of the Latin traslatio could read something like “carried across” or “brought across.” But what is it that’s carried or brought across?

According to the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), “Translation is the communication of meaning from one language (the source) to another language (the target),” and “the purpose of translation is to convey the original tone and intent of a message, taking cultural and regional differences between source and target languages into account.”

Therefore, based on the etymology of the word, translation could be paraphrased as the “carrying across or transportation of meaning.” Not surprisingly, many translators use the analogy of “a bridge between two cultures,” alluding to their role liaising between a source language and culture A and a target language and culture B.

Now, if translation focuses on keeping meaning intact as far as is possible, that means accuracy is a key metric for assessing a translator’s performance.

Other quality assurance metrics often used in translation include consistency, omission, addition, grammar, spelling, punctuation, mistranslation, and style. Any minor to major errors in any of these categories can potentially result in what are generally known in the industry as “bad-quality translations,” i.e., the wrong message and/or unintended differences in meaning in the target language.

Industries in which translation is frequently used

While it’s practically possible to translate any given text that needs to break the language barrier to reach a new target audience, there are some key industries in which translation is used more than other professional language services, such as:

Law. Legal translation is one of the most well known forms of translation. In legal settings, such as international business transactions and legal proceedings, materials that may require translation often include agreements and contracts, powers of attorney, policies, patents, personal documentation (e.g., birth, marriage, and death certificates), legal files, and recordings. The concept of fidelity in legal translation is very important. It’s closely linked to strictly respecting the meaning of the source in the translated text.

Medical, scientific research and healthcare. Scientific translation for the medical and healthcare industries experienced an unprecedented boom with the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, but it’s always been one of the industries typically associated with translation and interpreting needs. Translators specialized in these areas will often deal with consent forms, case studies, clinical protocols, pharmaceutical leave pieces, medical device manuals and health insurance materials, among other documents.
Economy and finance. Economic translation, also known as commercial and financial translation, may include the translation of statements, press releases, textbooks, audits, reports, newspaper articles or business correspondence. At present, this specialization is in high demand, as many fintech brands, including budget and personal finance apps, want to reach new audiences worldwide with their products, and so they need top-notch translations by experts in the field.

Differences between translation and localization

Although they’re sometimes used interchangeably, translation and localization mean different things, both in theory and in practice.

For brands, one key difference to consider is the level of engagement which translation can achieve (basic) in contrast with localization (intermediate). This is because translation is more likely to stick more closely to the source text in terms of form and meaning. The translated text will be a faithful reproduction of the source, including everything from the spelling of numbers and units of measurement to specific metaphors and cultural references, like those made to songs, character, or places.

By comparison, a localized text will focus not just on staying true to meaning, but also, and equally importantly, on getting the original message through to the target reader. While the process of translating a text is focused on accuracy, the process of localizing a message is likely to involve some form of adaptation. Some items that may undergo particular changes in localization are:

Visual elements. Images, graphics, and maps are examples of visual elements that are likely to be adapted to fit the target culture better.
Textual elements. Localizing a text may involve adapting names, regionalisms, fixed phrases, and idioms to make them appeal to the eyes and ears of the target audience. Numbers, measurement units, and currency symbols may be spelt differently.
Cultural and rhetorical elements. The main focus of localization is on recreating the meaning of the source while crafting a text that will resonate with the target culture. To achieve this, cultural references must be adapted to make them easily accessible and understandable to the target audience. For example, perhaps the source text mentions a historical or political event, or even contains a piece of quantitative information (like figures or stats) that only strike a chord with the source culture or won’t make sense to the new readers. Such references must be replaced with other, equally meaningful things that will have the same impact and be clearly understandable in the target language.

Essentially, localization is the process of adjusting a product’s functional properties and features so the language, cultural, political and legal aspects of it all fit the target market. While meaning is key, considering the role of culture and context is vital for producing a properly localized text.

As I mentioned before, some key elements that often need to be localized are graphics, images, time and date formats, currency symbols, units of measurement, colors, font type and layout.

