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Explainer: Localisation vs. Translation vs. Transcreation

 1 year ago
source link: https://uxplanet.org/explainer-localisation-vs-translation-vs-transcreation-1ceb52850d02
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Explainer: Localisation vs. Translation vs. Transcreation

Commonly confused UX writing terms explained.

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Photo by Ben Blennerhassett on Unsplash

Globalisation has wrought huge changes in our day-to-day communication, and more than ever we are interacting with speakers of different languages to our own.

As UX writers we have a duty to ensure that digital products are as accessible and inclusive as possible. No user deserves a suboptimal experience simply because of their culture or mother tongue.

That’s why effective localisation, translation and transcreation are more important than ever in the tech space. However, due to a lack of information and visibility, many still don’t know the difference between these three disciplines.

Over my 8+ years writing professionally I have modified and iterated my descriptions of these tasks countless times to ensure maximum comprehension by listeners regardless of their background.

So what is localisation?

Localisation is the process of localising a translation to a particular culture, place or language.

Localisation specialists often perform translations, whilst also adapting those translations to feel local to particular markets. This helps users feel comfortable and ‘at home’. And users deserve that special feeling regardless of where they are based!

The localisation process is grammatical, by nature. But it’s also cultural. Localisation specialists ideally cultivate an intimate understanding of the culture they are localising into: they will learn important things like regionalisms, politeness maxims, units of measurement and any linguistic faux-pas!

Indeed, when localising a product, it’s important to consider layout, images and colours as well as words.

For example, an image of The Kremlin in Russia would be exceptionally insensitive to use when advertising travel offers to Ukrainian customers.

This may seem like an extreme example, but it adequately portrays the negative impact that localisation errors can have on UX.

“Users deserve to feel comfortable and at home when using digital products. Translation is simply not enough to deliver this alone.”

What about translation then? What’s that?

Quite simply, where localisation seeks to adapt an entire experience, translation seeks to adapt simply messaging.

Indeed, translation is often contained within the localisation process, but without the adaptation of certain aspects to fit a certain market or community’s preferences.

Let’s use this sentence in American English as a short example:

You paid $10 for a 10-inch margherita pizza on 12.07.22.

Here’s a translation to Spanish of that sentence:

Pagaste 10 $ por una pizza Margherita de 10 pulgadas el 12.07.22.

And a translation of the same sentence, including localisation for Mexican users:

Usted pagó $196.60 por una pizza Margherita de 25 centímetros el 07.12.22.

The following factors were considered in the localisation process here:

  • Mexican users adopt the metric system for weight, as opposed to the imperial system used in the USA.
  • The currency is the Mexican peso (MXN), not US dollars (USD).
  • The date format used in Mexico is day-month-year, as opposed to month-day-year in the USA.

In summary, translation is a simple, ‘word-for-word’ process.

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Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash

Ok, and Transcreation?

If translation is 2-dimensional and localisation is 3-dimensional, then transcreation is 4-dimensional 👽.

Arle Lommel, a Senior Analyst at CSA Research, provides a concise and helpful definition:

“Transcreation is the creation of content in the target language that is inspired by the source, but highly adapted for the language and culture where it will be used.”

Transcreation adds a creative element to localisation. During the transcreation process, the idea is translated to convey storytelling, values and any cultural idiosyncrasies that might be associated with it, in order to achieve a certain objective.

Most of the time this means beginning an entirely new text.

Transcreation is a time-intensive process that moves away from source material to create a new text that evokes the same emotional response as the original.

Possible aspects to consider when transcreating:

  • Musicality of the language
  • Word play

Bringing onboard an experienced transcreator can turn localised text into a highly effective marketing asset.


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