3 Crucial Shortcomings of the Financial Translation

Translation of all types gets tough to translate. Every kind of content holds great responsibility and needs to be precise in translation. There are certain fields though which require more attention to detail as even a minor mistake can lead to serious consequences. The financial translator holds great responsibility. He has to take into account a lot of factors while translating the financial text and figures. He has to understand the target market and the right use and placement of the relevant terminology. Even if translators try to go the right way there are particular challenges in financial translation that linguists have to face for some reasons.

Clients should look for translators who have relevant subject matter expertise. Financial translation services always hire translators with relevant expertise and experience.  As the financial content is a delicate and sensitive text that includes confidential data, it is better to trust someone who is good at it and is professional with proven experience. Financial translation is an important part of globalization and there are certain aspects that need to be looked at before outsourcing your project for translations. These may include the following three biggest challenges. 

Financial terminology is different and not everyone can get the industry jargon. Precision and accuracy are super important. The translators often have to deal with the numerical figures and numbers in the financial content and hence, it is extremely vital that professional translators perform the tasks. It gets draining even for experienced translators to keep track of terms and phrases that are commonly used in the financial context. A lot of terms differ with the regions and countries. For instance ‘called up share capital’ in the UK has a different word ‘common stock’ in the USA. Similarly ‘share capital’ is only ‘capital’ in Russia.

Financial terms are often intricate and unique. The translators who have barely dealt with financial translation might have to struggle a lot with financial content. ‘Accounts receivable’ in the USA is ‘trade debtor’ in the UK and for New Zealand, it is simply ‘debtor’.

Similarly, there is a zakat system that is applicable in Saudi Arabia and Muslim countries in terms of financial reference. The Muslim law asks Muslims to pay for it annually. It is for charity purposes. So the terminology differs as per the regions and their financial content.

Confidentiality is another challenging factor of financial and business translation services. Financial documents usually contain a lot of confidential data and information and they might disclose the sensitive data of the company. They have to remain private and allowing a third party to handle it could be risky. However, translation is also important. Therefore, as the file is shared via the internet or emails the situation gets risky for the translators as well as the company. These files get more vulnerable to cyber theft. A global corporation hence should always make sure that they trust a professional language service provider for this task. You as a business owner have to ensure that the language vendor implements all the precautions to maintain confidentiality and data security.

Professional translation companies though ascertain to sign a non-disclosure contract with their translators and teams. It gets often inevitable to avoid the risk and translators find this situation very testing. The translation companies often use translation and memory tools as well and which is why LSP has to ensure that external sources don’t get access and it is secure and safe with them and on their network. This is a must-have that clients demand from the translation vendors; however they should ensure that their information remains safe with the translators, and they don’t share it or forward it to others.

A general assumption that people have about the translation of numbers is, these are easy to translate. However, this is not the case. A translation company has to make sure that they assign financial tasks to competent and experienced translators. Despite their experience and subject matter experts dealing with numbers can get challenging for translators. As numbers matter a lot in financial documents. Interestingly the language of numbers also differs with the regions. Every region has its own pattern and format for entering the numbers in the text. Hence translators often fail to keep track of their target audience and their particular format while translating the financial content. The standard numbering system that we use in the USA is far different from the system that people use in China or Japan.

Therefore, it becomes crucial to take care of the numbers, their format, and their accuracy. An additional number or omitting a number can lead to serious crises. Thus, while performing the financial translation the translators not only have to be careful about the words but also have to take care of the numbers diligently. Or else the discrepancies can lead to legal trouble acquiring legal translation services too.

Conclusion

Financial translation services have been vital for the process of business expansion. The business and financial text is a serious deal and it contains a lot of sensitive and complex data. Financial translators often have to deal with this situation. Even experienced translators struggle with certain challenges. They may include financial terminology, confidentiality, and translation of numerical values.