Being an interpreter or a translator: which one is better?
The one-million-dollar question.
The short answer is: it depends.
Now the long answer:
Although many think the two careers are the same and therefore misuse the terms interchangeably, they are actually very different from each other. In fact, most professionals choose to do either one or the other, whilst some (like me) work with both. Deciding which one is better will depend on personality, preferences and skills.
Here’s what I mean:
Personality traits
Translators work with written language. Good translators are good writers. This means they mostly act done alone with set deadlines. While some translators work in-house and go to an office every day, most of them do not and work from home (or anywhere they want to, really). Thus, interaction with clients and agencies is mostly remote: via email, telephone and on platforms. Unsurprisingly, introverts tend to love translation much more than interpreting. I have heard translators say that being surrounded by people so often and so intensely like interpreters do would be awfully draining.
Interpreters work mostly with spoken language. Good interpreters are good orators. This is usually done in close proximity with clients and peers, either remotely or on site. In fact, for simultaneous interpreting, for instance, any assignment lasting more the 1h will require two interpreters. Those who draw energy from crowds, enjoy speaking in public and feel comfortable being put on the spot tend to love interpreting. Thus, extroverts usually prefer interpreting to translation. I have heard from various interpreters of different languages that “translation would make [them] die of boredom/loneliness”.
Preferences
Sometimes the choice of what is best has to do with personal perferences as well. Whilst both careers tend to involve quite a bit of variety and flexibility, this takes shape in different ways.
For translators, the bulk of the work tends to be asynchronous. This means flexibility comes from the fact that the main thing to abide by is the deadlines set. How this is done it is completely up to the translator. Translators are usually able to meet targets however they please. You can take your computer with you during your holiday for example, or go on your holiday and then not sleep for a couple of days when you are back so you finish things on time. This can be great if you are studying, or if you have personal commitments like a master’s or small children, for example.
For interpreting, flexibility means you work with completely different and new people, settings and assignments, often at different venues, sometimes in different countries. It can be quite pleasant to be in a different place from where you live for a couple of days and get to do a tour when you’re off the clock. You will still need to be punctual and reliable though. If you are okay with this, you can set yourself for having no two identical days in the year.
Both careers can also involve quite a bit of travelling, but in different ways. With translation you can book your holiday as and where you wish (sort of). As long as you have electricity and an okay connection, you can work. Or, as I said, you can procrastinate. With interpreting, you might have your holidays partially paid for as clients will book your stays, but it might be somewhere you are not that keen on and most of the time you travel you might be around clients. If you want to work and travel, you’ll need a stable connection, a decent headset, a discreet background with no noise or disruption.
Skills
Translation and interpreting also involve different skills.
Translation require good researching skills. A good translator is a bit like Socrates: they know that they do not know. And they strive to find out. What I mean by that is, full accuracy is a must. Instead of jumping into things, translators go through dictionaries, thesauruses, monolingual content and parallel texts in both languages. They research things thoroughly until they find the most suitable term. And when an assignment requires creativity, they literally recreate things and decide what everyone is going to call a film, a product, a character in a book, a colour of a car.
Interpreters are great at improvising, predicting and delivering things spontaneously. There is often very little to no time to research terminology, so terps often have to be good at thinking on their feet and coming up with a way to convert a concept that exists in one language and are typical of one culture into the other. If the speaker comes up with a complicated metaphor, or a term, or if they have a difficult accent… none of this matters. A good interpreter will decide on the spot how to handle it. And sometimes, month later, there is still a sense of achievement in that.
Spontaneity
Translators control their environment. They can make decisions now and revise them many times. They can get peers to double, triple check them before they are final. They try to get as close as they can to perfection. Copious amounts of research is involved in translation.
With interpreting, everyone and everything is a wild card. There is often very little that can be dome about how fast someone is speaking, or when materials are sent across for preparation (often clients will provide terps with very little to nothing in advance). Things also take place live. Therefore, interpreters know and are okay with things often not being perfect.
As you can tell, it is very difficult to say which one is better. In my view, it all boils down to what kind of soft skills you have, your flair, your current lifestyle and the relationship you want to have with your work.
I myself love getting buried in translation work for days on after I finish a long interpreting assignment and vice-versa. To me, variety is key and having a bit of both options in my professional life is certainly a privilege and a joy.
What about you? Which one sounds better?