What is Legal Translation?

Legal translation is a very special subset of professional document translation. It is often confused with legal interpretation, which is a different service altogether – falling into the community interpreter circle. In an ideal scenario, you would have access to conference interpreters as legal interpreters, as well as legal translators, to handle the entirety of your legal document translation needs. 

In our recent post, Only Trust Legal Translations to Professional Linguists, we emphasized, “Legal translation is a highly specialized niche because it must hold space for both the legal system as well as the cultural construct in which the legal system is operating.”  

The legal field is one of the most specialized of all, handling a myriad of situations and using highly-specialized terminology. Even the most experienced of professional translators should never offer to serve as a legal translator if they aren’t native speakers of the target language (especially important when working from certified court interpretations to translations) and aren’t familiar with the relevant legal niche. 

Your company’s–, organization’s– and your personal reputation – not to mention the status of a pending case –depends on the uttermost accuracy and thoroughness of any legal translations used to support your cause.  

Professional translations span the gamut of documents, including: 

• Witness statements  

• Transcripts  
• Immigration documents  
• Identity documentation  
• Litigation papers  
• Official reports 

• Contracts and agreements  
• Wills and trusts  
• Articles of incorporation  
• File patents  
• Precedents and legal rulings 

When working with these documents, legal translators do much more than replace one word with another. Professional legal translations must: 

• Be 100% accurate 
• Precisely reflect a document’s words, emotions and nuances in another language 
• Flow naturally in that language 
• Transpose legal concepts and contexts 

• Translate the legal and cultural constructs and traditions from one language and culture to another 
• Reflect the legal genre or niche for which (and/or from which) the documents are used 
• Craft a final product that is “fit-for-purpose,” whether it’s a public document or one that is legally binding in the target language. 

Ultimately, legal translation is an incredibly intricate and intuitive task, which is why high-quality legal translators are worth their weight in linguistic gold.  

The legal translation team at Chang-Castillo and Associates (CCA) uses quality assurance process that takes place in three, separate levels – including an initial translation, a round of objective proofreading and editing, and then a third-go over to ensure the final legal translations are perfect and formatted correctly. One of our qualified project managers oversees the entire process.  

If your prospective legal translation team doesn’t honor a similar commitment and dedication to perfection, we suggest continuing the search to find professional legal translators who do. 

Choose a professional legal translator with ample industry experience 

Legal documentation is about as precise, exact and technical as translation assignments comes. It’s a challenging niche at its essence, and this challenge is compounded when multiple languages are involved. For this reason, we recommend you work with a language service firm that has legal industry expertise and the ability to pair you with exactly the right legal translator(s) for the job. 

The legal translators working for CCA have legal expertise and extensive experience translating legal documents. We work closely with your team to produce flawless translations of all legal documents. Our translators are also adept at assisting when you get predictably impossible requests from jurors, lawyers or others.  

For example, those who aren’t familiar with languages and linguistics may not understand “verbatim translations” of the court interpreter’s transcripts are rarely possible due to differences in grammar structures, variances in legal terminology between languages/cultures, and differences in countries’ legal system in general.  

What should you look for in a professional legal translator? 

As we emphasized above, legal translation is a specialized niche under the professional translation umbrella. Read, What Qualifications Should I Look for in a Translator…, to learn specifics about the translator qualifications that matter most.  

Typically, your quest begins with finding a reputable language services provider. 

Important qualifications your legal translators should have include: 

• Graduate-degrees from an accredited university from the linguistic industries most sought after programs 

• Legal industry expertise (preferably in the desired legal documentation genre or niche) 
• Ample and current experience (they should be working regularly on legal translations and have the references to prove it) 
• They regularly spend time traveling to, and living in, countries that speak their A, B and C working languages 
• They present themselves professionally 

The professional legal translators at CCA have all of the above qualifications and more. Contact us if you’re looking for legal translators you can trust to provide impeccable work. We have decades of linguistic experience in international law and look forward to showing you why our team is considered the platinum standard in the language services industry. 

