Smartling Introduces Transcreation Tool, An All New Interface to Write Creative Translations

NEW YORK, NY - December 9, 2020 - Smartling, provider of the #1 rated enterprise translation management system, today announced Transcreation Tool, the all new translation interface to enable transcreation services.

Transcreation is the process of creatively re-writing the meaning, intent, style and tone of the source text to be culturally appropriate for each market. The transcreation process goes beyond the basic process of translation, and instead ensures the target content reflects the nuances not only of each language, but also how each market uses language to convey a message. With this new product, translators and customers can write highly creative options for their most prized content, like taglines, advertisements and search engine optimization (SEO) keywords.

“Unequivocally, we are seeing a much larger demand for Transcreation from the market,” said Jack Welde, Founder and CEO of Smartling. “That’s why we built an entirely new interface for customers and translators to collaborate on transcreation projects. The Transcreation Tool takes the entire process of content creation and real-time collaboration to an online platform that enhances everything about the creative writing process.”

Smartling developed the Transcreation Tool with the advice and council of translators and customers who have been using a beta version of the product over the past few months.

“I absolutely love working on creative projects with our customers, and Smartling’s new Transcreation Tool makes it substantially more efficient to produce quality results,” said Gabriela Ortiz, a professional Smartling translator in Argentina. “I no longer have to stare into the cells of a spreadsheet and circulate transcreations by email. Instead, I log into Smartling, write three options with back translations, and then communicate directly with the customer through the platform to ensure the work meets their expectations.”

Gavin Grimes, who recently joined the company as Smartling’s Vice President of Language Services added, “Despite the marketplace’s growth in AI-driven translation solutions, there is, and will always be, the need for high value transcreations.”

The new product, which is derived from the company’s cloud-based Computer Assisted Translation Interface (CAT Tool), enables the seamless transcreation process of drafting multiple target options along with back translations inside of a dynamic WYSIWYG visual context editor. Having this context is incredibly important because transcreation is often used for clever, puny content that may not translate literally. For example, a company may have a highly creative headline used to capture the audience’s attention in a way that feels normal to today’s consumer experience, but is highly unusual, unique and challenging to translate into other languages. Customers and translators can easily collaborate on content and see how the transcreations appear before merging transcreations with the code. Getting translations and transcreations right before merging the target content with the code base eliminates the back-and-forth typically associated with the editing that takes place after issues are identified in the quality assurance phase.

Smartling’s new Transcreation Tool is a compliment to its transcreation services. Smartling works with customers to produce a thorough brief when preparing source content for transcreation, and then assigns an in-language writer who has experience with the domain of the respective customer. The writer has the ability to openly communicate with the customer to ensure the outcomes meet their expectations without the need for a “middle man” that adds time and cost to the transcreation process.

The Transcreation Tool is available today for Smartling customers, and is easily configured via translation workflows. To learn more about Smartling, please visit www.smartling.com.

Smartling Media Contact Adrian K. Cohn Head of Marketing acohn@smartling.com