Best Language for the Financial Industry

More than ever before, the financial industry is an international one. The economy is truly global. To succeed in finance means to succeed in international business. And to succeed in international business requires top-notch language translation services. Determining which language is the best for the financial industry requires some research.

Your target market will be a deciding factor of the language you pick. If you do not have a target audience in a particular language, there is no need to translate to that language. After you select a language, you will also want to pick the right dialect of that language.

Most Commonly Spoken Languages

While your business and financial translation projects should focus first on your target markets, you should develop those markets with an eye toward who is speaking what language in which countries. Here is a list of the top 5 languages with the most native speakers:

Mandarin Chinese - 845 million
Castillian Spanish - 329 million
English - 328 million
Hindi-Urdu - 328 million
Arabic - 280 million

As you can see, Mandarin has the most native speakers, and there's no doubt that more and more financial industry business is conducted in China. Clearly to be global business you need a language translation services provider who can help you break into the Chinese market. Does that, however, make it the best language for the financial industry? Probably not. Most Chinese financial business occurs in Hong Kong where English and Cantonese are the primary languages.

Further investigation shows that when you combine the 328 million native speakers of English with those who speak it as a second language, English is estimated to be the most spoken language in the world. Most international business is conducted in English. So does that make English the best language for the financial industry? Again, probably not.

So Which Language Is Best?

If you are a native English speaker or your company does business primarily in English, it does not guarantee success. The only way to do that is to target your communication to specific markets. English will serve well in many cases, but if you are focusing on Central and South America then Spanish is needed. French is best for most of Africa. Arabic is best for the Middle East.

As you can see, looking at the region of your target audience is a big factor. Even though another region may speak your current language, it will appeal more to them in their native language. Not only will it appeal to them more, they will understand the information a lot easier. The easier it is for your potential customers to understand you, the more likely it will be that they want to do business with you.

Your needs from a language translation services provider will change depending upon where you are doing business. One size will not fit all.