What are the two roles of the interpreter?

All of us have seen interpreters in action at a public event. But do you really know the challenges these professionals face every day? We will tell you in this post. 

Interpreters are a fundamental part of any oral communication in which the participants do not speak the same language. Private meetings, government acts, conferences, lectures, classes, medical consultations, court hearings… This globalized world is increasingly often bringing people from different cultures together, they interact in order to reach an objective. Interpretation, whether it is in person or virtual, is the key to success in these communications.

An interpreter is a professional translator

In order to work as an interpreter, you have to be fluent in more than one language, but that is only the beginning. An interpreter is, above all, a linguist who deeply studies the languages with which they work, the elements of which they consist, the ways in which they relate to each other, and the rules that govern them. But, in addition, an interpreter is a translator who masters the specific techniques and methodologies of the profession in order to convey meaning from one language to another. 

Whenever you are translating from one language to another, you have to make adjustments. The journey of a phrase’s meaning between languages is not transparent or automatic, because the languages, like the cultures from which they are part of, have different characteristics and rules that only on very rare occasions allow for perfect equivalency. In interpretation, these discrepancies arise at the same time the speaker starts their discourse, and the interpreter must make adjustments in real time. This is a process that still continues to surprise neuroscientists. This is because a professional interpreter’s work entails a complex cognitive effort that involves simultaneously listening in the source language, analysis, and comprehension of the speaker’s intention, short-term memory, and discursive production in the target language. All in a matter of seconds. 

An interpreter is a specialist 

To linguistic and translation competencies can also be added others that we might call “extralinguistic” because their mastery does not depend specifically on one’s knowledge of languages. Nonetheless, they are equally necessary for the performance of this job. We are referring to the specific knowledge owned by the speaker and that is present in the conversations in which the interpreter participates as well as the technologies that they use to perform their work.

All of these conversations have a topic and a context. In order to do their job better, interpreters specialize in domains and industries. This allows them to focus on mastering particular terminology providing a more sophisticated service. Likewise, they train to perform in different environments and forms of professional practice. Some of their specializations can be in the medical industry and health sciences, education, business meetings, government acts, and the legal field, among others. An interpretation’s quality depends, to a large extent, on the interpreter’s experience with the domain and their prior study of the material subject to interpretation. 

Interpreters also specialize in the different resources and technologies with which they practice their profession. All of them have mastered linguistic resources like term bases and glossaries. Conference and event interpreters also know the details of their work on stage and before the camera, while remote interpreters know how to skillfully use specialized software and different video conferencing platforms. 

An interpreter is an intercultural mediator

When a person speaks, it is not only to transmit a message: it is to share a way of looking at the world. Each speaker brings their culture with them wherever they go; and their values, traditions, customs, and tastes are reflected in their language. While working as a bridge between two languages, interpreters also act as links between two ways of seeing the world. For this reason, we say that an interpreter is an intercultural mediator. In order to do a good job, it is not enough to know the languages involved, it is also essential to be aware and sensitive to the cultures of which the languages are a part. 

As language is one of the most important components of culture, often two communities that do not share a language are also dissimilar in a lot of other aspects of daily life included in the culture. The challenge of the interpreter as an intercultural mediator is twofold: they have to make adjustments in the discourse so that communication is possible while also preserving the richness provided by the differences. Their role consists of laying down a bridge that smooths without minimizing any possible friction between the worldview of the person speaking and that of the one listening, facilitating mutual comprehension.

An interpreter is a strategic partner

Due to their linguistic knowledge, their ability to transfer meaning in specialized fields, and their skills as mediators between cultures, working with a team of interpreters brings strategic value for any organization.

Communicating on the global scene combines the challenge of creating messages and experiences that identify and differentiate the organization, are culturally relevant for each of their audiences and are organically and consistently integrated on all of its channels.

Attaining this requires the assistance of experts in languages that ensure quality, efficiency, and a focus on personalized solutions. Fortunately, the language industry has accessible alternatives for all projects. An experienced linguistic services provider has the flexibility to place at the disposal of each organization the interpretation team most adequate to reach its expectations and that of its audiences and add value at each step of the process. 

Are you wondering, what is the role of an interpreter? In the rapidly growing global business communication, Interpreters play a pivotal role in communicating with foreign speakers.

