4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "The terms Interpretation and translation are often confusing to many including the professionals who work with Interpreters and Translators. Interpreters and Translators may have some but not many common elements. Translator strictly engages him/herself to convert written words of one language into another language. A typical Translator is a higher authority writer as compared to a typical Interpreter. Present day Translator has the freedom to use electronic dictionaries and other technological gadgets. A Translator’s basic function is to find meaning for the written word from or into different languages. Interpreter on the other hand is a facilitator amongst the communicators. Communication may be verbal or none-verbal such as sign language, symbols, color codes, gestures, moans, gasps etc. Interpreter is a higher authority linguist. Interpreter does not have to always obey the dictionaries because the dictionaries are neither complete nor always accurate. Under certain conditions or circumstances a professional interpreter may or may not use commonly used words or meaning provided by the dictionaries. "