You already know just how rigorous marketing competition can be among companies and organisations. Every business wants to adopt the most client-attractive strategy in all functions, including finance.
Since clients look for financial documents to validate a company’s authenticity, you must carefully translate all these papers and make them localised for the country you intend to use them in.
Translation Agencies to the rescue
During the process of localisation, most companies overlook some very common mistakes. Although these mistakes look minor, their impact can be quite extensive in the long run.
Fortunately, working with translators and professional UK agencies which specialise in translation and localisation services as well as language interpreting can solve most of these mistakes. This article discusses three common errors in localisation and their avoidance strategy.
Common Mistakes in Localisation Services
Translating the content on your website is essential, mainly if you deal with international clients. You don’t know which part of the world people would visit your website.
A media service shared its report stating that completely localising websites can boost conversion by 70%, which includes displaying products and currencies in the local language of your audience. However, you must stay vigilant of the three mistakes during financial localisation.
Mistake# 1: Ambiguity
Translating web content for business and corporate use is a tedious job. But since it attracts more clients to your website, you should look for a financial translation service and get it done. However, localising finances sometimes creates ambiguity in the content.
Even in English, you might have noticed how the slightest mistake changes the meaning of the whole sentence.
For example, HSBC Bank’s slogan “Assume Nothing” was mistranslated to “Do Nothing” in several other languages in 2019. As a result, that year, HSBC spent $10 million to rebrand itself as “The world’s local bank.”
The ambiguity in a simple message often occurs during translation.
For instance, take a financial document that you plan to localise. You hire a translation service provider, and the team begins its process. Although financial experts know every jargon in the financial section, not everyone can understand its meaning without proper explanation.
Once the translation ends, you might think every financial document has been localised. That might be true. But it’s not over yet.
For example, financial statements are full of numbers. Only the left side needs words to describe the transaction concisely. While translating those statements, a single word can create ambiguity even though it looks perfectly translated.
How to Avoid Ambiguity in Financial Localisation?
Financial localisation needs more time than just translating the documents. A team must proofread and compare the translated version to the original document. In addition, a person having little knowledge of the financial sector should go through the document and derive conclusions.
This additional yet mandatory step will ensure the quality of the localised financial document, which is now available to the global population.
Mistake# 2: Punctuation Mistakes
Undoubtedly, punctuation marks hold a significant value in the literary perspective. But that’s not the only context where these marks play a crucial role. If you overlook a single comma or decimal point while counting money, you might lose $100,000 instead of $100.
Punctuation marks separate not only words but currency too. For example,
- English-speaking countries. People separate thousands using a comma and decimal, ending with a period.
- European Union. Most European countries, like Germany, use a comma to separate the number’s integral part. For example, one hundred euros and ten cents are 100,10 in the European Union.
- Switzerland and Liechtenstein. They use apostrophes (‘) to separate thousands in their currencies, the Swiss franc or CHF.
Investors with years of experience in finance-related fields observe these things on your website. They judge your company’s credibility based on how you have displayed the financial information on your website.
How to Avoid Punctuation Mistakes in Financial Localisation?
Keeping an eye on every punctuation mark during financial localisation is necessary. You must hire an expert financial translation service with good industry experience.
These experts know every intricate detail when translating the finances of a company. Moreover, your company’s financial copy must be translated without any mistakes. So while hiring a professional translator, look for their experience.
Their experience should include working in a banking sector or other similar industry experience.
Mistake# 3: UX Without Detail
User experience or UX is the first thing visitors see on your website. So, while translating web pages, it’s essential to consider every detail of UX.
For example, the font, font size, and font colour must remain constant after the website is localised. Sometimes, the translated text doesn’t follow the website’s standard font settings. This repels users who see the translated web pages of your website.
Another common mistake is the difference in text direction. For example, English is from left to right while Arabic is from right to left.
When you localise the finance section, the whole text changes with the language’s direction, this affects the website’s navigation because the scrolling effects will not work the same way.
The original language, which read from left to right, is now from right to left, reversing the scrolling sequence.
This mistake can create more significant troubles for users, like not accessing the correct information or not finding a button. As a result, a client might never return to your website.
How to Avoid UX Mistakes in Financial Localisation?
A web developer must be a part of the financial translation service team to integrate such technicality using plugins. Since a translator can’t fix this issue, a domain expert must work on this.
For more significant projects like an e-commerce website where thousands of web pages translate the text on runtime, your visitor must get the translated text without any:
- Delay
- Ambiguity
- UX Error
A UI/UX member checks the quality of the financial localisation. They know the tiniest detail of a web page and how to enhance the aesthetics of your overall website. So, it’s suggested that after you receive a translation of this nature, you have one or two UI/UX experts to keep your website’s design intact.
Conclusion
While translating your website for international clients, choose the right translation service provider. Always check the portfolio and talk to the account managers before proceeding with their services.
During the website localisation process, ensure that the translators avoid the three common mistakes mentioned above. Many service providers overlook these small errors, and you face the consequences.
Make a checklist of financial localisation errors and keep an eye during and after your translation is done.