A recent report shows that interpreters and translators’ demand is growing up, and it is forecasted to grow up to 19 % by 2028. So, this is clear that the need for these jobs will be higher in the future.

If you want to hire the best interpreters, you need to know the essential qualities and skills of a professional interpretation service provider.

You should not hire candidates on the spot only based on their fluency and language skills because there are many other things to examine and consider during the selection and hiring process.

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Likewise, you should also evaluate their background, qualifications, and personal attributes.

Your recruited Interpreters will speak and represent your business. Moreover, they will work to build trading relationships with customers, partners, and other companies. So, it is crucial to hire an expert interpreter who fits your criteria and meets your team’s standards.

Here we have guided you in detail regarding interpreters’ roles, qualifications, and specialization to hire the right candidate.

An Interpreter plays many vital roles in your daily life. If you want to learn more about What is the role of an interpreter in various context then check out the following sections attentively:

1. Various Roles Of An Interpreter In Our Daily Life:

Overall, an interpreter plays the role of enabling communication between two or more individuals who don’t speak the same language.

Without an interpreter, people are unable to understand one another speech because they speak different languages. The interpreters aren’t accountable for what is said by the parties who need to understand each other.

However, interpreters are responsible for ensuring that the information is converted accurately into the desired language. We assumed that the interpreter should know both languages at an expert level to ensure no miscommunication.

In Addition, an Interpreter must have some specific understanding of the language and relevant skills of their interpreting services.

The critical role of an Interpreter is to interpret conversations from one source language to another target language. They do this job on-site or remotely in real-time. They perform their job either by oral Interpretation or using sign language.

The interpretation job is different from Translation. So, don’t be confined. The translation is concerned with written words. However, both professions need fluency in different languages.

Moreover, these two jobs require many other different skills, knowledge, training, and experience.

An interpreter plays a vital role in converts spoken information from one source language to another target language. This process often happens in real-time situations, for example, conferences and meetings, medical visits, legal proceedings, and live TV coverage.

On the other hand, most of the time, a translator accomplishes most of his work at the office, home, or remotely. Because their role only relates to the written word, and typically, they don’t need to appear physically on site.

2. What Is The Role Of An Interpreter In The Modern World?

In the modern globalized world, interpreters play a significant role that fulfills peoples’ right to access information. Moreover, they keep updating people on matters of their interest and concern, regardless of their age, education, or origin.

The world’s progress has opened the gates of migration too. People moving to different countries for economic, religious, or political reasons often can’t speak its language.

As a result, the immigrants are highly dependent on the public sector interpreters to overcome the communication inability.

The community interpreters serve the immigrants in legal, health, social, housing, and education to ensure equality in the immigrated country. In this case, the speaker’s well-being depends on the quality of Interpretation frequently.

The presence of qualified interpreters is crucial in any community with multilingual settings. It is confirmed from the above-discussed examples that interpreters play a significant role in today’s world.

Similarly, their role should not go unnoticed in the judiciary, medical services, and widely defined media.

In the globalized world today, Interpreters not only facilitate communication in different languages. They also play a significant role in understanding one’s position, laws, obligations, and opportunities by efficient Interpretation. They are very often bridging the communication gap in major issues individually and internationally.

Moreover, they help to make further the world’s progress and change happen.

3. What is the Role of an Interpreter in Healthcare?

Imagine if someone gets seriously ill or injured in an accident on vacation in a foreign country and nobody speaks in your language.

In this case, the chances of misunderstandings and a communication gap are huge, and the consequence can be life-threatening. Healthcare professionals need to understand the seriousness of the illness or accident nearly. Here a Healthcare Interpreter can play a critical role.

Similarly, they must be able to get the exact message across regarding the victim’s health status. Moreover, proper communication will help the doctor determine the necessary treatment and the estimated recovery time from the underlying health condition.

Here, communication is only possible if a competent interpreter provides intercommunication among the health care professionals, the victim, and the victim’s family.

4. What is the Role Of An Interpreter In Legal Settings?

A legal interpreter provides a specialized interpreting service that allows people to overcome language barriers in a legal or paralegal setting. This Interpretation role could include the followings:

Communication with a law enforcement agency or employee.

Interpretation of legal or courtroom proceedings.