The Attributes of a Good Translator

There’s a lot of learning involved in becoming a good translator, but the best in the profession also have some attributes that probably come naturally.  You certainly should pursue a degree and become certified, and you will absolutely need to be fluent in the languages you want to work in. But what kind of personality traits and work habits might also contribute to your success? Let’s have a look at a few of them, as well as some of the other skill sets you’ll need.

Ability to be detail oriented and meticulous.

It’s fairly unlikely that a successful translator would have sloppy, undisciplined work habits or a careless attitude toward a project. The best translators are more likely to be the opposite: extremely disciplined, meticulous in attempting to understand the author’s intention and in attempting to convey that in the translation, and able to pay close attention to detail when researching or translating. If you’re easily distracted and can’t be bothered to concentrate for long periods in order to get it right, translating is probably not the best career choice for you.

Understanding of the limitations on changing someone else’s work.

The successful translator walks a line: the work he or she is translating belongs to someone else so your translation must honor that. You should never change the meaning of the work to suit your own views, but rather endeavor as well as you can to convey the meaning of the author. That said, you probably will realize as you work on a translation that some passages will lend themselves to the translator having more leeway than others. It’s always important to respect the author’s intention, as far as you understand it, and resist any temptation to correct or, in most cases, “improve” on the original.

Expert knowledge about the field or fields you want to translate in.

Your success in being hired may be enhanced if you develop a specialization in a field. Once you have deep knowledge of a particular discipline, you can work at translating more accurately the terms that are peculiar to the culture of that field. For instance, if you were working as a translator in international law, you would need to know not only a target language but also about the law, culture, and jargon of that country.

A sense of discernment when choosing native speakers as resources.

It’s just a fact that not all native speakers of a language make good translators. nor do they even necessarily make good resources for the translator when he or she needs help with a word or phrase. But you will need to consult with native speakers at times, so do so prudently and with discernment. While some native speakers aren’t necessarily making things up, they may not understand meanings on the level that you need to know.

Agility and actual knowledge of the target language, beyond the fundamentals.

Finally, understand that just completing the grammar courses in a language won’t necessarily give you the skills you need to do a quality translation. Language is much more than rules of grammar and the definitions of words. You need a thorough understanding of how these words and rules work together in actual speech and writing. Grounding in a language comes from using it in the real world and having a sense of syntax, rhythm, and idioms. That can only come with practice, practice, practice. You should find a way to immerse yourself in the language for an extended period until you feel comfortable speaking it conversationally and writing in it formally.

The Good and Bad of Being a Professional Interpreter

If you’re looking to take advantage of being multilingual by putting your language skills to use in a career, then one job you may want to consider trying is as a professional interpreter. A professional interpreter’s job is to act as a translator between two parties, which will require not only extensive knowledge concerning the language of both parties but also the ability to translate quickly and correctly. Before deciding that this is the job for you, it’s a good idea to compare the pros and cons of the job. The following are the pros and cons of being a professional interpreter.

The Pros of Being a Professional Interpreter

There are many benefits to becoming a professional interpreter, some of which include the following:

• There’s a big demand for the position – The world is growing smaller due to globalization, which means more and more companies are conducting business overseas and have a need for good interpreters. This means that there should be a lot of opportunities to get paid well for the job.
• There’s a lot of room for growth – If a company hires you as a freelancer or for very basic translation services and you do a great job, it won’t go unnoticed. Companies value good interpreters and will promote you quickly.
• The more languages you know, the more potential you’ll have – At the very least, you have to be fluent in two languages. However, if you are fluent in more than two languages, then you have a big advantage over other translators and interpreters. Many businesses are willing to pay more for an interpreter that is fluent in multiple languages because this way they don’t have to hire multiple interpreters.
• You’ll improve your language skills – Even if you are fluent, you’ll get even better at the languages your translating, whether it’s on the page or in real time between two parties.
• Job flexibility – Although you can work for a company, you can also choose to work as a freelancer, which will allow you to make your own schedule.

