What’s a Financial Translator?

I just completed a gig for a Financial Translator. What do they do? I know, I had to look it up. Like many Americans, I only speak English although I do know a smidgen of Spanish and Korean. I know very little of translating languages other than interpretation during lectures in college.

Working on this project, I learned that the translation world is a very large and diverse job market with specialties much like law and medicine. For instance, as a Financial (Sworn) Translator, you translate business documents which need accuracy and even knowledge of cultural idioms. It’s not enough to be bilingual, you must know the culture, the slang, and the way business is done in both languages you are translating.

You might think numbers are all the same, but check this out:

• 1,000,000,000,000 is one trillion in the U.S.A.
• one billion in the U.K.
• mille milliards in French
• million de millones in Spanish

So you see how it is very important that the translation is accurate. Mistranslated it can cause a company to lose a deal or even go bankrupt.

Lost in Translation

Assume Nothing vs. Do Nothing

In 2009, HBSC ran a campaign with the slogan “Assume Nothing” in English but translated in certain languages it encouraged its customers to “Do Nothing”. They left it that way for a while until they rebranded which cost about 10 million dollars.

2005 The Dollar Drops and Panic Spreads

You may remember the Bloomberg article published back in 2005 which caused people to panic, sell the dollar and buy Asian currency. Why? The original Chinese news source was translated into English incorrectly.

It stated that China had decided to revalue, by 1.26% within a month and 6.03% in 12 months. It gave no source for the story and neglected to mention China News Service. WSJ

Once journalists and business analysts started investigating the source it was found to be false (lost in translation) and the dollar recovered.

Lesson: Don’t cut corners on translation

I find it interesting that one article can impact the actions of people (and “$2 billion dollars in a space of a few minutes” - J.P. Morgan’s Mr. Piron) without so much as an investigation to its validity.

It’s scary really.

Funny Translations and Tips on What to Share on Social Media

I find translation interesting as a career choice, especially for the future generation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that jobs in this sector will increase by 29%. (2014 - 2024) bls

It’s also a bit funny as you can see in this piece featuring mistranslated American movie titles. Here are a few samples:

• The Full Monty (English) - Six Naked Pigs (China)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (English) - If You Leave Me, I Delete You (Italy)
• The Naked Gun (English) - The Gun Died Laughing (Israel)
• Leaving Las Vegas (English) - I’m Drunk and You’re A Prostitute (Japan)
• As Good As it Gets (English) - Mr. Cat Poop (China)

Are you a translator? Need help with promoting your business on social media?

I offer custom 7-day (or 1-month) content plans based on your topic/niche as well as graphics and curated content. Learn More

 

Here are eight ideas to start:

1. Share actual text that you translate for potential customers - A snippet of a Wall Street Journal article - correctly translated of course 🙂
2. Share the funny side of translating - commonly mistranslated sayings, words, expressions, signs
3. Highlight some of your work, reviews, or testimonials
4. Thank a company you completed a project for and share why it was a great project or experience
5. Share misinterpretations that cost businesses money and integrity
6. Share F.A.Q.’s
7. Share details about your job duties (interesting quirks or funny happenings)
8. Answer Questions - use the search feature on social sites to look up questions people are asking ex. Arabic to English translator or I need an English to German translator or Where can I find… or Help. German to French translation

Tip: When sharing on social sites like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+ use hashtags CLICK TO TWEET

Hashtags help others find you. Here are a few I found for my client. You can grab the pdf here.

48 Hashtags for Financial/Sworn Translators

#translationservice	#professional
#Spanish	#agency
#German	#professionaltranslation
#English	#French
#translationquality	#language
#grammar	#quality
#legaltranslation	#practitioner
#sworntranslations	#translator
#Arabic	#Russian
#Ukrainian	#Urdu
#confidential	#birthcertificate
#marriagedocument	#divorcecertificate
#universitydegree	#accuracy
#certified	#legal
#technical	#commercial
#scientific	#proofreadingservices
#spelling	#simultaneousinterpretation
#consecutiveinterpretation	#secretarialservices
#freedelivery	#xl8
#linguist	#interpreter
#translate	#xl8or
#globalization	#multilingual
#womenintranslation	#internationaltranslationday (2Oct2016)
#blogsbytranslaters	#translatersontwitter

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References:

http://culturesconnection.com/5-mistakes-financial-translation/ (one trillion)

http://mentalfloss.com/article/48795/9-little-translation-mistakes-caused-big-problems (9 mistakes)

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111581539395830336 (Selling the dollar because of mistranslation)

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/50-funniest-movie-title-translations# (the short list - Movie titles)

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, Interpreters and Translators, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/interpreters-and-translators.htm (visited January 23, 2016)