---

name: transcreation description: | Transforms marketing content across languages and markets through transcreation — adapting message, tone, and cultural references instead of translating word for word — while honoring per-locale brand rules and a do-not-translate glossary. Use when localizing content or when a locale is set. Trigger with "transcreate", "localize", "adapt for a market", or "/localize". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Glob argument-hint: '--locales xx-XX,yy-YY [--brand ] [--back-translation]' version: "0.2.1" author: localplugins localplugins@proton.me license: MIT compatibility: Designed for Claude Code tags:

• localization
• transcreation
• marketing
• content
• internationalization

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Transcreation

Overview

Transcreation adapts content into another language so it feels native, preserving intent, brand voice, and emotional impact rather than translating literally. The wording is reworked; the effect is kept.

Literal translation breaks marketing: idioms fall flat, humor is lost, and register goes wrong. This skill loads the base brand profile and the target locale's overrides, reworks the copy for that market, protects do-not-translate glossary terms, and re-checks compliance and channel limits for the new language. It is instruction-driven and writes localized files, with no accounts, keys, or network access.

Prerequisites

• Source content to localize and one or more target locales in xx-XX form (for example de-DE, ja-JP).
• The base brand profile plus any content/brand/locales/<xx-XX>/ overrides. The skill uses Glob and Read to find and load them and Write to save each localized asset.
• The style-guide.md glossary section (Product and Trademark Names) for do-not-translate terms, and the locale's compliance.md for market-specific rules.

Instructions

1. Read the base brand files, then read any locales/<xx-XX>/ overrides. Locale rules win for that market.
2. Adapt, do not translate: rework idioms, humor, and references into locale equivalents, keeping the effect rather than the words.
3. Set the register: choose the correct formality and honorifics for the persona and locale (Sie or du, keigo, tu or usted).
4. Convert locale specifics: units, currency, date and number formats, names, and examples.
5. Protect the glossary: never translate product names, trademarks, or taglines unless the brand supplies a sanctioned translation.
6. Check the channel limit: text expands or contracts across languages, so re-fit each asset with the channel-formats spec.
7. Verify compliance against the locale's compliance.md: disclaimers and prohibited terms can differ by country.
8. Handle scripts: apply right-to-left rules for Arabic and Hebrew and correct spacing for CJK.
9. When asked, emit a back-translation plus a short note on adaptation choices so a non-native approver can sign off.

Output

One localized file per asset per locale, mirroring the source filenames under a locale folder (for example de-DE/linkedin.md). Each asset is transcreated, glossary-safe, compliance-checked for that market, and re-fitted to its channel limit. When a back-translation is requested, each localized asset is paired with a literal back-translation and an adaptation note for approver sign-off.

Error Handling

Condition	Behavior
No locale override found	Use the base brand rules; note that no market-specific overrides were applied
Glossary term has no sanctioned translation	Keep the source term verbatim; never invent a localized name
Compliance rules differ by market	Apply the locale's compliance.md; flag any claim that cannot cross the border
Text overflows the channel after adaptation	Re-fit with channel-formats before writing the file
Idiom or joke has no equivalent	Substitute a locally resonant alternative and record the choice in the adaptation note

Examples

Example: localize into two markets

/localize post.md --locales de-DE,ja-JP

Loads each locale's overrides, transcreates the post for German and Japanese, protects glossary terms, and writes de-DE/ and ja-JP/ versions.

Example: request a back-translation

/localize offer.md --locales fr-FR --back-translation

Produces the French asset plus a literal back-translation and an adaptation note for sign-off.

Example: localized as part of multiply

/multiply brief.md --channels linkedin --locales es-ES

Drafts the LinkedIn asset, then transcreates it for Spanish and re-fits it to the channel limit.

Related skills

See also the companion skills brand-voice (per-locale voice and compliance) and channel-formats (re-fit expanded or contracted text to each channel).

Resources

• references/transcreation-guide.md — worked before/after transcreations, formality-by-locale guidance, glossary handling, unit, currency, and date conversion tables, right-to-left and CJK notes, and how to produce a back-translation.
• references/locale-checklist.md — a step-by-step per-locale checklist and the common failure modes (literal idioms, broken glossary terms, compliance carried across a border, overflowed channel limits).