Jobs / Design, media, and writing / 27-3091.00

Interpreters and Translators

Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into another.

US jobs
52,060
Median wage
$60,170 a year
Job family
Design, media, and writing

Can agents do the work of interpreters and translators?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Design, media, and writing:

  • Task levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. OSWorld-Verified includes tasks in image, slide, and document apps, and the best agent passes 90.2% of all its computer tasks. No task-level benchmark in our collection scores the quality of design or writing work.
  • Project levelNot yetOn the Remote Labor Index, which includes graphic design, video, 3D, audio, and web projects from freelance platforms, the best agent completed 15.8% of projects to a standard a client would accept. GDPval deliverables score higher (84.9% wins or ties against professionals, reported by OpenAI), but those tasks are one-shot and fully specified.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in design, media, and writing, not always this occupation's tasks.

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
  • Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
  • Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
  • Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
  • Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
  • Check translations of technical terms and terminology to ensure that they are accurate and remain consistent throughout translation revisions.
  • Identify and resolve conflicts related to the meanings of words, concepts, practices, or behaviors.
  • Compile information on content and context of information to be translated and on intended audience.
  • Adapt translations to students' cognitive and grade levels, collaborating with educational team members as necessary.
  • Check original texts or confer with authors to ensure that translations retain the content, meaning, and feeling of the original material.
  • Adapt software and accompanying technical documents to another language and culture.
  • Educate students, parents, staff, and teachers about the roles and functions of educational interpreters.
Other job titles for this occupation (35)

American Sign Language Interpreter (ASL Interpreter) · Court Interpreter · Educational Interpreter · Interpreter · Linguist · Medical Interpreter · Sign Language Interpreter · Spanish Interpreter · Spanish Translator · Translator · Arabic Translator · Bilingual Interpreter · Bilingual Secretary · Braille Transcriber · Braille Translator · Community Interpreter · Contract Translator · Cryptologic Linguist · Deaf Interpreter · Diplomatic Interpreter · English Translator · Farsi Linguist · Foreign Language Interpreter · Freelance Translator · Language Interpreter · Language Translator · Legal Translator · Paraprofessional Interpreter · Russian Linguist · School Sign Language Interpreter · Sign Language Translator · Spanish Analytic Linguist · Spanish-English Interpreter · Technical Translator · Vietnamese Interpreter