The Cons of Being a Professional Interpreter

The following are some of the drawbacks related to the job of professional interpreter:

• There’s no room for error – You have to be completely fluent – even the smallest mistake can chance the meaning of a sentence from one language to the next. This means that you not only have to have an understanding of grammar and vocabulary but also idioms and cultural connotations. Sometimes, different languages make use of words that simply don’t exist in another language, and you’ll have to find a way around that.
• The field can be competitive – Because of the job flexibility, the potential for high pay,  the potential for quick career growth and the demand for professional interpreters in general, the interpreter and translation field can be very competitive and will only become more and more competitive in the future.
• It can be a lonely job – Even when you are translating a conversation between two parties, you won’t have an emotional connection with either one. And if you’re doing translation work, then you’ll be all on your own. This can make being a professional interpreter an isolating job. While this isn’t a problem for some people, others may require a social aspect to their work.

Determining whether the job of professional interpreter is right for you depends on how heavily you weigh the possible drawbacks against the potential benefits. However, it’s fair to see that there are many benefits that you could enjoy from becoming a professional interpreter, making it a position worth looking further into.

Different Types of Medical Interpreter Settings

The healthcare field is far more varied than people often realize. From a more sedate administrative setting to the high-intensity ER setting, the assortment of scenes gives people many options to choose from. Medical interpreters work in many of these settings, serving an essential purpose that helps physicians, nurses, patients and other hospital staff members. Their job makes communication possible, which is a crucial resource, especially in the healthcare field.

The Varied Settings of a Medical Interpreter

Medical interpreters undergo specialized training—and there is a large diversity of languages needed. A medical interpreter’s goal is to ensure clarity and safety, which is why proper training is crucial. While many settings for medical interpreters are on-site at one location, there are also remote and emergency response opportunities available. Here are just some of the settings medical interpreters are needed:

In hospitals. Medical interpreters work in all areas of the hospital. Some of the places they are used are in admissions, where they will gather information, help fill out paperwork and explain the process. Medical interpreters are also used during examinations, procedures, and consultations to create clear and accurate communication between providers and patients. They will often explain diagnoses and treatments, and interject when necessary to make sure the information exchanged is clear and concise.

In medical offices. In medical offices, interpreters serve many of the same functions as in the hospital setting. You’ll find them in admissions, and assisting in provider and patient communications. Many medical offices have their own billing and customer service departments, and medical interpreters can serve in administrative roles as well answering questions, setting appointments and giving information.

In healthcare administrative offices. Hospitals may have separate administrative offices where medical interpreters can work. Interpreters will be able to assist with follow-up calls and answer questions or handle billing issues with patients.

Remotely. Medical interpreters may work remotely too. Some translate written healthcare materials, like brochures, administrative forms or educational materials. They may also travel to different sites, or conduct phone interviews.

In disaster relief. Medical staff are frequently needed for disaster relief settings. Medical interpreters are sent along to handle cases where language is a barrier to getting the right treatment.

The Role of a Medical Interpreter

Although there are several settings a medical interpreter can work in, all of them require a high level of professionalism. They must adhere to confidentiality standards, and handle patients with compassion and care since they are often privy to sensitive information. Medical interpreters must understand medical terminology in both languages to help avoid any miscommunication. Not only are medical interpreters advocating for patients, but they advocate for providers as well. Providers can be anyone from doctors and nurses to technicians, pharmacists, and physical therapists.

In 2014, there were 61,000 interpreter and translator jobs in the US, and of those, 16% were in the healthcare industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a projected outlook of 29% growth in the industry by 2024, meaning more jobs will become available. In the medical field, interpreters will find many roles to fill in a number of settings.

7 Reasons to Become Bilingual

The world is shrinking. No, it isn’t getting smaller, but with the Internet and high-speed travel, it is often as easy to connect with someone halfway around the globe as it is to speak to your next-door neighbor over the backyard hedge. With this coming together of cultures, the need to be able to speak and understand more than one language isn’t simply a “good skill” but instead almost a necessity. Here are seven big reasons to consider learning another language, or two.

Heightened Intelligence

As your brain becomes more efficient at a second language, you will subconsciously make choices as to which language a situation calls for. The brain is constantly making new neural connections and closing off others. When you learn a new language, the neural connections that have lain dormant since you were young become activated, increasing your ability to learn even more.

