Translator or Interpreter? It’s a common question. And it’s one thing many people get confused about in the translation industry. And this lack of concise knowledge can cost you and your business everything.
For me personally, this can be one of the most irritating things about being a translator. Because people don’t seem to know the difference between a translator and an interpreter. Which is one of, if not, the most annoying things about being a translator.
A few days ago, I was reading through the comments section of another blog for another respected translation agency, and a comment read “what is the difference between a translator and an interpreter, you basically do the same thing, one’s is with words on a page, the other is with words being spoken.”
This comment really annoyed me, as it is just false. Whilst a translator deals with words on a page. And an interpreter deals with spoken words. Their jobs couldn’t be far enough apart.
What is a translator?
To best show the differences, I must first define what a translator is. A translator is someone who takes one language that is written down and puts it into another language. Essentially, a translator deals with words on a page (or on a screen these days) and then write it into the other language (target language).
What is an interpreter?
An interpreter is someone who has a language spoken to them, they take the essentials from what is being said in one language, and translate it in their head into the target language and then speak the translation to the target audience.
So what’s so different then?
Let’s use an example that most people can compare to: a teacher. Whilst they do similar jobs, they specialise in different areas, this is why you wouldn’t expect a specialist PE teacher to be teaching Economics. So whilst some interpreters may occasionally act as a translator and some translators may act as interpreters, much as a PE teacher may act as an Economics teacher occasionally. The jobs are much more different as they require different specialisms and as such, they require much different qualifications.
Why should you care?
You should care as a lack of knowledge as to which service you require can be quite costly. If you need a translation done. You probably don’t want an interpreter turning up to your office to interpret something that needs translating. Nor vice versa.
Because whilst a translator may still be able to perform an interpretation or an interpreter perform a translation. It may not be to the highest possible standard that we know you need. And that in the end could end up costing you greatly. And that’s not what we are after.
If your business is in need of language solutions. But you are unsure as to whether you need a translation, interpretation or another language solution. Contact us and one of our account managers will assist you and guide you through the process. And make sure that you get the highest quality language solutions in the industry.