How To Spot a REAL Transcreator

Many translators claim that they do transcreation. Such claim is perhaps accompanied by big words like “we protect your brands” or “we craft your message in another language.” While these aren’t wrong, if you are a client, you should dig deeper to see if these translators truly know what transcreation is, or if they are just using the word now because it’s the trend.

Here’s how you can spot a legit transcreator:

Ask for the Transcreator's Background

If the transcreator you speak with say “In my previous advertising/marketing work, my colleagues found out I’m bilingual, and then I was asked to help with translation for this language…”, then you are probably speaking with the correct person.

The transcreators at Kreate Transcreation, started transcreating before it was even a known term. Many people are still calling it “context translation”, which is a term that we still use when we pitch to clients who aren’t familiar with transcreation. That's how new this term is.

All of our transcreators also came from creative advertising agency and marketing-related field, so we know how to “speak ads”. It makes a whole lot of a difference if you are making ads.

Ask for the Project Manager’s Background

If your project manager is also the sales person in the translation company, RUN!

I’m kidding – but it’s true that the project manager makes or breaks your project. Your project manager should be able to address the usual pain points BEFORE you even encounter them. Some examples of these pain points are English Back Translation and rationale. A project manager who had been in a creative agency or was a marketer will know that English Back Translation is crucial for the reviewer who do not understand the target foreign language.

Rationale is another forgotten child in translation. When it comes to transcreation, sentence structure may change due to the grammar in the target language which is different than English. Certain words may need to be omitted because it won’t fit into your 15s TVC. Your project manager should be checking with the transcreators about all these before any of the drafts go to you, so that you don’t have to worry about them.

Pricing

This is the biggest, and yet the most overlooked telltale.

Transcreators will never charge you by the number of words. Transcreation is essentially a hybrid between copywriting and translation, where the transcreator needs to re-write from one language to another language. It is not something that a tool can do. Hence, most transcreators charge by the hour or even by the type of projects.

The price itself is another telltale. If it starts from a few cents a word, you are definitely speaking with a translator, not transcreator.

Ask About Their Transcreation Process

If they tell you “I load your text to a tool and then adjust from there”, then look the other way.

The bulk of a transcreation job is on the research. We research your brand, ask you questions about your target audience, your tone and manner, objectives, single most important thing to say, et cetera. When you speak to a legit transcreator, they will ask you questions like an advertising agency or a creative firm would. At Kreate Transcreation, we even ask for the visual mock-up or offline edits, so that we can match the length of our transcreated sentence into your visual or VO.

In conclusion...

...anyone or any company can claim to be a transcreator. But to really be one requires a lot of different experiences and skills. While being bilingual is an important requirement, it is definitely not the only one.

Interested to find out more about what we do? Drop us an email at yan@kreatetranscreation.com and wendy@kreatetranscreation.com!