It can be difficult to choose between a career in interpretation and a career in translation. One way to determine which option is best for you is to consider each profession’s typical work environment.
Because interpreters work with spoken language, they must often physically accompany their clients. For example, they may attend conferences, hearings, medical appointments and corporate meetings. Some interpretation work can be done remotely via teleconferencing, but most interpreters should expect to perform in-person work.
By contrast, translators work with written language. Because of this, they most often work in an office setting, which may be a home office or a corporate office. The pace of the work can be less hectic for translators than for interpreters, although translators sometimes face tight deadlines. Within the translation and interpretation professions, there are many specific career paths to consider, including the following:
The United Nations (UN) is a highly prestigious intergovernmental organization. It hires both interpreters and translators to facilitate international relations.
Interpreters provide real-time interpretation during meetings of world leaders and their representatives. Translators convert documents, including reports and statements, into various languages. If you aspire to work for this prestigious organization, it is helpful to have a basic understanding of world history, international relations and current affairs.
The marketing and advertising industry drives the growth of all other industries. It is the backbone of capitalism and the fuel that fires the success of companies ranging from small start-ups to international corporations. Despite the importance of this work, many copywriters are fluent in only one language.
Businesses must appeal to a broad audience, including demographic groups that speak languages other than English. This is particularly important for companies that wish to advertise their products or services in other countries. Before a marketing campaign can be launched in a foreign language, it requires the attention of an interpreter or translator.
Interpreters can convert TV and radio commercials into another language, and translators can do the same for written copy. In this industry, cultural competencies are particularly important. Not all copywriters are keenly familiar with cultural differences, so translators and interpreters may need to adjust the language so that it is more appealing and easier for the target demographic to understand.
Interpreters and translators are important in the healthcare field because it is vital that patients fully understand what their healthcare providers are telling them. Hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities contract with interpretation and translation firms to facilitate clear communication.
If you aspire to become an interpreter or translator within the healthcare field, it will be helpful for you to take health-related classes in addition to your language courses. Medical terminology can be tricky, which is why healthcare interpretation is a highly specialized subfield. You will need a basic knowledge of human anatomy, medical conditions, diseases, medications and treatment procedures. It’s also essential to be able to communicate this information in a way that patients without a medical background can understand.
Healthcare interpreters and translators must have a strong commitment to maintaining professional ethics. They work with highly personal, sensitive information and it is essential that they respect patients’ right to confidentiality.
Judiciary interpretation and translation is another highly specialized subfield. It extends to professionals who work in the following settings:
- Federal, state and local courtrooms
- Detention facilities, including juvenile facilities
- Law enforcement agencies
- Out-of-court settings pertaining to legal cases (e.g., legal depositions)
- Law firms
Police departments often employ bilingual officers or translators or interpreters who can communicate with suspects, victims and the community. These employees can interpret during questioning and arrest procedures, as well as during press conferences.
Translators may create documents that are sent out to the community, including media briefs. Legal or judicial interpreters and translators with specialized training work in courts or for lawyers. They interpret for plaintiffs and defendants at hearings, arraignments, depositions and trials. They must understand legal terminology and be able to explain complex issues fluently in all languages.
Judiciary interpreters and translators work on all types of cases, including civil, criminal and immigration cases. Interpreters provide real-time language services for limited-English-proficient (LEP) individuals who must attend legal proceedings. Judiciary interpreters also perform a variety of tasks behind the scenes, such as by facilitating meetings between attorneys and their LEP clients or police officers and LEP victims.
Similarly, judiciary translators make legal documents accessible to LEP individuals. They translate documents including trial exhibits, court transcripts, petitions, confession letters, probate documents, property titles and many more.
Due to the specialized nature of this career path, judiciary interpreters and translators may need to be certified. Various certification options exist, such as the certification exams administered by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Similarly, the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination is available for language professionals who aspire to work in the federal court system.
There is an ongoing need for skilled translators and interpreters in the corporate world. Companies that do business overseas or that wish to acquire an international presence rely on the services of language professionals.
As a corporate interpreter, for example, you might accompany a businessperson on an overseas trip to a conference or meeting. Corporate translators are needed to translate documents ranging from meeting minutes to vendor contracts.
Cultural competencies are critical in this field, as not all corporate executives and managers understand the nuanced cultural differences of the countries they travel to. A corporate language professional can provide invaluable guidance in this area, preventing executives from making serious social blunders in the host country.
The passion for sports transcends national borders, and the sports industry is truly multicultural. On any given Major League Baseball (MLB) team, for example, you may find players from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea, Cuba and many other countries. These professional athletes rely on knowledgeable interpreters and translators to facilitate their work.
Many internationally born athletes who play on sports teams in the United States learn sufficient English to communicate with their teammates and coaches. However, even if an athlete speaks good English, they may not feel confident enough to speak English directly to members of the media. This is where sports interpreters can help during press conferences and interviews.
Just like other subfields in the language services profession, sports interpretation requires specialized knowledge. Each sport has its own distinct idioms, words and phrases. Aspiring sports interpreters should have a thorough understanding of one or more sports so that they can effectively preserve the meaning of the language.
Translators may work on everything from a translation app or dictionary to tourism-related websites, advertisements and guidebooks. Similarly, interpreters can work for a range of organizations.
An interpreter may work for an international hotel or resort, providing real-time interpretation services to globetrotting guests. Interpreters may even work as tour guides, helping travelers to better understand and appreciate the various attractions at their destinations and facilitating communication between travelers and locals. Some interpreters may work for travel agencies, aiding travel agents as they finalize the details of an individual’s or group’s trip.
If you love all things Hollywood, consider a language services career in the entertainment industry. There are many options to choose from. For instance, you might become an interpreter or translator for a movie-making company shooting a film in a foreign country. Language services professionals are also needed to create subtitles for films. For instance, you might watch a Spanish-language movie and create its English subtitles, dubbing scripts, lyrics, captions and episode descriptions.
Translators may also help studios work on business deals and foreign rights distributions. Translators can be major assets when it comes to cultural sensitivity. They can advise on how to best sell movies to certain countries based on their knowledge of customs and beliefs.
The video gaming industry also offers possibilities for language services professionals. Video games are often launched internationally, and these require translators to provide the written text for the game and interpreters to convert spoken language into the target country’s language.
The publishing industry is all about language, and there are plenty of opportunities for language services professionals. Translators are needed to translate books, articles, related websites and even academic journal articles.
They are tasked with keeping overall tone, style and meaning the same or similar to the author’s intentions when changing the language. Literary translators are often in close contact with authors so that the intended meaning of the work stays close to the original vision.
Writers may sometimes contract with interpreters to facilitate their research. For instance, an interpreter may help a writer interview an expert in another country to acquire factual material for a book or article.
There is a need for bilingual teachers at every grade level, and teachers who can communicate with families in their home languages can help make an impact. Besides teachers, educational institutions and organizations hire translators and interpreters for parent–teacher conferences and community communications, as well as to act as parent liaisons at school and district sites.
You can begin your path toward pursuing a career as a government interpreter by earning your language degree at Grand Canyon University. The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is pleased to offer language programs, which teaches students to build both language skills and cultural competencies. Learn more about joining our learning community by completing the form on this page.
