Translation vs. Transcreation

Beautyterm Beautélogie LLC takes on both translation and transcreation projects in nearly all of its language combinations. Below is a broad-strokes comparison intended to help decide which of the two services you may require:

• Translation is used for more technical and informative texts. Transcreation is better suited for marketing and advertising copy intended to trigger an action from the target audience.
• Transcreation requires a lot more creative freedom and often involves completely rewriting the source. It can be described as a combination of translation and copy writing.
• Translation projects start with a source text, backed by reference materials to provide context. Transcreation requires a creative brief explaining the concept and desired effect in order to create the copy for another language.
• In contrast to translation, generally billed by the word, transcreation is billed by the hour or by the project.
• With translation, which is more faithful to the source text, the messaging remains intact. With transcreation, the client may need to obtain a “back-translation” to understand what the recreated message means.
• Transcreation is sometimes referred to as cross-market copywriting, creative translation, marketing translation, international copy adaptation.