Interpreters and Translators
What if you were on a trip to Turkey, England, or France and suddenly had a serious health emergency that forced you to visit a hospital or medical center there? How would you tell the Turkish or English doctor what you're feeling so they can diagnose and treat you? Would you speak to them in Arabic and hope they somehow understand, or would you keep searching for a doctor of Arab origin until your last breath? Don't worry — they won't leave you on your own; they'll bring you someone who can understand you, since most medical facilities around the world employ translators fluent in various languages for exactly these kinds of emergencies. I've often found myself wondering about the profession of translation — what if there were no translators able to translate between different languages? I get a real sense of that whenever I put on an American, Spanish, or Japanese film and don't find Arabic subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Without translation, we wouldn't know anything about what's happening in the world around us. How could Arab media outlets report to us on events unfolding in the United States, Russia, China, or India without the news that translators render from the newspapers and news sites in those countries? How could world leaders and heads of state ever meet at international conferences and summits without simultaneous interpreters able to translate words the moment they're spoken? You can grasp just how important translation is in our lives the very moment you go out to buy some products — there's a fact that can't be ignored in our Arab world: most of our goods are imported from abroad, from China, the United States, Japan, Germany, and elsewhere, and yet there isn't a single product on the market without instructions, usage directions, or ingredients written in Arabic. That, of course, is thanks to translators. Across the centuries, translators have always been the bridge between different peoples, civilizations, and cultures, and it's on their shoulders that sciences, religions, knowledge, and the arts have traveled between nations.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
- Identify and resolve conflicts related to the meanings of words, concepts, practices, or behaviors.
- Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
- Check translations of technical terms and terminology to ensure that they are accurate and remain consistent throughout translation revisions.
- Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
- Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
- Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
- Compile information on content and context of information to be translated and on intended audience.