Transcreation – buzzword or breakthrough?

Humour is notoriously difficult to translate; no, scratch that – it’s close to impossible. For have you heard the Romanian joke about the bread shop and the fish shop? If not, I’m not going to bother telling you, as unless you’ve experienced food shortages in Eastern Europe, you’re only going to greet the joke with stony faced incomprehension.

Equally so, does a mention of the plant family of gourds such as cucumbers, melons, and squashes known as Cucurbitaceae have you in stitches? Does it raise even the slightest of smiles? Don’t worry if it doesn’t, there’s nothing wrong with your comprehension, and don’t rush out looking specifically for a translation service on that one. If you didn’t find it even slightly amusing, then we can safely conclude that you aren’t French. I’m not going to be the one to explain it though, consult a French friend for the translation and explanation for that one!

It’s due to this difficulty of translations that people are now talking about “transcreation.” Basically, transcreation is identified as the creative process whereby a new text is created from an original, offering an additional flexibility to traditional translation services. This is ideal for marketing and business, as the final text is specifically catered to the target audience as well as the target language.

From Spanish translation to Japanese translation, this is a widespread focal point and concern. Mastery of a language and understanding of the culture are inseparable. It’s not just humour, but also images, icons and idioms. The question is how to convey them to the target audience while remaining true to the sense of the original text.

The recent trend towards transcreation has many translators arguing that “transcreating” has always been essential to translating, and that the concept is nothing more than a hyped-up buzzword. Either way, cultural context is just as crucial as any words on a page.