Interpreter
What the work is
Transfers a spoken or signed language into another spoken or signed language, usually within a limited time frame, in the physical, visual or aural presence of the participants requiring the transfer.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Prepares for assignments by confirming terminology and undertaking domain specific research to comprehend the subject matter
- Provides simultaneous and consecutive verbal or signed renditions of speeches into another language
- Renders the meaning and feeling of what is spoken or signed into another language in the appropriate register and style
- Transfers a written message and its intent from one language into a spoken or signed message in another language
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a local council housing office and a community health clinic that book interpreters for clients. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- Two people who could not understand each other leave a meeting both knowing what was agreed
- You find the single word that makes a tricky paragraph finally read naturally
- A family tells you they felt heard for the first time in an office like this
Hard days
- A session where the speaker talks fast, the room is noisy, and you cannot ask them to repeat
- A word that has no equal in the other language and you must choose a path in seconds
- Being asked for your opinion on the matter when your job is only to pass on the meaning
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 411531, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.