Top 3 Challenges translating marketing materials for banks

Banks targeting audiences in multiple countries need to translate marketing materials in order to appeal to their local clients.

This process involves taking an assortment of marketing and customer-engagement content – from investment insights and research highlights to service offerings and product descriptions – and localizing it into different languages.

However, the translation of marketing materials in the financial industry is less straightforward than it may seem. It requires knowledge and understanding of the financial industry, interpreting the author's intent, and conveying the materials in a way that resonates with its audience.

Before a marketing manager hires a translator to localize his marketing and customer-engagement content, it’s essential to understand the challenges involved in the job.

1. The process is not straightforward

The process of translating marketing materials is hardly straightforward; it is different from translating simple documents. This is because the translator must find a way to communicate the same message in one or more languages or even dialects. This is crucial because what appeals to one type of audience may not appeal to another in a different country. In practice, this means the process involves adapting the message from the source language to another, while maintaining its intent, style, tone and context without strictly adhering to a literal translation.

2. Idioms and metaphors

Marketing communication sometimes contain idioms and metaphors. The issue here is that idioms and metaphors are often not understood by audience in another country or even region.

For example, Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese all speak and read vastly different styles of Chinese. It is not uncommon to hear the local Mainland Chinese complain they can read all the characters but do not understand the meaning of a document prepared by a Hong Kong Chinese.

The good news is professional translators take this into consideration when preparing content for different languages or dialects, and the longer a translator works with his client, the better he is at translating these idioms and metaphors.

3. Marketing materials can be urgent

In some circumstances, the translation and publication of marketing materials can be time critical. For instance, the marketing team may need to publish investment insights or research reports in different languages soon after they are ready in the original language. It can be a challenge for a translation team to work under time pressure, especially when they lack the experience or technological tools to handle marketing translation in a financial context.