Memoir Book Transcreation Case Study | 5-Star Excellent Review

Memoir Book Transcreation Case study

Our client (the book author) is a Vietnamese American NASA Scientist, who wrote his memorial book in English and wanted to share his life story with his relatives in Vietnam.

With 5 years of experience in the translation industry, GTE Localize offered John Doan (author) the best memoir book transcreation services. Our team was comprised of highly-skilled translators and professional staff who are always as supportive as possible. We strived to deliver the highest quality for clients.

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Memoir Book Transcreation's Needs

Memoir Book Transcreation’s needs

When contacting us, the author was looking for Vietnamese linguist experts who could help him transcreate the memoir in a way that his family and relatives in Vietnam could read and feel the memoir in Vietnamese like the way he would feel it from reading the English version.

Memoir Book Transcreation’s requirements

The author required a translation company that offered the best native linguists, also having experience in the history and book translation industry.

Memoir Book Transcreation’s Project Highlights

Industries

Book, Personal Project

Language pairs

English to Vietnamese

Services

Transcreation

Volume

~ 79,000 words

Duration

November 2019 – March 2021

Content types

Memoir Book

Project Challenges & Solutions

Challenges

Historical Events and Political Views: As the memoir mentions the author and his parents’ memories when living in Vietnam before and during the Vietnam war, some historical events were brought up from their personal points of view.
Complex Philosophical Concepts: Throughout the book, the author included some abstract philosophical concepts, some of which were his personal thoughts, and they were difficult to understand at first.
Mixed Languages and Dialects: The languages used in the book are a mixture of the North and South dialects and the Vietnamese dialect of people living overseas.
Several Quotes and Religious Concepts: The book contains many quotes and classic references that are mainly from the Bible. To transcreate these quotes, the linguist needed to do research for the official Vietnamese version from various sources (books, the Internet, friends, etc.) and tried to understand the concepts of religions that she did not follow.

Solutions

The Best Transcreator: A transcreation project that required a consistent writing style and a thorough understanding of context. Thus, GTE Localize assigned the project to a long-experienced linguist with more than 5 years of experience in transcreation.
Constant Research: To make sure the events included were historically correct, the transcreator had to re-read some historical books and stories on the Internet. For events and facts that the author could not recall correctly or only hear from others, the transcreator must discuss with the author on a regular basis to find solutions.
Continuing Communication: The transcreator had to discuss back and forth with the author to capture his core messages, and then find the most suitable words to convey those ideas. For some historic events and nouns calling subjects, roles, or people, there were various words in Vietnamese with the same meaning but different nuances that, if not used properly, could result in negative feelings for readers.

Translation Tools

The linguists have a bilingual view of both source and target, which increases their working speed.
It can reduce the risk of omission/redundant translation.

Ensure consistency across files and projects.
Help detect and minimize any possible errors for translation projects.

Memoir Book Transceation’s Project Results

79,000

words transcreated
51

chapters completed

Satisfied outcome

Our translation team researched and outline the historical events and dialects to deliver comprehensive content with the entire story. The author is satisfied and left us a compliment.

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