Behind the Scenes as an Interpreter

The most difficult bilingual career

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! For those who are learning a new language as part of their endeavor to increase their salary, you may also be looking for careers in which language is your primary focus. While there are a myriad of jobs available to bilinguals, one of the more difficult jobs out there is that of a simultaneous interpreter. Translation is difficult, and we have worked through many examples as to why here, but interpretation is an entirely different beast. If you really want to put your second language skills to the test, this is how you do it.

A peek into the life

My first real job interpreting was pretty simple. Low pressure, just acting as an interpreter and guide at a campground in Belgium. The camp hosts spoke English and German, the camp visitors mostly spoke French, so I was the liaison. I would be hard pressed to call this experience simultaneous interpretation because I had ample time to speak, think, and ask questions to clarify things that I may have missed.