Monday, 3 October 2016

Transcreation?!

Last week, at the ProZ.com 2016 virtual conference for International Translation Day, one of the sessions was called Transcreation and copywriting, and I was all what?! (I don't know wheter to laugh or cry when these teenagerisms flow out of my fingers). Then I went and lost myself in Google (again). Some notes:
Transcreation is a term used chiefly by advertising and marketing professionals to refer to the process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone and context. A successfully transcreated message evokes the same emotions and carries the same implications in the target language as it does in the source language. Increasingly, transcreation is used in global marketing and advertising campaigns as advertisers seek to transcend the boundaries of culture and language. It also takes account of images which are used within a creative message, ensuring that they are suitable for the target local market.
Terms with meanings similar to transcreation include ‘creative translation’, ‘cross-market copywriting’, ‘international copy adaptation’, ‘free-style translation‘, ‘marketing translation’, ‘internationalization’, ‘localization’ and ‘cultural adaptation’. For each of these words and phrases, the thrust is similar: taking the essence of a message and re-creating it in another language or dialect.
Transcreation is a process whereby a highly specialized linguist recreates the source version to be appropriate for the target locale. They key term here is “recreates”, which means reinvent, create again, give new life to, reproduce. This does not mean that materials are created wholly from scratch but the source content can be changed substantially in the process.
Typically, the process of transcreation applies to taglines, product names, slogans and advertisement copy; anything highly branded. Transcreation can also be performed on creative briefs, brand and style guidelines.
Transcreation vs. Marketing Translation? How to Choose the Right Approach
Transcreation combines two words: translation and recreation. The process involves both. Sometimes called creative translation, the aim of transcreation is to adapt a message into another language. The transcreation process involves a lot more creativity than straight translation. There is not the obligation to stay linguistically faithful to the source text, as long as the key message is still conveyed.
Transcreation takes the source text and translates it so that the original message and intent are still explicit. This goes beyond just literal translation. The source text may need to be completely ‘recreated’ so it has the same effect on the target audience. The transcreation process can completely alter the structure, images, even the subject in the source text in order to fit with the target culture and evoke the same emotions.
What is Transcreation?
Three Differences between Transcreation and Translation
1. Source content
2. People
3. Timing
Three Differences between Transcreation and Translation
Transcreation (sometimes called creative translation) is developing or adapting your message for a specific target audience rather than just merely translating existing materials. Transcreation combines new content, culturally adapted content and straightforward translation. Transcreation can include copywriting, image selection, font changes and other transformations that tailor your message to the recipient.
Transcreation enhances your local brand while tailoring it to specific local markets. This service focuses on fluid readability rather than just an accurate word-for-word translation.[...]
5 Key Considerations for Transcreation
1.Transcreation should be performed only into native language.[...]
2.Transcreation provider should be in-country and share location with your target audience.[...]
3.Transcreation provider must be a content expert.[...]
4.Transcreation provider must have extensive copywriting expertise.[...]
5.Transcreation provider must have knowledge and understanding of the target market.[...]
You may wonder why a company would want transcreation at all: why don’t they just hire a team of copywriters in the target country who can produce the text from scratch? Well, most clients will want the ‘feel’ of the original text to be maintained, which requires someone who has an intimate knowledge of the source language – they will have to understand why the message works and produce something that is localised for the target language.
The goal of transcreation isn’t to say the same thing in another language. Indeed, it is often not possible to say exactly the same thing in another language. The aim of the game with transcreation is to get the same reaction in each language, something that translation in itself won’t be able to achieve.
Translation vs. Transcreation
Transcreation means ‘translating’ and ‘recreating’ the original text in a new language whilst making sure it is still appropriate in the context for which it is intended. The person producing the transcreation must understand the desired outcome thoroughly, and be given the freedom not only to translate the original but also to make significant changes to it in the process.
Most transcreation projects are undertaken when working with marketing teams.
What is transcreation and how is it different to translation?
Everyday is a wonder of new facts.

Thursday, 21 July 2016

Phonology II

I should be preparing this final, but obviously I'm here instead. At least this is a list of Phonology resources. IPA keybords with extras; the first one is the one I generally use, but the rest are also ok:

TypeIt IPA keyboard - offers several different fonts, symbols for other languages, a desktop version.
Phonemic Chart Keyboard - British/American vowels, list of transcribed words.
TypeIPA - PhoTransEdit Online IPA Keyboard - database of transcribed words, desktop version, RP/GA, some simple transcriptios available.
Unicode Phonemic Typewriter - also some exercises on phonology and morphology, a SAMPA-IPA converter.

Note: SAMPA (Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet), is a computer readable phonetic alphabet used when Unicode is not available. Check John Wells page on it.

Edit: More from PhoTransEdit. Checked and working.

Online English phonetic transcription tools
Phonetizer - RG/GA, Cyrillic transliteration, read-out-loud, desktop version.
EasyPronunciation.com - language learning tools, some other languages.

