22 The Linguist Vol/56 No/3 2017
www.ciol.org.uk
FEATURES
Katy Abraham on the rigours and rewards of financial translation
O
ne of the many questions asked by
linguists entering the translation
market is how to choose a
specialism. This would certainly have applied
to me had I embarked on my career as a
translator immediately after my Masters in
Translating and Conference Interpreting.
Instead, I chose to spend nine years working
in business development, and sales and
marketing, in the financial services and
automotive industry. Although initially
daunting, this helped me immensely in finding
my specialism when I decided the time was
right to become a freelance translator.
The companies I worked for had a strong
European presence, which enabled me to use
my languages, so translating and interpreting
were always a key part of my professional life.
I learned a huge amount in the boardrooms
of some of Europe's largest banks, and at the
coalface in automotive dealerships, helping
small businesses to analyse their performance
and achieve their financial objectives.
Gaining broad work experience is
extremely helpful to translators, while
academic studies encourage one of the most
important skills required to be successful in
any specialism: the ability to conduct detailed
research. As legislation is amended and
terminology evolves, a translator's knowledge
needs to be maintained and expanded.
A profound understanding of events taking
place in the background is a vital element
in understanding an industry. In my field,
subscriptions to financial publications, such
as The Financial Times, The Economist and
Money Week, are helpful for target-language
research. Translators can keep abreast of
events in the financial world through
content published by large professional
services companies in all their working
languages (for me, this means English and
German). Useful German resources include
the online version of Wirtschaftswoche and
the financial pages of Die Zeit and
Süddeutsche Zeitung. The website of the
Bundesministerium der Finanzen (German
Federal Ministry of Finance) also provides a
wealth of information and is useful for cross-
checking terminology.
A diverse field
The field of finance is vastly diverse and can
be broken down into numerous sub-sections,
ranging from public sector finance and
international institutions, to investment
management, international trading and
business services, mergers and acquisitions,
accounting, auditing, public finance, banking
and insurance.
Money matters
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