The financial translation market is booming. With annual growth of more than 5%, it is not in danger of falling, despite the recession in the world economy announced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last September. This increased need for translation is due to the growing openness of businesses to international trade. In order to remain competitive, companies do not hesitate to remove the language barriers that prevent them from developing by hiring a financial translator. Nevertheless, finding a good translator is not as easy as it seems, especially with the variety of services on offer. So, to get your bearings quickly, it is best to take into account a few criteria to assess your competence and professional know-how.
A professional with a thorough knowledge of economics
In a globalized world, a company's needs extend far beyond its borders, as it is often called upon to export its goods and services outside its country of residence. Thus, to promote its activities as quickly as possible, it calls upon the services of a financial translator to assist it in its procedures, particularly to facilitate communication between players of different nationalities. Here, as its name indicates, the service of a translator consists of translating financial and economic texts. For example, it concerns a contract between the different shareholders of a multinational company, the agenda of a company, the transfer of shares, accounting, financial statements, and many others.
At first glance, these documents seem easy to understand. After all, the company has a financial manager who can understand them. But in reality, they require a fairly thorough level of knowledge. Economic jargon is hard to explain, not to mention financial terms. So the professional responsible for financial translation is responsible for explaining to shareholders (who are often of different nationalities) and business leaders the meaning of any financial document. This is necessary in order to succeed in a rather delicate operation, such as the merger of a company, the suspension of payments, or an investment.
An expert who adapts to changes in the financial world
The world of finance evolves over time. This means that the specialist providing financial translation must adapt to an increasingly dynamic and heterogeneous financial environment. As a result, he or she must not confine himself or herself to a particular service. This is the case if he or she only offers the translation of documents relating to a company's accounting. Indeed, a true professional must be versatile. Thus, apart from translating accounting terminology, he or she must provide services related to the explanation of terms related to the establishment of a contract with the investor, etc. This diversity of services must also be felt at the level of the clientele, because a good translator must not only provide a service to a particular legal entity. Normally, apart from national companies, he must also be able to work with SMEs, entrepreneurs, industries, multinationals, social organisations and even public bodies. And, as usual, he must be able to explain the meaning of all financial documents presented by these actors.
Furthermore, as a translator has to adapt to the changing economic world, he has to stay abreast of innovations in the field of translation. This enables him/her to translate all the files relating to the life of a company. This includes, for example, the translation of the company's status, the nature of its activities, documents relating to the termination of its operations, etc.
An expert who can work under pressure
Faced with the urgent needs of companies, speed is the quality that a person or agency specialising in financial translation must possess. Indeed, the translator must be able to provide the documents he or she is asked to translate within the given deadline. However, even if he is able to do so, this does not allow him to offer a less qualified service. On the contrary, they must be able to work quickly and professionally. Fortunately, there is a financial translation professional who can quickly study or analyse the documents presented to him in the time allotted (the corporate purpose, and the activities of a company, investor relations...). This is the case of an online translation agency that offers its expertise in less than a month, or of a freelance translator who is known for his professionalism.
Today, financial translation must be at the cutting edge of technology. This means that the translator must be able to use innovative tools, in order to offer a service that is both efficient and fast. These include assisted translation software, electronic file sharing and much more. However, this does not preclude the use of traditional translation tools, such as lexicons, books, etc., to provide a fast and efficient service.
A specialist who keeps his finger on the pulse of the news
The world economy is in the midst of a recession. But that doesn't stop companies from using a financial translation agency to translate files for major operations. In addition, the translation industry is increasingly requiring translators to have a much broader knowledge base. So a better translator is no longer the one with financial terminology expertise, but the one who can understand legal and business jargon. For example, he or she must be able to understand and explain the reasons for and features of a newly enacted law or regulation. This is also the case with the marketing strategy techniques employed by the majority of today's successful businesses. By having this multidisciplinary experience, he can offer quality service while surpassing his competitors.
And finally, a financial translation specialist must also know and stay abreast of economic and financial news. This makes his job easier, since translation requires knowledge of the market, such as the inflation rate, the current state of the stock market, currencies, etc. This means that a good translator is one who is educated and informed about the new terms to be used.