Key differences between Translating and Interpreting
I often come across people who are interested in knowing what I do, and equally often I have to deal with the moment in our conversation when I have to explain what Translating is actually about.
Translating is not Interpreting, ladies and gentlemen. It isn’t, indeed. Yes, they both involve languages. No, they are not interchangeable.
In this post, I will endeavour to roughly define what Translating and Interpreting are by highlighting some key differences between the two fields. Feel free to read on.
Nº1. Different Mediums
Probably the main difference that comes up to many people’s mind (I bet to yours too!). A translation and an interpretation are, in fact, delivered through different mediums. While translations are texts, which content is transferred by writing into a target language, interpretations are based on orally delivered messages. However, in many cases, interpreters make use of notebooks to help themselves in the structuring of the delivery stage.
Nº2. Different Times of Delivery
Strictly dependent on the different mediums are also the times of delivery, which will be different between a translation job and an interpreting session.
A translator will have more time to read the source text, analyse it, carry out research regarding the subject, resolve some in-text issues and transferring the message to a blank sheet. He/she will of course have to stick to often tight deadlines, but the time available to a translator will absolutely outdo the interpreter’s.
The interpreter’s job is, in fact, to deliver the content instantaneously(ish). Obviously, there are different ways of interpreting, some of which require the interpreter to stay put and listen for a little while; but we can generally say that the message is transferred “there and then”.
Nº3. Different Skill Sets
As the information above started to define the two different disciplines, we can consequently deduct that different skills are required from the corresponding professionals.
A translator needs to be able to transfer the right message into the target language, and as the content of a source text is sometimes encrypted, one of the must-have skills of a translator is definitely the ability to decipher and interpret correctly what the source text says. Moreover, a skill that is unique to the translator is being able to make the final translation read as it was an original text. To be able to do so, the translator must be an excellent writer in his/her own mother tongue or target language.
On the contrary, the interpreter’s skills set will be modestly different. The interpreter must be gifted with (or incase he/she was not in such good luck, must have acquired) superb oral communication skills, on which the whole process of interpreting is really based on. The interpreter will have to be fluent to a near native level in his/her language combination as his/her brain will have to work simultaneously in two languages.
Translators, on the other hand, don’t necessarily have to be super proficient in their source language as they will have more time to do research and can utilise dictionaries. However, I believe it’s by knowing perfectly both source and target language and culture that a translator and his/her translations will excel and won’t be mediocre.
Nº4. Different Personalities
I’m not that sure yet whether or not this point can be considered of help for defining Translating and Interpreting. However, I came across different professionals, such as my lecturers at university, who often answered “I wasn’t really cut for that” to my question “Why did you choose Translating over Interpreting?”.
It, in fact, seems like it is a lot about personality when it comes to having to decide on a career path for a linguist. It feels to me as an interpreter has to have some sort of outgoing personality and confidence to do his/her job, while I picture the translator more as a hipster-cafe-lover bookworm.
Nevertheless, this thing about personality is likely to be quite subjective as I, translator, feel I am still an outgoing and confident person. Moreover, there is a high number of skilled professionals out there who are both translators and interpreters. (So jealous).
Finally, I’ve tried to differentiate the role of the translator and the interpreter by outlining some unique features that characterise their professions. I believe there’s one thing they have in common, though, which is also the core input pushing them to do what they do. It’s the love for languages, the ongoing curiosity of discovering how one linguistic and cultural system may transform and mould into another, apparently different. It’s the love for words and their meanings, for voices and their accents. It’s also the love for people and their customs, which are greatly expressed through language. And, eventually, it’s the passion for being the bridge between peoples and cultures living on the same planet.