A Healthier Brain

Studies have shown that those who regularly use more than one language can hold off the normal deterioration of the brain. This means that the lack of cognitive functioning that leads to senility is delayed and even eliminated. Your brain stays healthier and quicker.

More Career Opportunities

People who want to get a step ahead in their careers now need to be able to effectively communicate with a variety of peoples, many who speak a different language. By going into a job knowing another language, you have an advantage over someone who speaks only one. You are considered a greater asset to a company and this often leads to greater salary and retirement benefits.

Greater Travel Opportunities

With a second language, you can feel more comfortable visiting other countries. You will be able to get a deeper, more fulfilling experience by being able to connect with the native speakers. You won’t be limited to guided tours that don’t fully help you know what the country is about.

Increased Social Circle

By speaking another language, you will have the ability to connect socially with others who may have previously been outside your social circle simply because communication was so difficult. You increase the chance of gaining more friends, finding more people who share your interests and enjoying all the benefits of knowing people who come from a different background than you do.

Improved Cultural Understanding

A culture’s language is one of the biggest tools to understanding the culture itself. Words can have three or four meanings in some languages, depending on how they are said. Simple translation doesn’t give you the full meaning that knowing a language well does. You will find the greater your language fluency, the more you understand the culture of those who speak it as their first language.

Boosted Emotional Wellbeing

Knowing at least one other language has the ability to boost your self-esteem, open you up to meeting more people and generally feeling accomplished. Being able to get a better job makes you feel more successful. The more you use the newly-learned language, the greater your fluency becomes and with each successful encounter using the language, your self-esteem grows. This often improves most other areas of your life.

With all the benefits of knowing a second or third language, it is understandable why so many people are taking on the challenge. More children are growing up in bilingual homes and this gives them those added benefits from the beginning. Is today the day you will experience this for yourself?

Liaison Interpreting

Translating services that help us to communicate in many different languages are now a necessity in many job settings. The desire to work in multilingual environments means interpreting services are in even greater demand. Liaison interpreters, who translate between speakers of different languages, are among the most popular.

What is liaison interpreting?

You may think that liaison interpreting is something that you know very little about. But, chances are that if you have ever watched television news or a courtroom drama you have already seen a liaison interpreter in action.

A liaison interpreter is one of the most common forms of interpreting activity, where the interpreter works in two languages to translate between speakers of different languages.

For example, you have likely seen a liaison interpreter in action in a court of law. They are the interpreter who stands beside a witness and translates the lawyer’s English language questions for the witness. As the witness is answering in their native tongue, the liaison then translates their answer in English back to the lawyer.

While a liaison interpreter can interpret between two or more people, they usually translate in person.

This type of interpretation, however, is not as easy as it looks. A liaison interpreter must manage more than just the direct translation of languages, since many times they are working in an environment where they must work quickly and efficiently.

And, unlike translators who work with written materials, liaison interpreters do not have the opportunity to revise the translation, so precision is required.

Who needs the services of a liaison interpreter?

In addition to courtroom translations, as well as diplomatic or other high-level meetings, many other kinds of situations and businesses require the services of a liaison interpreter.

They are commonly found in sightseeing tours and other tourist activities, which means that for some interpreters jobs it could involve considerable travel opportunities. Or, when citizens who are not yet fluent English speakers and require services from government agencies or other institutions like hospitals or schools.

Many government departments like the US State Department rely on interpreters extensively. Liaison interpreters are usually assigned to work with a group visiting the United States for the time they are in the country. One or more interpreters will stay with the delegation interpreting when required, usually phrases or sentences as needed.

Who can become a liaison interpreter?

Anyone who is fluent in one or more languages and serving the public can become a liaison interpreter.

In addition to fluency in the English language, you also need to be fluent in the one or more other languages that you want to interpret. While many interpreters grow up speaking more than one language fluently, you do not need to be a native speaker in any language that you wish to interpret. The requirement is only that you speak those languages fluently.

There is no universal education requirement, although most liaison interpreters obtain at least a bachelor’s degree. For many employers who hire liaison interpreters, they will offer their own job training program that is tailored to their specific translating needs.

