Transcreation

Here’s a smart print ad for BMW’s X5 Sports Activity Vehicle.

Now imagine you’re an ad agency based in Houston, Texas and your client is asking for a French version to run in a multilingual global magazine. You’ve done Spanish versions many times and Manuel in the creative department turns great English ads into great ads for the Hispanic market. The French version however is a new challenge unless you use what’s known as ‘machine translation’. And it’s a click away to anyone with Internet access. Here’s what you get when you machine translate the headline and body copy from English to French using an online tool:

Maman du football

Voici la toute nouvelle BMW. Lorsque nous avons dévoilé le X5 d'origine, ce n'était pas seulement un nouveau véhicule, il a été une nouvelle catégorie: le Sports Activity Vehicle. Aujourd'hui, nous avons pris le X5 à un niveau encore plus élevé. Grâce aux avancées comme un siège de troisième rangée en option, en ajoutant plus d'espace à l'intérieur sans sacrifier l'efficacité globale. Et avec astucieusement scuplted lignes extérieures et de nouvelles options d'intérieur, y compris le cuir riche Napa, c'est une habile combinaison de la fonction et la forme. Le BMW X5, nous avons étendu sur une grande idée.

It sounds like gibberish for the most part.

For those of you who cannot read French, here is the machine translated English version of the machine translated French version.

Football mom.

Here very new BMW. When we revealed X5 origin, this was not only one new vehicle, it was a new category: the Sports Activity Vehicle. Today, we took X5 on a level even higher. Thanks to advanced like a seat of third line in option, by adding more; space with interior without sacrificing total effectiveness. And with astutely scuplted outside lines and of new options interior, including rich leather Napa, is a skilful combination of the function and the form. BMW X5, we extended on a great idea.

Now compare that to the original.

Soccer momma.

Introducing the all-new BMW. When we unveiled the original X5, it wasn’t just a new vehicle, it was a new category: the Sports Activity Vehicle. Today we’ve taken the X5 to an even higher level. With advancements like an optional third row seat, adding more room inside without sacrificing overall efficiency. And with artfully scuplted exterior lines and new interior options, including rich Napa leather, it’s a masterful mix of function and form. The BMW X5, we’ve expanded on a great idea.

My point is this: machine translation issues aside, the body copy could be easily translated by a skilled human translator or more accurate translator software. What’s impossible for a machine to be sensitive to are cultural references like the expression “soccer mom”.

The necessity of transcreation

Transcreation: a freer form of translation, probably closer to copywriting, the result of which is a text linguistically and culturally adapted for specific countries and/or regions. Transcreated material should have a similar impact on the target readership in the foreign country as the original source text (whereas translated material may still be clearly intended for use in the country where the document originated).

Here’s an example from a campaign we had to adapt for Québec a few years ago.

This campaign for Durex condoms was aimed at encouraging its target to make a time for sex each week. The Durex “Hump Day” campaign played on the words hump (for Wednesday/middle of the week) and humping which I let Wikipedia define.

The creative idea cleverly dramatized how things are rather cool on Tuesdays, hot on Wednesdays, and then cool again on Thursdays. Or how the tent is down on Tuesdays and erect on Wednesdays.

 

Now, just ask a machine translator like Google translate for the French version of Hump Day and it’s at a loss. Unless you contribute a translation yourself to improve the software.

Only with transcreation done by an experienced advertising creative copywriter could we have come up with a culturally relevant solution.

The Durex Hump Day became les Cinq à sexe de Durex.

Rather than link to a day of the week, we linked to a time of day and a common expression among Quebeckers for happy hour. A ‘cinq à sept’ refers to a get together after work from 5 to 7. The word ‘sept’ sounds like the word ‘sex’.

The transcreated ads look like this.

  

Never say never. But I doubt a machine could have figured this one out.

 

 

Comments

[Gary Press]

Great post. To me, transcreation is as much about creative writing as it is in understanding the destination language's cultural and social nuances.

On another note, it's interesting that Quebeckers use the phrase "cinq à sept" as a general get-together after work. Here in France the phrase is most known as a euphemism for visiting one's extra-marital lover or mistress!

So I'm told, at least ;-)