Interpreting between counselors and their clients.

Legal interpreting deals with spoken or signed communication strictly like other forms of interpreting. However, the legal Translation only deals with the written record of the proceedings. So, both legal Interpretation and legal Translation roles are essential to administering jurisdiction in multilingual settings.

The Role of a Legal Interpreter in the Courtroom:

Moreover, a legal Interpreter makes communication possible in the legal proceeding in the courtroom. To do this job precisely and perfectly legal interpreters required specialized skills.

Likewise, they help all parties involved to understand the legal proceedings by eliminating the language barriers. A legal interpreter should be highly skilled, specialized, and experienced as people’s lives depend on their roles and interpretation quality.

Moreover, they must be proficient in multiple languages and precisely understand the legal procedure and law jargon. A courtroom interpreter must interpret and translate every word they listen to accurately during the speech of lawyers, witnesses, and the judge.

In this case, nobody should rely on any family members or other people who are not acceptably qualified. Such a situation can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings that could manipulate or influence the verdict’s outcome.

Therefore, everyone’s responsibility is to hire a professional legal interpreter to ensure all parties involved can grasp the proceedings.

5. What is the Role of a Community Interpreter?

A Community Interpreter’s role is to deliver messages transmitted between persons who speak different languages as faithfully as possible. These interpreters enable service providers in diverse social, health, and community communication with service settings members.

A Community interpreter’s role is to facilitate communication between two or among a group of people who speak in different languages. In this case, the form of interpretation service can be either spoken or signed.

Moreover, the responsibility of an interpreter is not what the parties are talking about. A community interpreter’s primary role is to convey all necessary information to the target audience in different languages.

Duties and Qualifications of an interpreter

Interpreters play significant roles in our daily life in various contexts. So, we should know more about their duties and qualifications. Check out the below section to read more:

1. What duties should an interpreter carry out?

The primary duty is to listen to a speaker in one language and relays it into a different one. Moreover, they help to remove the language barriers and make communication between two parties easier.

Interpreters often do their job on the spot, and they do not convert every word from the source language to another. Likewise, Interpreters will grasp the concept in real-time and convert the speech without losing any original meaning. This role is beneficial for interpreting at the conference.

However, Interpreters play a more sensitive role, like analyzing in court or interpreting in health care, requiring a more precise approach.

An Interpreter’s full responsibilities are adapting any vocabularies quickly, including any language-specific terms or jargon, acronyms, idioms, and so on. Because putting these often correctly and precisely into another language can be very difficult.

Interpreters should take notes to help their memory during the ongoing projects.

Moreover, they should use appropriate recording devices and equipment, including microphones, cameras, and so forth. Likewise, they need to develop specialist vocabularies on the different topics covered in earlier projects.

2. What qualifications should you look for in an interpreter role?

To be a successful Interpreter, only fluency in multiple languages is not enough for this role. Although it is not mandatory to have academic qualifications, it will impact employers’ decision to hire an Interpretation service personnel.

If someone has a degree in language and interpreting or professional certification from the Chartered Institute of Linguistics, will be an ideal candidate for this role.

Likewise, if someone has different experiences during an internship or similar on-the-job training in a relevant industry, they will have competitive advantages.

Moreover, an employer will prefer a candidate who has studied or worked in a foreign country of the target language. Before starting a role, the interpreters should understand and a thorough knowledge of their specific industry and technical terms.

Moreover, they should be conversant with the culture of the chosen language. Similarly, the interpreters must have the ability to express thoughts concisely and clearly in both languages.

Additionally, they should have developed excellent listening skills, fantastic verbal presentation, and outstanding written communication.

Finally, they should develop a clear speaking smooth voice and the confidence to speak and interpret fluently in public places.

Summary:

After reading this blog post, we have learned more regarding an interpreter’s various roles depending on the underlying circumstances.

Now you have a good understanding of, What is the role of an interpreter? right? Moreover, now you can also explain some sensitive and serious roles of an interpreter that sometimes determine people’s lives or deaths.

Likewise, you are clear about a professional interpreter’s functions, duties, and qualifications and find the best one for you.

For more queries, feel free to contact The Language Doctors team now. Our expert team will be happy to help you to find a suitable specialized Interpreter for you.