Job Discussion Forums

[seven seas]

Hi


What are the interpreters like? Are they any good?
Do they have any idea what teaching means?

And how do you become an interpreter anyway?

[spicegirl]

When I qualified as an interpreter/translator (not Arabic) many years ago, I had to take and pass nationally recognised exams. In some countries, though, saying that you speak 2 or more languages can get you an interpreter's job.

I wouldn't have liked to have done the interpreting jobs that I did without training, though - it's very stressful and your brain gets fried in a very short space of time. Translating requires a different set of skills from interpreting, and I've met lots of people here who do 'translation' work without having any training or qualification to their name.

[seven seas]

About 80% of the printed stuff I see has horrible mistakes in it. And I don't mean typos either.
That includes ads, leaflets, newspapers and magazines.
And that's not even the English stuff.

[Zoot]

sevenseas are you talking about there being mistakes in the Arabic language? the interpreters vary in competency as you'd expect and the problem is they're meant to be interpreters not just translators. as translators their ability to get the message across depends on their English language skills which also vary. it's a minefield.

[seven seas]

I haven't heard a lot of interpreting here, and it is better than the translating that I have seen.

But both are substandard.