What clients want: AI translation or transcreation?

Key takeaways:

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:

👉 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 😉

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:

👉 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.

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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.