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Article published In:
Text and Context Revisited Within a Multimodal Framework
Edited by Yves Gambier and Olli Philippe Lautenbacher
[Babel 70:1/2] 2024
► pp. 89–110

Brand transcreation as multimodal configuration

The (re)making of text, context, and meaning in brand semiotics

 | Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
 | Shandong Normal University
This article aims at revisiting some key concepts in translation studies by taking into account a new translation or multimodal practice called brand transcreation. Unlike translation proper or brand design proper, brand transcreation involves interlingual and multimodal production in the target culture. It relies on verbal instructions rather than the source text, and intersemiotically, transforms verbal messages into polished multimodal products. Using the systemic-functional sociosemiotic framework, this study delves into the types and dynamic orchestration of semiotic modes involved in two successful brand transcreations from a producer-researcher perspective. The findings reveal that brand transcreation can be defined as a goal-oriented textual production that configures multiple modes and serves specific communicative purposes. In this regard, the concepts of texts, contexts, meaning, and particularly (the categorization of) translation have evolved and require reconsideration.
Keywords: brand transcreation, multimodal configuration, textual production, contextualization, meaning transference
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Translation studies and multimodal studies: A possible convergence?
    • 2.1The turns and twists in translation studies
    • 2.2The surging and burgeoning of multimodal studies
    • 2.3The creative element in translation
  • 3.A multimodal social semiotic analysis of brand transcreation
    • 3.1What is (brand) transcreation?
    • 3.2Multimodal resources and configuration
    • 3.3Multimodal ensembles in brand transcreation
  • 4.Case studies: Two successful brand transcreations
    • 4.1The transcreation of a brand name and logo
    • 4.2The transcreation of a mascot for kindergarten
    • 4.3A reflection on texts, contexts, and translation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00370.wan
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