The interpreter job is one notable occupation often provided by a language service agency or an individual whose duty is to give spoken language assistance on various occasions and activities for those who get the difficulty from the language barrier. The interpreter is required to give an accurate explanation without adding or omitting information as is mentioned in the interpretation protocol. This kind of job also needs someone who has quick problem-solving capability who is also ready to deliver information swiftly yet understandable.
However, an interpreter should not only master spoken language communication. There are several occasions, i.e. in convention or meeting, where they are required to provide translation of written documents. For this case, an interpreter should be able to render the information at that very time and provide a verbal explanation with high accuracy information.
Not only information but an interpreter is also required to deliver the thought and emotion. This may sound absurd, but nonverbal language like gesture, body language, and tone are as important as the spoken one. In communication, they may imply a certain message or purpose which should be delivered to give a complete understanding just like that they are making direct conversation.
How to be an Interpreter
In a real situation, becoming an interpreter is never as easy as it looks. This job needs a multi-talented individual who does not only has excellent language capability in both spoken and written but is also sensitive to the cultural background since an interpreter is often required to escort people from different language backgrounds and cultures. If you have decided on this career, there are lots of things that you should prepare besides mastering bilingual competence.
Training to become a professional interpreter will normally take two years, according to Ewandro Magalhaes who have 20 years of experience as an elite interpreter. They should enrich their vocabulary mastery first, then they should practice to keep up with speed and unnatural situations. On many occasions, an interpreting job can be very serious since there is no control over what is going to happen next. In this kind of situation, excellent problem-solving skill is a must.
There are several tricks that we can learn from an unnatural situation. First, an interpreter should be ready with the glossary and terms which can be compiled from the previous case that bears the same topic. Next, little research on the subject matter and cultural differences can be very helpful to build a piece of background knowledge. This is also important to make sure that the whole meanings are translatable and deliverable.
