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Poll: Do you have two separate words for "interpreter" and "translator" in your language(s)?
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Oct 6, 2011

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have two separate words for "interpreter" and "translator" in your language(s)?".

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Mary Worby
Mary Worby  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 15:24
alemão para inglês
+ ...
Yes Oct 6, 2011

Er, they are 'interpreter' and 'translator'!

 
Antonio Fajardo
Antonio Fajardo  Identity Verified
Espanha
Local time: 16:24
inglês para espanhol
+ ...
Yes Oct 6, 2011

In all the languages I know, yes.

 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 16:24
Membro (2003)
dinamarquês para inglês
+ ...
Danish even has three! Oct 6, 2011

Interpreter: tolk

Translator: oversætter

State Authorized Translator (protected title): Translatør.

A Translatør may also be an Autoriseret Tolk og Translatør, i.e. also an authorised interpreter.


 
TranslatorJames
TranslatorJames  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 15:24
italiano para inglês
+ ...
Which languages don't have? Oct 6, 2011

At the time of asking there had been 40 replies and 12.5% had said no. Nobody had entered a discussion about which ones don't.

Aiuto! Which languages don't distinguish these two professions?


 
Interlangue (X)
Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 16:24
inglês para francês
+ ...
Yes Oct 6, 2011

... but that does not mean the general public uses both or makes a difference
In the long run, I am afraid French will only use "traducteur" and forget all about "interprète" when speaking about languages, keeping the latter only for music.


 
Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
Chipre
Local time: 17:24
turco para inglês
+ ...
Turkish Oct 6, 2011

TranslatorJames wrote:

At the time of asking there had been 40 replies and 12.5% had said no. Nobody had entered a discussion about which ones don't.

Aiuto! Which languages don't distinguish these two professions?


Turkish, for one.


 
Mary Worby
Mary Worby  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 15:24
alemão para inglês
+ ...
True Oct 6, 2011

Interlangue wrote:

... but that does not mean the general public uses both or makes a difference
In the long run, I am afraid French will only use "traducteur" and forget all about "interprète" when speaking about languages, keeping the latter only for music.


The distinction is rarely made here (UK) either. If I tell people I'm a translator they think it's a glamorous role heading off to war-torn parts or accompanying celebrities!


 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 07:24
Membro (2003)
espanhol para inglês
+ ...
Other Oct 6, 2011

The distinction exists in the languages I speak (English, Portuguese, and Spanish), but getting people to honor the distinction is another story.

 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 15:24
russo para inglês
+ ...
In memoriam
Russian Oct 6, 2011

for another, has only one word for both.

 
Sandra Petch
Sandra Petch
Local time: 16:24
francês para inglês
+ ...
Confusion Oct 6, 2011

Interlangue wrote:

... but that does not mean the general public uses both or makes a difference
In the long run, I am afraid French will only use "traducteur" and forget all about "interprète" when speaking about languages, keeping the latter only for music.


On occasions, when I've told people I'm a translator, they gush how impressed they are, how hard it must be sitting there with the headphones on, simultaneously "translating"... Once I explain that these are interpreters, they are no longer so impressed. One person even said, "Oh yeah, I speak English, I could do your job." (On a side note, a Hungarian woman told me she could never be a translator as she had "too much personality"!). * Sigh *


 
Ahmad Hosseinzadeh
Ahmad Hosseinzadeh  Identity Verified
Irã
Local time: 17:54
inglês para persa (farsi)
+ ...
Persian (Farsi) Oct 6, 2011

Hi,
In Persian (Farsi) we have one word (originally Arabic), "Motarjem" for indicating both, but in case of ambiguity we add the adjective "Katbi" (literally "written") or "Shafahi" (literally "oral") for solving the problem.


 
Stephanie Mitchel
Stephanie Mitchel  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 10:24
francês para inglês
Two words... Oct 6, 2011

... though you wouldn't know it if you relied on the media...

 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Espanha
Local time: 16:24
espanhol para inglês
+ ...
Curious Oct 6, 2011

Tagalog uses "tagasalin" for both. It originally applied to a practitioner of the oral activity, so you can't qualify "interpreting", just "translation" (the opposite of Persian).

 
Steven Capsuto
Steven Capsuto  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos
Local time: 10:24
Membro (2004)
espanhol para inglês
+ ...
Not about the media Oct 6, 2011

Stephanie Mitchel wrote:

... though you wouldn't know it if you relied on the media...


In English, the word "translator" has traditionally referred to both written and spoken translators. In other words, excluding our professional jargon, "interpreter" is a subset of "translator" in any kind of natural English.

Since the 20th century, our profession has attempted to impose a distinction that never previously existed in English (or in most languages, I imagine). For people who generally claim to take a descriptive view of language, we're way off the mark on this one.

[Edited at 2011-10-06 14:58 GMT]


 
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Poll: Do you have two separate words for "interpreter" and "translator" in your language(s)?






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