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Career Description

Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into another.

What Job Titles Interpreters and Translators Might Have

• Interpreter
• Medical Interpreter
• Sign Language Interpreter
• Translator

What Interpreters and Translators Do

• Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
• Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
• Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
• Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
• Read written materials, such as legal documents, scientific works, or news reports, and rewrite material into specified languages.
• Identify and resolve conflicts related to the meanings of words, concepts, practices, or behaviors.
• Check translations of technical terms and terminology to ensure that they are accurate and remain consistent throughout translation revisions.
• Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
• Train and supervise other translators or interpreters.
• Educate students, parents, staff, and teachers about the roles and functions of educational interpreters.
• Compile information on content and context of information to be translated and on intended audience.
• Proofread, edit, and revise translated materials.
• Check original texts or confer with authors to ensure that translations retain the content, meaning, and feeling of the original material.
• Discuss translation requirements with clients and determine any fees to be charged for services provided.
• Adapt translations to students' cognitive and grade levels, collaborating with educational team members as necessary.
• Adapt software and accompanying technical documents to another language and culture.

What Interpreters and Translators Should Be Good At

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Interpreters and Translators Should Be Interested In

• Artistic - Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
• Social - Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

What Interpreters and Translators Need to Learn

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.