Does anyone know? If possible, please explain in layman term. I read the Wikipedia article but couldn't really wrap my mind around it. One company in Mexico extended their hand to me, but instead of offering me rates, they want me to quote my rates for both translation and transcreation work. Like, is there a big difference?
While translation focuses on replacing the words in one language with corresponding words in a new language, transcreation services are focused on conveying the same message and concept in a new language. - Smartling.com Transcreation is the merger of two words: translation and creation. It's an intricate form of translating that preserves the original intent, context, emotion, and tone. - terratranslations.com
Basically transcreation is where you need to be well versed in both the languages and dialect's nuances to translate the context in an understanding way rather than word for word.
Transcreation is a concept used in the field of translation studies to describe 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. It is related to the concept of localization, which similarly involves comprehensively adapting a translated text for the target audience.[1] Transcreation highlights the translator's creative role.[2] Unlike many other forms of translation, transcreation also often involves adapting not only words, but video and images to the target audience.[3] Hot and fresh from Wikipedia Ps: Maybe transmutation is closer to what you are looking for
In short, transcreation is writing something new that's inspired by the original, instead of translating the text to another language. You completely discard the meaning of the original text, and create something that is related and has a similar feel, but isn't the same story at all. These quotes are marketing speak, used to sell a product/service, they don't tell you what it actually is at all. Both of these descriptions apply perfectly well to translation ("replacing words with corresponding words" is not generally how translation works, even MTL is better than that). The main point is that transcreation does not involve translating the original, it's writing something new, for a different audience, that's just based on the original.
The way I see it, it strives to recreate the original work in the geographical (local) and linguistic (and by extension, the socio-economic and political) framework of the target audience while attempting to preserve, or failing that, adapt as closely as possible, the message and its associated values. So basically, you take the most rudimentary outline of the original work and the message it conveys, and these you try to keep as unaltered as possible while you redesign, modify or reorganize the content to fit the context or norms of the target audience.