Translation is the process of rendering a text from one language into another. It can be done by someone who knows both languages or by using an interpreter.
Interpreting is the process of taking spoken language and translating it for a person in a different language, through either speech or sign. This is usually done in real-time, in front of an audience.
In general, interpreters are used when there are few people from the same linguistic community present, when there needs to be confidential communication, when people need instant communication or when time constraints make translation impractical.
Translation
The history of translation is as old as the written word. But it wasn’t until the 1800s that translators were able to translate more than one language at a time.
The first known translation between two languages was done by an Assyrian. He translated the Old Testament into Aramaic, which is now considered to be extinct, around 700 B.C.
Translators are a key part of any society, culture and economy. They are the people that make it possible for different communities to understand each other. Without them, we would all be living in a very different world.
The Internet has opened up the world to us, but it also poses many challenges. One of these is how we communicate with each other from one country to the next. The Internet has made it possible for people around the world to talk with each other, but not always easily or freely.
Interpreting
In the beginning, there were just a few interpreters in society. They were translators who could speak two languages well and understand them as well. In today’s world, interpreters must have a firm grasp of three or more languages because there are so many different languages being spoken around the world.
Interpreting is not a profession that people can just learn overnight. It takes years to be fluent in a language and also to know two other languages as well as one’s mother tongue. For that reason, most interpreters nowadays are professionals who have been doing it for decades at least and have been trained specifically for this job from an early age on up.
Interpreters are necessary in today’s world because not everyone speaks the same language. Interpreting is one of the most vital services in any society. They are needed for events, meetings, conferences, and they are also used by the media to translate speech or written text into other languages.
The future of translation and interpreting
With technology evolving as quickly as it is today, automating the process of translation and interpreting has become possible. Artificial intelligence might be able to help translators and interpreters in the future but there are potential dangers of these developments.
People who work in the interpreting and translation industry will eventually need to replace their profession with AI. With all the new artificial intelligence tools and applications, we will see less of a need for interpreters and translators in the future.
But the global market for language interpretation was expected to reach $9.6 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 8.1% from 2018 to 2021. And as a result there is still much demand for human interpreters and translators.
