It depends on the context!
For this British TRANSCREATOR, being “on holiday” is no vacation!
Our TRANSCREATOR walks into a bar in Germany (luckily not the solid object that’s longer than it is wide, but a bar where alcohol is served). It isn’t long after our transcreator takes her seat at the bar, that the German bartender discovers what she does and where she’s from before enlisting her help.
| BARTENDER: | Ja bitte? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | A local beverage please. |
| BARTENDER: | Ah, are you from England? Will you help me? I want to write to a girl here who speaks English. I like her and I use this dictionary (pulls out dictionary from underneath the bar), but it’s not helping. I want to write “cross” but I don’t think that’s right. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Cross as in angry? |
| BARTENDER: | No |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Ah, the symbol that indicates a wrong answer? |
| BARTENDER: | No. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | The cross in a church? |
| BARTENDER: | No, to cross over. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Oh, to die and go to the next life? |
| BARTENDER: | No the road. I want to ask her to leave her house. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Or her home? |
| BARTENDER: | And to cross her road. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | You mean her street? |
| BARTENDER: | What’s the difference? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | There’s a difference! |
| BARTENDER: | I want to give her directions to the bar. She first has to cross her street. I also want to invite her, you know, like einladen. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Invite doesn’t mean to pay for drinks like it does in German. |
| BARTENDER: | Are you sure? I’ll have to control that. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Keep that in check. |
| BARTENDER: | Sorry? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | You’ll have to keep that in check. Control is a false friend. |
| BARTENDER: | No. A false friend is someone who isn’t helping me with this translation. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | You don’t need a translation. You need a transcreation! |
| BARTENDER: | A transcreation? Is that a translation that takes 6 days to do and then you rest on the seventh day? (laughs) |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Ah, a Creationism joke! But if you were Muslim, you’d call each “day” an “eon.” |
| BARTENDER: | eon? Isn’t that an energy company? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Yes, here in Germany. Or an Equal Employment Opportunity Network if you’re in Australia. You see, it’s about being culturally sensitive and aware and knowing your target audience. Saying “I love Bio” here means you love organic food, but saying it in the US means you love the smell of sweat (“B.O.” is short for “body odor”) – a very different message! |
| BARTENDER: | Oh dear! |
| TRANSCREATOR: | A word-for-word translation could anger or confuse. You don’t want to have a negative reaction. You just need your intended message to come across. |
| BARTENDER: | No, just for her to “come across” to the bar. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Yes, but there are several ways of phrasing that. That’s why a transcreation is more than just a translation. It takes into account cultural specifics, uses insider info and takes more creative liberties so that your message gets the reaction you originally intended to elicit. How about: “How would you feel about traversing the bridge by your home and coming to the bar where I could spend the evening gazing into your eyes over a cold beverage in a warm and friendly atmosphere? And: It’s on the house!” |
| BARTENDER: | A bit over the top! |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Ok, fair enough. |
| BARTENDER: | And “on the house”? Why? This is a bar, not a house! |
| TRANSCREATOR: | How about: “Would you care to join me in the bar? You don’t have to pay,” or even: “Fancy a drink in the bar? It’s on me!”? |
| BARTENDER: | Why not fancy a “beer” in the bar? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Perhaps in her culture drinking alcohol is forbidden, or not considered a sociable activity. A transcreator would know this and would advise the customer accordingly. |
| BARTENDER: | And how did you know there was a bridge? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | A transcreator’s job is to know as much about the target country as possible. Preferably they’re either from that country or they’ve spent a lot of time there, like I have here. |
| BARTENDER: | So you’ve been to her street? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | No. I checked Google maps. |
| BARTENDER: | Do you always give lots of examples? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Well yeah, by giving my customers various options, they can choose which one they feel conveys their message perfectly. |
| BARTENDER: | Ok so I think I’ll take “Fancy a drink in the bar? It’s on me!” |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Which doesn’t have your word “cross,” or in fact any directions in it at all. It takes into account that, since she lives nearby, she is very likely to already know how to get here. |
| BARTENDER: | So you mean I needed a different approach, not simply just different words? |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Yes, and now you see why it’s not a translation, right? |
| BARTENDER: | Wow! Yeah it’s a completely different skill entirely! I feel dizzy, like we just went all around the world to get here. |
| TRANSCREATOR: | Well, a transcreator does have to think globally, but act locally, and if I’m right about the local custom here, I don’t need to pay just yet. Instead I’ll have another beer! |
Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH
Erlenhofpark
Inselkammerstr. 8
82008 Unterhaching
T:+49 89 – 480581 00
F:+49 89 – 480581 01