Globalization With Localization – the Importance of Human Translation for the Banking & Finance Industry

Alpi Mantry, VP of Growth & Relationship at Translate By Humans

Greg Wolf, of corporate finance house Widebridge Group, was recently quoted in a BBC story saying, “companies really need to think globally from the start, but many do not’.” Languages are now considered to be a business asset rather than a talent in our fast-paced world. Businesses want to reach international locations just as efficiently as they reach local markets. With globalisation becoming synonymous with localisation, the importance of quality day-to-day professional translation has increased for the global banking and finance industry.

Professional translations are an unavoidable requirement for global businesses and the Banking and Financial sectors are niche fields where not only the numbers but the language itself has a lot of importance – be it banking documents, financial agreements, financial statements, financial data, business deals or legal/patent related documents. Hence, it’s very important that the translation of these documents be accurate and professional. The translation should make sure that the context and flow of the translated document is the same as that of the original. A minor difference in the meaning of the translated document can prove a costly error for banking and financial firms.

The following is what you should consider when seeking a quality translation:

1. Machine vs. Human

How efficient are machine translations? They are cheap but are they really worth the risk? There are a lot of translation solutions available online for quick and cheap translation. However, machine translations are literal translations of each word at their best.

Even though translation software has taken a huge leap forward, there are still too many fundamental and algorithmic barriers to be overcome in order to correlate text, analyse and produce an acceptable quality of translation. A machine based translation might be sufficient to understand the gist of the text for personal purposes, but it is in no way apt for the financial industry and official business communication.

1. The context of the original text

It’s essential to ensure that your translation service accounts for the concept of the original text and that the original meaning is expressed in the most appropriate way with its style, syntax, and stratums of meaning.

1. Culture differences

It takes awareness and skill to portray a particular meaning influenced by the cultures, values, conventions are incredibly important for reaching an accurate translation.

In conclusion, in the finance industry where language and context play a key role, it’s important the translations are done by professional, native-speaking translators with expertise in the banking and finance sector to provide contextual and lucid translations to make sure that they avoid embarrassment and poor acceptance of their translated documents. Professional translations by humans make sure that the businesses succeed globally as much as they would locally.