Here’s a short and general list of some texts and materials that might be more suitable for localization than translation:

Website content
Emails
Training and e-learning content
Blog articles
Case studies

Now you’re aware of the differences between localization, let’s move on to my favorite language solution for brands.

Keep reading to find out why it’s my favorite!

Not sure which language solution would be best for your product? Drop me a DM to schedule a free consultation and learn more.

What is transcreation?

Transcreation, also known as creative translation, re-writing or trans-adaptation, is an added-value language service involving a highly creative, cross-cultural process tailored to fit the commercial needs of a specific brand and its product.

Personally, I like to explain transcreation with the help of the concepts of a makeover, from the beauty industry, and a remake, from the film industry.

A makeover involves making important changes resulting in improvements. A remake is making a new film based on the same narrative, but with totally different ingredients.

And in a similar way, the essence of transcreation lies in purposeful, strategic transformation.

The goal of the transcreator is to recreate the effect of the source message and evoke the same reaction in the new target audience.

A transcreator won’t deliberately try and change meaning. But, accuracy, omissions, additions and sometimes even grammar and punctuation are the kind of categories where allowances are often made, provided the transcreated text stays true to the brand’s voice and recreates the reaction, emotions, feelings and associations evoked by the source.

Here are some things a transcreation expert will do on top of those that would be done by the average translation and localization specialist:

Study a creative brief (including marketing and communication objectives, target segment and persona, client’s guidelines, if any)
Study the client’s brand manual, including verbal and visual identity
Brainstorming (resorting to free associations and sensory images is a common practice in the creative process of a transcreation expert)
Come up with at least three different target versions of the same source text (especially in the case of slogans, taglines, and social media ad copy)
Include back-translations and/or rationales to account for certain creative choices in the translation of a phrase, expression, etc.
Carry out thorough market research (including checking against competitors’ content)
Read the transcreated copy out loud to see how it sounds and explore whether it fits the target formatting (perhaps it’s a song, or a TV spot, or a character tagline to be printed on a t-shirt or a cereal plate)

Industries where transcreation is in high demand

Some sources trace the origins of the word transcreation to the 1980s, claiming the term originated in the video game and computer industry. Others, to the year 2000, when it was supposedly coined and registered as a trademark in the media industry.

Regardless of its roots, transcreation is nowadays most frequently used in the following domains, among others:

Marketing and advertising. While not all marketing-related copy will call for transcreation, many marketing communications require a language solution that goes beyond the transference of meaning or the specific adaptation of visual and verbal items in a given message. For example, a brand’s slogans and claims, character taglines, TV spots, radio commercials and YouTube videos are some examples of materials that will probably require transcreation. You’ll find two interesting examples concerning Coca-Cola and M&M’s below.
Film and cinema. Just as with book titles, movie names are one specific content type often suitable for transcreation. Additionally, subtitling specialists may have to transcreate the message. For example, sitcoms like Friends, The Nanny, and The Big-Bang Theory, whose scripts often include humor, metaphors, irony, coinages, and puns, call for an audiovisual translator who’s also creative enough to convey the effect of the message within specific character constraints as required by the subtitling industry. Another fascinating example would be the transcreation of songs used in musicals, such as in Grease, High School Musical, and Hairspray. Direct translation of meaning here would probably fall well short of recreating the rhythm and rhyme typically found in songs.
Comics and video games. In comics and games, humor and metaphors play a leading role in dialogue, descriptions, and even user-interface (UI) elements. So the comics and video game industries often require transcreation whenever their stories and characters need to cross borders and reach new target audiences around the world. For instance, Peter Parker (alias Spiderman) is known as Pavitr Prabhakar in the Indian market.Thanks to a partnership between Marvel Comics and Gotham Entertainment, Spiderman was adapted to the Indian culture. Instead of fighting the Green Goblin in New York City, Prabhakar, clad in a dhoti, would fight the demon Rakshasa against backdrops like the Taj Mahal. This is a clear example of how sometimes, a combination of localization (adapting cultural references) and transcreation (rewriting the names of the characters) works best.