Online Phonetic keyboards
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Chart Unicode Keyboard - pick charas from charts
i2Spi:k Smart IPA Phonetics Keyboard - several fonts, smart IPA (similar to predictive text)
IPA character picker - Richard Ishida - pick charas from charts, several fonts
Type IPA English subset - GNU GPL - onlint/offline, very simple
Script Typewriter 1.7 - Pete MacKichan - for Word or web page

Extra:
Speech Internet Dictionary - concise definitions of technical terms used in phonetics, phonology, speech and hearing science and allied disciplines (with examples, illustrations and sound clips)

Friday, 15 July 2016

Kingsman - 'nuff said

Not only the Kingsmen, but also the knights they were named after:
A gentleman is about the purity of his truth, about commitment to his actions.
(from fanfiction

Monday, 20 June 2016

ASCII Art

Last week I was looking for an ASCII heart or something similar, and found these sites. I couldn't use what I found because I have no clue how to change FB's fonts, but hey, maybe next time. In the meantime:

Chris.com - a personal site, with a good gallery.
ASCII Art Dictionary - a personal site too, with ASCII animations! it's old, so beware the links.

Not quite the same, but somewhat related:

Alt-Codeslist of alt key codes alt symbols and characters - like this: ♥ ♪ ❦!!

Also, 
      ___________________________________ ______________________
    .' In the kitchen,                   | (_)     (_)    (_)   \
  .'   no one can hear you ice cream.    |  ____          ____   }
.',,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,_____|_(    `--------'    )_/ 
http://www.myrkraverk.com/ascii

Monday, 11 April 2016

Word Clouds!

I know word clouds can be an important resarch tool, but I like the way they look. Specially if you manage to get the right text. Or the right genereator. Here are some.

Worked for me:

Didn't work right but:
  • Wordle - my favourite from last year, but right now it's giving me Java trouble.
  • Tagxedo - looks interesting, but it asks me for Silverlight.
  • Tagul - interesting looking too, but asks for a login - maybe some other day.


Now, whenever I find where I took note of all the word cloud generators I found last year, I'll edit this list. Probably. Maybe.

Sunday, 20 March 2016

How to write dates in British and American English

OMG!! How difficult can this be! And yet I keep having to check every time I need to submit something dated. Let's see if this post helps me remember next time:

British English - DMY

from informal to formal
  • 13 April
  • 13 April 2014
  • 13th April 2014
  • the 13th of April 2014
  • the 13th of April, 2014,

also
  • Sunday, 13 April 2014
  • Sunday the 13th of April, 2014

abbreviated
  • 13/04/14, 13.04.14, 13-04-14
  • 13/04/2014, 13.04.2014, 13-04-2014
  • 13Apr2014, 13-Apr-14

American English - MDY


from informal to formal
  • April 13
  • April 13, 2014
  • Sunday, April 13, 2014

abbreviated
  • 04/13/14, 04.13.14, 04-13-14
  • 04/13/2014, 04.13.2014, 04-13-2014
  • Apr. 13, 2014
  • Year before month
 
Most importantly, BE CONSISTENT! 


Friday, 18 March 2016

Translation!

[...] 

Traduce

Coming from the Latin traducere, meaning “to bring across” or “to transfer”, traduce was used to mean “translate” from at least the fifteen hundreds, and was still in use when Charles Kingsley wrote his novel Alton Locke in 1850: the title character will be allowed no more books to read “If ye canna traduce to me a page o’ Virgil”, so the Scotsman Sandy Mackaye threatens him. The verb is related to words for “translation” in a number of Romance languages: French traduction and Italian traduzzione, for example. The more common sense of traduce now is to slander or disgrace a person. It seems a bit of a leap from “transfer” to “slander”, but the classical Latin traducere could also mean “to lead along (as a spectacle)”, as one might do to a criminal, and in later Latin it carried the sense “to lead astray”, “to corrupt”, and “to blame”. It’s a verb of many talents, and it seems quite fitting that a word for translation should itself have such a variety of possible translations.

Wend 

This is my favourite translation verb, and the oldest of our five. Indeed, this meaning of the word seems to have died out in the twelve hundreds, remembered now only by students of Old English who read King Alfred’s accounts of his efforts at translation: “Ða ongan ic..ða boc wendan on Englisc”; “Then I began to translate that book into English”. The range of meanings that wend had even in those days tells us something about how the Anglo-Saxons thought about translation. It could mean altering your course, changing your mind, travelling, or taking the final journey of death. Translation was a slippery thing, and it could fatally change the meaning of the original text unless great care was taken by a skilful translator.
These are just a few of the many verbs that are or have been used for translation; there was no space to talk about convert, render, interpret, or throw, to name just a few. Dub also lost out in my list of five, though it has the neatest etymology, being a simple shortening of the word double. So there is still plenty to explore in the world of translation; but, for now, I shall wend my way.
For translators-traitors.