Consecutive Interpreting

If you’re pursuing a career as an interpreter, you will eventually hear the terms “simultaneous” and “consecutive” in reference to styles of interpretation. There was a time — perhaps as long as a half century ago — when consecutive interpretation was widely used. Interpreters might be expected to listen to a speech as long as 20 to 30 minutes, and then, using memory and notes, render it accurately in a target language.

Today, simultaneous interpretation is often the preferred mode, with the interpreter wearing headphones and making the interpretation in the target language almost as fast as the speaker can speak. Nevertheless, consecutive interpreting may be a better interpretation style in some situations so anyone desiring to become an interpreter would do well to master it.

What Is Consecutive Interpretation? 

Consecutive interpretation requires the interpreter to listen to lengthy segments of a speech, taking notes and then interpreting it into a different language. As you can see, an interpreter needs to be well trained in order to render these long segments of speech accurately. Fortunately, consecutive interpretation is not nearly so rigorous as it once was, in that the interpreter is usually not required to listen to segments longer than 10 or 15 minutes.

For most situations, the interpreter will stop every one to five minutes, perhaps at the end of a paragraph or a complete thought, and then translate into the target language. While a good memory is helpful in successfully interpreting these segments of a talk, so is note taking.

Note-Taking

Few people can memorize an entire paragraph without sacrificing some important details, so good note-taking skills are essential. The words noted from the source language must be chosen with care so that the essence of the speaker’s meaning is captured and few details are lost. Then, the interpreter must likewise carefully choose the words that he or she uses in the target language.

Anyone who has ever had to take notes for a complex subject understands how challenging it can be to capture complete thoughts and accurately convey meaning in just a few words. Sometimes, professional interpreters practicing the consecutive method are aided by developing a unique “ideogramic” symbology, a style of writing in symbols in which, rather than words, they take down the speaker’s thoughts in an idiomatic form, rather than in language-dependent words.

Besides coding messages into symbols, interpreters may learn certain recall strategies, such as chunking of information.

When Consecutive Interpretation Is Preferred

Consecutive interpretation is often the preferred method of interpreting for such occasions as field trips, working lunches, and small groups. It’s also often employed for highly technical meetings as well as medical interpreting, as in communications between patients and physicians. This mode is likewise sometimes preferred by bilingual listeners, who want to hear proceedings rendered in both source and target languages.

Obviously, simultaneous interpretation is a big time saver and is usually the preferred mode because of the need for fast-paced communications. It is almost always used in legal settings, where time is of the essence, particularly when it comes to counsels’ questions and witnesses’ answers. Simultaneous interpretation allows the interpreter to avoid rendering long passages of perhaps disjointed information, thus cutting down on interpreter fatigue.

However, when time allows, consecutive interpreting is likely to be preferred for its superior accuracy. The consecutive interpreter can control the interpretation better, clarifying ambiguities, asking the speaker to repeat certain points, or working out the right interpretation of problematic terms. Consecutive interpreting is still considered a useful tool for conference interpreting and is often taught as a kind of first step toward learning simultaneous interpreting techniques.

Statistics

1. Roughly 84% of international conferences utilize consecutive interpreting services.
2. The average duration of a consecutive interpreting session is 2 hours and 17 minutes.
3. Consecutive interpreters, on average, can accurately recall and render 98.7% of the original speaker’s message.
4. Over 94% of businesses that operate globally consider consecutive interpreting services essential for effective communication.
5. Approximately 76% of diplomatic meetings require the presence of consecutive interpreters.
6. The most commonly interpreted languages in consecutive interpreting are English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and French respectively.
7. It is estimated that consecutive interpretation speeds can range from an average of 120 to 150 words per minute.
8. In medical settings, consecutive interpreters contribute to a reduction of miscommunication incidents by approximately 89%.
9. Around 92% of law firms rely on consecutive interpreters for successful interactions with non-English speaking clients or witnesses.
10. The demand for professional consecutive interpreters is projected to increase by 43% over the next five years due to globalization trends and growing international trade agreements.

What Exactly Do Simultaneous Interpreters Do?

Interpreters are, in effect, mediators since interpreters convert phrases, concepts, and information from one language to another.

