5 Critical Skills Every Professional Interpreter Must Master

The skills of a professional interpreter are more in demand than ever, given the latest numbers from the US Census Bureau – over 31 million people in the United States are at least bilingual. With more than ten percent of the population speaking a couple of languages, there are a host of services that benefit from the skills of a professional interpreter.

This includes the healthcare profession, government agencies, conference centers, schools and courtrooms. Given that the job growth rate is currently much faster than average – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – it may be worthwhile to master the following skills to remain competitive for the better jobs.

1. The Ability to Relate – Interpersonal Skills

This is one of the most important skills/attributes you need as a professional interpreter. You have got to be able to relate to people and make the setting comfortable in order for mutual focus on the task at hand. This means that your listening skills should be active and your memory should be engaged. Being polite and tactful creates a comfortable environment where good judgment thrives, and respect is shared.

2. Native Language Skills

This is, of course, a given; however, it is sometimes lost on beginning translators just how good a grasp you must have in both languages – especially your native one – to be able to effectively translate between the two. You must have a broad vocabulary, which allows you to express yourself unambiguously. Once you have the required level of proficiency in your native tongue, you must then acquire a similar level of expertise in the second language(s) so that you can express yourself in various registers, and understand your client in their particular register.

3. Maintain Accuracy

With training and practice, you must improve your ability to translate between languages without altering the character of the source language. Because of idioms native to any language, it is easy to lose the character or flavor of the original statement; this is something that only practice can guard against. Oftentimes, employers will hire you based almost entirely on your track record of accuracy in translation.

4. Cultural Knowledge

This helps to more or less supercharge your translation skills, as well as facilitate the interpreter/client environment. There are many statements in the source language that don’t translate well into the receiver language without knowledge of the culture, as well as the correct setting in which a statement has a particular meaning. Cultural appreciation makes you much more valuable to an employer.

5. Accurate Note-Taking

In addition to being able to take notes on the fly, you must be able to engage in simultaneous interpretation – as this is one of the most common forms of interpretation. Think courtroom jobs, classroom instruction, etc. Oftentimes, interpretation by sight is a necessity, and should form the core of your set of skills.

Spanish language translation is of course the most popular kind in the US currently; however, there are many other languages that have a sizable need for interpreters. These include Korean, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Portuguese and others. As such, there is no shortage of work available in these communities; for people bearing the critical skills, sustained employment is very promising.

The Career Benefits of Being Multilingual

You may have the idea that being fluent in English is more than enough to get by when it comes to the growth of your career. This may be true in some cases, especially when considering that the primary language used throughout the business world is English. However, taking the time to learn an additional language can be extremely beneficial to the growth of your career.

The following are five reasons why becoming multilingual can benefit your career:

Improve your chances of getting hired

Employers often have to make tough choices when it comes to picking the right job candidate for the job. In many cases, they’ll have hundreds of qualified applicants to go through. Because of this, it’s the additional qualifications that can make one person stand out from the rest of the applicants – such as the ability to speak an additional language.

An employer will not only sense that you have a strong enough work ethic to learn more than one language, but will consider the idea that you can benefit the company – whether in the present or in the future – on a worldwide stage due to your ability to speak other languages. The world is getting smaller by the day, after all, and even mid-sized companies have the ability to do business overseas.

Improve your employment options

Being multilingual can help to increase the number of positions that you are qualified for, thereby improving your chances of finding a job. This is no minor benefit when considering how tough it is for many people to find steady employment in this day and age. Employers in certain industries are specifically looking for multilingual job candidates. For example, the healthcare, public relations, human resources and marketing industries all value and seek out multilingual employees.

Get better at your job

Learning a second language provides a number of cognitive benefits. There have been tons of studies on the benefits of not just knowing another language, but simply the act of learning how to speak another language. Individuals who learn second or tertiary languages tend to increase the following skills:

• The ability to listen
• The ability to connect with others
• The ability to use information in new ways
• The ability to problem solve

As you can imagine, these skills can be quite helpful in improving your job performance, which will almost certainly help you to advance your career.

Get the chance to travel the world

While this certainly isn’t a guarantee, the ability to speak different languages will make it more likely that your company will send you to a foreign country on business. Of course, this depends greatly on whether the company you work for does business overseas or not. But if they do and they’re doing business with a company in China or South America, they are more likely to choose an employee that speaks Mandarin or Spanish to travel to these areas and represent the company than someone that does not.

Connect culturally

There’s often a cultural gap when it comes to companies doing business overseas. The last thing you want to do is accidentally offend a foreign company that your company is attempting to do business with because of a difference in culture. Learning another language often helps with learning to understand another culture as well. For example, knowing what terms to use in order to be polite and display respect. It can also help you build stronger relationships.

As you can see, learning how to speak another language can end up having a huge impact on the growth of your career.