Recreating the message in the target language
Transcreation: translating between the lines
Puns, humour, sayings, atmosphere, emotions... all of these elements enrich a text and make it more interesting to read. If you want these elements to be reflected in a translation, transcreation is what you need. That means that rather than translating literally what you have written, the translator will recreate the message, rewording it in the target language.
To be honest, Blue Lines translations are always transcreations. After all, literal translations of marketing texts would be pretty pointless. The meanings you read between the lines need to be conveyed as well. This kind of translation is sometimes also called a ‘free’ translation. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the translator is free to change the message, but the idea is to let go of the words in the source document so that readers don’t feel as though they are reading a translation. If the translator has done a good job, this results in a translation that evokes the same atmosphere and emotions as the source text. And that is the ultimate reason why we select all of our translators for their fluent style. You need to be pretty creative to translate a commercial text.
Localisation: keeping the language’s soul
Localisation and transcreation are two old friends with the same aim in life: to create a translation that doesn’t sound like a translation, but rather like a fluent, natural text. The ‘local’ in ‘localisation’ refers to the translation being adapted for local impact. Cultural adaptation is an important aspect of localisation. The translation needs to fit in with the local culture and spelling conventions. If you use a fictional character called John in an English-language campaign, you might do better to call him Jean in the French version and Jan in Dutch.
Are you ready to conquer the world with content that really cuts the mustard in the target languages of your sales market?