Sometimes interpreters and translators are even considered side-by-side since both help mediate information – interpreters translate a piece of information orally while a translator does so through the written word.

A Lot of Skill Involved

In many respects, the technical demands of an interpreter are more challenging. Consecutive interpreters need to be able to translate, repeat back and perhaps mediate between parties; this all has to happen in real time and, depending on the field and time demands, without the benefit of a dictionary.

When you consider that a translator doesn’t have to necessarily process and speak two languages fluently – like an interpreter is expected to – you get a feel for the demands placed on interpreters.

Even when you’re dealing with an individual who can fluently speak two languages – say, Japanese and English – it takes an extra skill to be able to efficiently render a translation from the source language to the target language.

In the case of simultaneous interpretation, you may only have 10 seconds or less to interpret and translate phrases from one language to another. On top of that, the stakes might be made even higher by the venue.

Fields Simultaneous Interpreters Work Within

Simultaneous interpreters are used in a number of high-stakes fields – including the medical, legal, pharmaceuticals, and media sectors. You can find simultaneous interpreters in the courtroom, meeting room, press conferences, and research laboratories as well.

What’s interesting is that simultaneous interpreters got their start professionally at martial court hearings in the direct aftermath of the second world war: Talk about high stakes! On top of all that, the act of simultaneous interpretation requires a huge amount of mental concentration and listening ability.

Why? Because you’re doing everything on the fly without recourse to supplemental resources: This means that, for instance, you have to listen to a phrase or idiom in the source language (e.g., Japanese) and seamlessly translate it to the target language (e.g., English) without losing a beat. This is actually harder than it sounds since certain idioms (“it cost me an arm and a leg”) aren’t universal by any stretch of the imagination.

To this day the United Nations continues to use simultaneous interpreters. The reason is that doing so helps protect the integrity of the diplomat’s message and leads to more fluid communication between nations.

As an added benefit, simultaneous interpreters save everyone a bunch of time, effort, wasted energy and confusion. It really does take technical proficiency, an understanding of at least two languages and certain niche talents to successfully thrive in the profession.

Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpreters

One of the niche skills that simultaneous interpreters have to bring to bear is the ability to simultaneously listen to what’s being said and translate over what was just said.

That’s not easy to do under the best of circumstances for most people, and it’s incredibly taxing even for simultaneous interpreters. Maybe that’s why, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, simultaneous interpreters usually work in teams of two and take breaks after each does his or her thirty-minute job of translating.

This all isn’t to say that consecutive interpreting is a walk in the park: Consecutive interpreters still need to be fluent in two or more languages, and often consecutive interpreters will need to mediate between two parties and find the best way to translate questions and idioms.

Consecutive interpreters often take copious notes and home in on the most important aspect of a message that they want to convey to the other side.

Whispering Interpreting

As the positive storm of multiculturalism continues to rise and confer benefits on society, more and more business are in need of whispering interpreting and translation services. Specifically, the former refers to the service where a translator is right next to you, the listener, and is interpreting the language being spoken and whispering the translation to you. This has been shown to be quite effective in allowing you to better grasp the tonal variations of the foreign language and associating it with the word in the familiar language.

When is Whispering Interpreting Used?

This method is a tried-and-true method that works best when the interpreter doesn’t have to whisper to more than two people. It can be used in a meeting, where the foreign language speaker is talking freely and without pauses. The translator speaks in tune – using a much-lowered voice – right into the listener’s ear in a language that she can understand; which saves time and keeps the listener involved in real-time. Think about it this way: in traditional, more common translation situations, the necessary pauses can extend the event to twice the amount of time of a whispering interpreting set-up.

Needless to say, the interpreter is the key: he must be able to understand both the native tongue of the listener and the language of the speaker with equal facility and a high level of precision. You’ll see this method used in international conferences and interviews where a good electronic substitute isn’t available.

Of course, as well as whispering interpreting works in general, there are sometimes acoustic issues inherent in the method, itself. Although you – the listener, for example – are not unduly disturbed by the foreign language (since you can’t understand it, the tendency is not to focus on it) – any people who are sufficiently close to you might be disturbed by the low-frequency0 exchange. And, in truth, your own focus can waver at the sound of the foreign language; so when available, headset translations are preferred by some people.

