 Hi everyone today, I wanted to talk to you about translation versus interpretation This is a term that gets mixed up quite a bit now before I get into it actually I usually say this at the end but I thought I should say at the beginning if you are interested in tips and tidbits about translation especially about freelance translation, please do subscribe and you will keep getting more of these videos directly to your YouTube channel and if you find this video useful you can click like and You haven't found it useful yet, but now you will Translating versus interpreting. A big reason why I bring this up is many times clients don't know the difference especially when I was starting out I would contact clients and say I'm a translator can I help you out and they'd be like Oh, yeah, absolutely We have a conference going on and we need a translator to help us talking back and forth and translate what so-and-so is talking about I realize they need an interpreter not a translator And at the beginning actually I felt kind of bad. Oh, I've been misleading them They think I'm the person for the job and now I can't do it, but you know, I don't do interpreting I only do written translation. If this happens to you, you haven't been misleading them You've been using the term correctly, but unfortunately if people aren't in the industry they'll just use the term translation for written translations or for spoken interpretations for interpreting If they contact me say I need a translator for a conference that's going on and it's clear they need an interpreter I'll just say, oh, sorry, we work on written translations, but I can recommend a couple good interpreters So that way everyone's happy and we can move on But just briefly, here's how it works A translator does translations. Translations means reading and writing While an interpreter speaks and listens or listens and speaks That's the difference, that's it If it's reading and writing, you're a translator If it's listening and speaking, you're an interpreter If it's listening and transcribing and translating, it's still considered translation But they'll write transcription on it too We won't get into that now, we'll just consider that part as translation If you're writing something, you're a translator If you're just speaking, you're interpreting Obviously, there are a couple differences here Translations take longer, but they're also more precise If you need a legal document or business documents or a patent or anything like that Translations are, you do need a written translation However, an interpreter can interpret immediately That's why you see this very often at conferences or at meetings When people need to know the information right away Although, obviously, being an interpreter, it's never as precise as a translation Because it needs to be done on the fly What about if you're just starting and you're wondering Should I be a translator or should I be an interpreter? I think I'm okay at this or that What should I do? Well, I don't know what you should do You should probably try both and figure it out But as a general rule, interpreters, well, they're more creative, frankly Because if someone says something and you need to interpret it on the fly Many times, you cannot translate, literally Basically an innuendo or a metaphor, just an expression But you have to come up with the right expression in the other language In fact, many times, you need to change whole sentences around People who interpret also tend to be more outgoing It's easier for them to say things and they don't get tongue-tied as easily as sometimes I do A translator, on the other hand, tends to be more thorough, more precise They like to have a job well done I would rather take the time and do a good job translating something And come up with a perfect product rather than maybe bungle something up And I realize down the line that I use the wrong expression I can't kind of paranoid about that stuff So it really just depends on what you feel more comfortable with Also, I should point out that you can definitely freelance interpret But freelance interpreting means going to the location at the client's spot during the client's time It means a lot of travel, which can be good I'm a freelance translator and that's what I talk about Translation, I can kind of do it on my own time I mean, I have deadlines, but I can work within those deadlines I can do it at home, I can do it in a coffee shop where I want And I kind of like that because then I can sit down, concentrate, do what I need to do I don't want to be too biased about it, but I'm a translator, I'm not an interpreter And so that's how I feel I should also point something out Always a bit better in one language rather than in another If you're a translator, you should be native in the target language Rather than the source language You're translating into the language and it needs to be perfect The product that you give to the client needs to be perfect But if you're an interpreter, it needs to be the other way around You need to be native in the source language Because you need to be able to pick up on these metaphors and innuendos and expressions like that And then if you find a bit of a roundabout way to say it in the other language, that's fine But you know what message you're trying to get across right away And that's the important thing And that's in my mind as well when you're thinking about becoming an interpreter or translator And seeing which venue, which road you want to follow And just briefly, I'll also mention there are two different types of interpreters Simultaneous and consecutive interpreters Simultaneous interpreters, they're the ones who, as I'm speaking, they're interpreting at the same time That the UN or any one of those conferences, you'll see these simultaneous interpreters doing things right away However, it's really hard because many times you need the right technology, the right venue to hire these But many times what you'll do is you'll get a consecutive interpreter They let the speaker speak, they'll say a couple sentences, and then the interpreter will say those sentences back Sometimes in fact you'll see them taking notes So you'll see this in more business meetings or things that are a bit more informal So that's pretty much it, I hope that did help and I hope you found that useful and interesting Those are the main differences between interpreters and translators If I missed anything, feel free to let me know And if you'd like me to discuss anything else in the future, feel free to let me know in the comments below Otherwise, I hope this helps out and if you are thinking of becoming either a translator or interpreter I hope this helps in making your mind up a little bit I'll see you in the next video, thanks, bye