This article briefly summarizes the main features of financial English, and also summarizes common techniques and common mistakes in the translation process of financial English. Analyzing, understanding and mastering the characteristics and rules of financial English will help translators translate financial English more accurately.

1. Main features of financial English

High professionalism, large amount of professional terms, and many proper nouns

Financial terminology is an important part of the financial language vocabulary system In terms of translation processing, we must master the application of literal translation, free translation and background knowledge penetration. Financial English vocabulary is mainly divided into four situations:

The first type: Financial English vocabulary has a single nature, which is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, when communicating in financial English, every financial major used Each term represents a specific financial concept and cannot be replaced by any other term. For example, creditstanding is translated into Chinese as credit status. Since this word is a professional financial vocabulary, it cannot be replaced by position. Standbycredit is translated into Chinese as standby letter of credit. Standby cannot be replaced by spare.

Second type: If a financial term itself has multiple meanings, it can only take one of the meanings when used in financial English. For example: listedcompany is translated into Chinese as a listed company. In everyday English, list refers to "list", "directory" and "list". However, in professional financial English, list can only be translated as "listed".

The third type: a large number of special vocabulary, especially nouns, exist in financial English. For example: DowJonesIndex refers specifically to the Dow Jones Index or the Dow Jones Stock Price Index; International Monetary Fund refers to the International Monetary Fund.

The fourth type: Many core words in financial English have strong collocation ability. They can have fixed collocations, but they can also be used flexibly because they appear in different language environments, so they have unique collocations. For example: phrases such as "account", "banking" and "bill" are often encountered in the financial field. Domestic-produced cars refer to domestically produced cars; high-interest loans refer to high-interest loans. China-controlledmarket refers to China-controlled market and so on.

The format is highly standardized and the professional style is highly distinctive

Official documents, arguments and explanations basically constitute the main style of financial English.

1. The basic characteristics of official document style are as follows: the writing structure and format are relatively standardized. It is often fixed, and often uses some prescribed vocabulary and special sentences. The meaning of the writing is clear and clear, and the sentence structure is rigorous and neat.

2. The basic characteristics of argumentative style and general essay style are the same. It usually raises questions, points out the theme, attracts the reader's attention, then solves the problem, and highlights the theme and purpose. The beginning and end of an article must complement each other, echo each other, and form a corresponding chapter.

3. The basic characteristics of the explanatory style are mainly as follows: a true, objective, systematic and comprehensive description of the facts and processes, and explanations and explanations of the relevant financial knowledge, as well as the business and related matters involved in the financial field. Information materials, etc. The expository style is similar to the everyday English expository style in terms of language and structure. Both require concise and accurate sentences, coherent meaning, and clear expression.

Use more abbreviations, long sentences and clichés

1. Abbreviations are widely used in financial English. An acronym is a new word formed by combining the first letters of each word, for example: VIP refers to an important person, a wealthy person or a high-level person. OPEC refers to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

2. The outstanding feature of financial English at the sentence structure level is the long sentences. When translating long financial sentences, first make it clear that no matter how complex the sentence is, it is composed of some basic components.

Secondly, we need to understand the syntactic structure of the original text, find out the central content of the entire sentence and its various layers of meaning, then analyze the logical relationship between the several layers of meaning, and then correctly translate the long sentence according to the characteristics and expressions of Chinese.

2. The main translation skills of financial English

Literal translation of special financial English terms

Literal translation is an important translation method. It is estimated that about 70% of sentences need to be processed by literal translation, so literal translation is widely used by translators. As a unique vocabulary in the financial field, financial English terms have a one-to-one meaning in Chinese and have a single meaning. Therefore, literal translation must be adhered to during the translation process to ensure that the translation is correct and without ambiguity. For example: In general, anationsbalance of payments is affected by the appreciation or depreciation of its currency in the foreign exchange market. Translated into Chinese: Usually, the appreciation or depreciation of a country's currency in the foreign exchange market will affect its international balance of payments.

Avoid professional mistranslation

Financial English involves a large amount of professional business knowledge in the financial field. The translator is required to be as familiar with financial business as possible, master relevant terminology, and be rigorous in the translation process. Be realistic and clear. Original sentence: WerequestyoutoissueaLetterofGuaranteesbidbondinaccordancewiththecolumnsshownbelow.

Mistranslation: We require a letter of guarantee as a tender note according to the items shown below.

The background knowledge involved in the original sentence is bidding. Bidding refers to the act of a bidder actively applying at the invitation of the tenderer or the bidder meeting the minimum qualification requirements of the tenderer, submitting a price to the tenderer within the specified time in accordance with the requirements and conditions of the tender, and striving to win the bid. Bidders who participate in bidding must provide a bid guarantee or a bid guarantee. Tenderers usually require bidders to provide a certain percentage or amount of bid security. After the tenderer determines the winning bidder, the deposit paid by the unsuccessful bidder will be refunded. The basic meaning of bond in the original sentence is covenant, contract, contract, agreement; guarantee, commitment, and bill. According to the context of the sentence, bond should be more appropriately translated as bid guarantee.

Translation: You are hereby required to issue a letter of guarantee as a bid guarantee in accordance with the items shown below.

In short, the key to financial English translation is to accurately understand the original text and express it correctly. If the translator has a larger vocabulary of general English and financial English, richer background knowledge, and a more thorough grasp of the stylistic features of financial English, then he will inevitably understand the original text more accurately. At the same time, pay attention to the use of various translation techniques in the translation process, and hone and improve translation skills in a large number of practical exercises.