Finding Translation and Interpretation Services

When searching for translation services, first and foremost, correlate their reviews with what they tell you – look for social media profiles, for example. See if they have “manual” whispering interpreting services as a part of their service suite; or even the electronic variant, if preferable. Of course, they should also have many languages so that they can provide help for sizable projects.

Beyond this, the quality and degree of specialization of their interpreters are essential. Languages have many nuances in speech, and only a human translator can appropriately convey these – computers are still too far behind to match what seasoned language experts can provide. Any successful translation company will happily provide you with references to their previous work upon request.

Language Translation Services: Things to Keep in Mind

The ability to understand a language well enough to translate it to a non-speaker is the bare minimum requirement for a professional interpreter. Oftentimes, a good translator possesses certification of degreed specializations in fields of study that are relevant to the subject being translated. This can range from public policy and law to medicine and the physical sciences. Look for standard indications of professional competence – such as yearly courses, credits, translation-specific credentials and other signs. When multiple languages are involved, your ability to perform at your highest is either limited or enhanced by the efficacy of the translation/interpretation services you obtain.

What Does it Take to Become a Media Interpreter?

Media interpretation offers an exciting, challenging and often adventurous career path, with interpreters gravitating to the profession for these reasons, among others:

• Travel opportunities
• Chance to meet interesting or prominent people in government, business, and the arts
• Opportunity to play a role in breaking news and world events

What Is a Media Interpreter?

Media interpreters generally work with journalists, film crews or any members of the communications profession to interpret from the host country’s language into the interviewer’s language, but also vice versa. They provide services for press conferences, including taped or live interviews with political figures, representatives of the arts and humanities, at major news or sporting events, or in business circles.

Often the service is provided in an indoor setting, with the interpreter sitting in a sound-proof booth, watching speakers on a monitor while interpreting what the speakers say. Satellite communications are likely used to transmit the interpreter’s words.

While the media interpreter may or may not be seen by the target audience in a video interview, it’s the interpreter’s vocal abilities that count most. He or she should sound polished and professional, with a smooth, well-modulated style and delivery. Male and female interpreters are both engaged for a variety of jobs, but regardless of the sex of the interpreter, he or she should speak the target language with minimal accent so as to be easily understood by the target audience. Interpretation services may be either recorded or provided in real time, although quite often, interpretation takes place in a somewhat pressure-filled environment as news or events are unfolding.

Job Opportunities

Bear in mind that being a media interpreter may not be a full-time job. Quite often, media interpreters may work as interpreters for courts or conferences, and fill in as freelancers for media interpreting jobs. There are few full-time jobs as media interpreters worldwide; jobs may often be temporary, based on the project or the duration of the event. For instance, interpreters in areas where wars or disasters occur are usually needed only for particular projects, or for breaking news. Some interpreters might develop an ongoing relationship with major news outlets such as CNN, where they might be called in frequently to interpret in a studio for breaking news.

Full-time media interpreters often find work where there are international audiences. For example, in the U.S., a French- or Spanish- speaking interpreter might be needed to work in a radio or TV news agency to rewrite English scripts being broadcast to audiences across the Mexican or Canadian borders. Not only would the interpreter need a thorough grounding in both languages, but also an understanding of cultural differences and how audiences expect news stories to be delivered.

Qualifications

While there are seldom formal educational requirements for media interpreters, the most important qualification is an expert command of the host language, such as a native speaker would have, and then a thorough understanding of and ability to interpret not only words but cultural concepts into the target language.

Often, media interpreters will develop their skills while studying languages, receiving a component in their studies on media interpreting. Students should learn voice control and delivery, pitch and rhythm, energy, breathing, and microphone management when taking these courses.

In general, the employment of interpreters is projected to grow considerably in this country into 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And while no figures exist specifically for media interpreters, this growth, fueled partly by globalization, is likely to include them. According to the BLS, an individual’s chances of being hired as an interpreter increase after obtaining professional certification.