Financial translation

When accuracy and expertise are vital, financial translation

Challenges in translating financial content

Financial content takes a higher level of expertise to translate than standard business and marketing document types.

When it comes to translating financial content – the need for accurate and professional expertise is clear. When dealing with financial or commercial texts it is highly important that the structure and quality of the translation meets that of the original text.

Why working with a professional is important?

Working with a trusted and experienced language service provider (LSP) has become a vital necessity for companies across a variety of sectors in an increasingly globalized world. In addition to solid language skills, now extensive knowledge and expertise in financial industry subjects is also crucial to obtain the best quality within the most demanding deadlines. Translating high volumes of content within very short deadlines significantly affects budgeting. Turning to the same trusted LSP, year after year, is the first step to containing costs. A reputable translation agency will build a working relationship with each individual client and put project managers in charge of every assignment. This results not only in a more attentive and quality service, but it speeds up submission and increases accuracy of translations. In addition, as translators become more familiar with the client and terminology requirements, project managers will be able to leverage existing terminology and translation memories, along with tech-enabled tools for translation.

Challenging Aspects of Financial Translation.

When it comes to translating financial documents, there are many challenging aspects that translators must be able to meet. It is about much more than having complete understanding of language specifics, but also understanding industry and business terminology, and even being able to work with tables and numbers. Some of the things that need to be considered with financial translations include:

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Specialised material

Financial reports, press releases, compliance documents, macro research, marketing pieces – these documents are very different than the rest and have certain formats and tone.

Translating this type of financial documents poses its own challenge. It’s essential that financial companies work with a trusted Language Service Provider who employs a team of translators with experience with a variety of financial documentation in an array of formats.

Specific terminology

Translating industry-specific terminology, and doing so consistently, is one of the biggest challenges in the finance world.

Translation of financial statements require from the linguist an in-depth understanding of the specific terms that are used across the original and target languages. To retain consistency, it is also necessary that these terms are translated in the same way across different documents – even the slightest difference in terms in quarterly and annual reports will come off as unprofessional, for example. In addition to this, terminology must also comply with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the IASB, the International Accounting Standards Board, and endorsed by the European Union. This means that linguists must be up-to-date with IFRS changes, as all translated versions are legally binding. Creating glossaries and translation memories (TMs) can be a great help in retaining consistency throughout corporate documentation. This is something all reputable agencies do as it allows even different linguists to work on translations for the same client and achieve the same style, tone and quality. Terminology coherence between multiple documents: glossary; style guides, make sure that everything is homogeneous. Terminology management is an important part of financial translation, so it’s essential that linguists understand the specifics of the financial industry, to guarantee the best quality within the most demanding deadlines. Financial documentation must always be kept safe and secure when it’s handled by clients and translation agencies. WANT TO WORK WITH US?

Working with numbers and different formats

One of the peculiarities of financial translations is related to the vast use of numbers. Often, countries have different standards for writing numbers and it’s important to transcribe them accurately.

Linguists need to understand the importance of the use of decimal points as well as the difference between points and commas to ensure the translated text and numbers convey the original meaning or the entire document could be rendered inaccurate. Apart from decimals, dates and currencies are also handled differently across countries. To ensure consistency of usage throughout the document, translators must be up-to-date with current standards and know when to use June 17, 2015 or 17 June 2015; $600 or USD 600; and so on.

Tight deadlines and delivery requirements

Do you need a final delivery of the entire document or do you require the different chapters or content types sent as soon as they are ready?

This may mean linguists need to work in coordination with an external auditor or internal financial reviewer to speed up the process. Annual reports and financial statements usually have fixed release dates and some documents often need to be released as soon as the quarterly and annual figures are available, and this can only mean one thing for financial professionals – high volumes of work that need be turned around very quickly.

Confidentiality & Data Security

Most of the information is confidential, both for your clients and your company. When finance reports need to be translated before they are released, Language Service Providers need to handle this information in a confidential manner.

This requires that all translators working on projects have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) as well as sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to guarantee data protection. The way documents are handled should also be as secure as possible. Sending unencrypted emails with sensitive information to translators, a reliable and trust-worthy Language Service Provider should have secure Translation Management Systems in place. This allows documents to be uploaded and downloaded while remaining safe within the system.

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