Icelandic in the financial sector

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a survey conducted in 2020 about language issues in the financial sector. The aim of the survey was to collect information about practices concerning the use of terminology: whether it is important in the field, whether terminology is registered and collected in a systematic way, and how willing the financial institutions are to share their termbanks. The results show that there is clear interest among participants in having access to a bank of financial terminology, but slightly less so in participating in information-sharing with others, and still less so in devoting time and manpower of their own to create collections. Also, even though majority of respondents estimated that their staff look up terminology on a weekly basis (and sometimes more often), most participants indicated that their organization did not keep a register of financial terminology. At the same time, a majority believed the most pressing issue related to terminology in the workplace was that up-to-date terms had not been collected and made available to all. This lack of availability of Icelandic- language collections, both for up-to-date terms and in general, was reinforced when the organizations were asked where their staff would look for assistance with translations of financial terminology. The results emphasize the need for a good, upto- date termbank and the willingness to use terms in Icelandic.