Environmental Translator & Subtitling Specialist | Portuguese, Spanish & French to English
Translation vs Interpreting I can't count how many times I've watched films and TV shows where interpreters are referred to as translators. It's a common mix-up! When I mention that I'm a translator, people tend to assume I'm an interpreter. So imagine my delight when I was watching Ghosts the other day and Mike got it right 🙌 😃 Here’s the difference: ✍️Translation = conversion of written texts from one language to another. 🗣️Interpreting = oral or signed conversion from one language to another in real time. 🎬 And just to add a twist, there's also audiovisual translation, which is the conversion of audiovisual content from one language to another, e.g. through subtitling and voice-over. Most translators are not interpreters. The two professions require different skills and training, so it's important to hire the right people for the right jobs. Who else has encountered this mix-up? 👇 ----- 👋 I'm Megan, an Environmental Translator and Subtitling Specialist. 🇧🇷🇪🇸🇫🇷 Portuguese, Spanish & French to English. 🇬🇧 Need help captivating English-speaking audiences? 📧 I’d love to hear from you! meganoneiltranslations.com [email protected] #Translation #Interpreting #Subtitles #AudiovisualTranslation
I frequently find this mix-up even in job offers, so as Elisa said, it's good to remind people!
It's always good to remind people!
Localization Program Manager @ Reddit
10moThis is interesting in Brazil because back in the day, both professions were really scarce (they still kind of are — only 5% of Brazilians are fluent in English), so most people in the industry would double as the two: “Tradutor e intérprete.” So it’s not that uncommon to find that title being used to describe a translator (or interpreter, depending on the story) in news stories of Brazil even today, even when the professional made it clear they just specialize in one of those two things. Another thing that is curious is that in Brazilian Portuguese there’s no such thing as a “free translation” for news (which here implies the journalist/writer does know English but doesn’t want to compromise on their translation or isn’t using the official translation), when in truth Linguistics academia just tells us to use “translation:” if we can tell, or nothing at all if we can’t. We’re the windows of the world, and sometimes that means consumers and readers aren’t even realizing they’re crossing that window (which, counterintuitively, means we’re doing a good job). Then it’s easy to forget the very clear differences in exactly what that given window was built for.