Transcreation examples in the advertising industry

Let’s take a quick look at the advertising industry and why transcreation is often most suitable when converting slogans from one language into another.

Example 1: Coke is it!

Coke is a favorite brand among marketers when it comes to highlighting examples of marketing and advertising strategies. For the purposes of this article, Coke gives us a great example of transcreation.

As part of the brand’s international marketing localization campaign, the 1982 Coke is it! slogan would be later transcreated into several different equivalents in Spanish, depending on the target locale. As a result, the slogan for the Primer Amor (First Love) commercial in Spanish reads differently depending on each Spanish variety:

Argentina: Coca-Cola es sentir de verdad
Chile, Colombia: Es sentir de verdad
Mexico: Coca-Cola is it
Peru: Coca-Cola más y más
Spain: Coca-Cola es así

Even Robin Beck’s First Time, First Love song is transcreated differently for the multiple Spanish versions of Coke’s commercial vs the source commercial in English. Coke has long known all about the benefits of transcreation for more effective connection and communication with local audiences.

Learn more: What is transcreation? Examples including Coke Is It Slogan

Example 2: Melts in your mouth, not in your hands

Finally, take a slogan like M&M’s Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands. As there are no particular cultural nuances, localization would operate pretty much like translation here. Translation and localization would simply render the phrase into Spanish:

Se derrite en tu boca, no en tus manos (=It melts in your mouth, not in your hands).

Now, transcreation presents us with the chance to explore an array of possibilities, focusing on recreating the effect of the message, not just the meaning. Therefore, the transcreation expert would come up with a different line altogether, such as:

El sabor que se derrite siempre en tu paladar, en tus manos jamás (=Flavor that always melts in your mouth, never in your hands).
Se derriten siempre siempre en tu paladar, en tus manos jamás (=They always always melt in your mouth—in your hands, never).
La sensación del sabor en tu boca, sin derretirse en tus manos (=The sensation of flavor in your mouth, without melting in your hands).

In the sample transcreation above, M&M’s slogan in Spanish reflects the rhythmic and rhyming patterns used in the source text in English, where rhyme and rhythm are achieved through parallelism, equal timing in each of the phrases separated by the comma, alliteration in Melts/Mouth, and assonance in Mouth/Hands:

[Melts in Your Mouth], [Not in Your Hands]

In Spanish, a rhetorical effect is achieved by different means depending on which version we analyze. But if we take equivalents 1 and 2, we can name the alliterative sound /s/ in “sabor”/ “se” / “siempre,” the repetition of “siempre” for a gliding sound in your mouth through /s/, and the rhyming pattern in “paladar”/“jamás”:

El sabor que se derrite siempre en tu paladar, en tus manos jamás
Se derriten siempre siempre en tu paladar, en tus manos jamás

A further adaptation playing with the idiom “se me hace agua la boca” (meaning, makes me hungry, makes me want to eat that), could be:

M&M. Se me hace chocolate la boca → M&M. All chocolate in my mouth.

More often than not, businesses aren’t fully aware of the differences between and the benefits of using translation, localization or transcreation for their marketing communications, their products or services.

On top of taking a look at the range of solutions a language service provider may offer you, you might need previous expert guidance and assessment to ensure your project is in the best possible hands.

If you feel like that could be right for you, send me a message to schedule a free consultation with me.

In the meantime, I hope this article has helped you understand the key differences between translation, localization, and transcreation.

Learn more:

The first Transcreation Podcast, by Delfina @orangepowerDMH - Listen to the first podcast on transcreation and how brands cross borders! Have fun learning all about creative translation, copywriting, marketing, and what’s in it for your brand. Listen to Founded in Transcreation on Spotify or on your favorite platform: YouTube, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and more!
Nike’s Just Do It into Spanish and German with Eva Katernberg