The 4 main qualities of a good interpreter | Euterpe

In every professional domain there are people who do better that other: the world of interpreting is no different, and therefore knowing what are the qualities that make an interpreter a good professional can be extremely helpful when hiring this sort of services. In today’s article we will tell you more about the characteristics that every good expert in interpreting should master in order to deliver efficient results.

What does a professional interpreter do?

Let’s start with something easy: what does a professional interpreter do? These people are often mistaken for translators, but the reality is that the field of expertise of these two jobs is quite different. The word “interpreter” comes from latin “interpres” and refers to the person standing as an intermediary between two people or more. In fewer words, an interpreter serves as a link between those who do not speak the same language.

What are the main qualities of an interpreter?

If you are considering hiring interpreting services but you have not made your mind yet or you are not sure about how to start, knowing what are the basic qualities that every professional should have in order to provide a proper job in this field can be helpful. Let’s have a look:

Accomplished knowledge of languages

Although it may seem implicit in an interpreter’s task, the truth is that not all of them benefit from an accomplished knowledge of their working languages that they should master to do their job. This knowledge is both of their passive an active languages, the latter being their mother tongue that is underestimated too many times and causes at the end of the day so many problems regarding the efficiency of the results.

Excellent concentration and memory

Interpreters are intermediaries between two people or more who do not speak the same language, and all of it in real time, unlike translators who work with written documents. For that reason, in order to deliver a proper job, they need a huge concentration and excellent short and medium term memory.

Honesty and good practises

This point can be applied to every professional service that we wish to hire, as honesty will guaranty that the interpreter will comply with what was promised and will help us to achieve our own goals.

Efficient intuitive skills

Interpreting is no exact science and definitely is not literal: it needs us to understand the correct message and its meaning, and so intuitive skills to translate correctly to a different language what was meant to say are fundamental.