Career Overlap Occupation record
RecordJob

Where an interpreter can go next

5 destinations recorded, ranked by how much of the target role an interpreter already meets. The closer to the top of Table 1, the less there is to learn.

Interpreters understand and convert spoken communication from one language to another. They retain considerable amounts of information, often with the aid of note-taking, and communicate it immediately after whilst keeping the nuances and stress of the message in the recipient language.

Also known as court interpreter, public service interpreter, consecutive interpreter, simultaneous interpreter, remote interpreter, sworn interpreter, community interpreter, conference interpreter, police interpreter, bilingual health advocate, advocate interpreter, telephone interpreter.

Professionals 54 skills on file 5 career moves 2 above 60% overlap Closest: sign language interpreter, 69%

Fig. 2 · Career map 5 nearest · ESCO v1.2.1
sign language interpreter 69% covered interpretation agency manager 63% covered translator 45% covered foreign language corresponden… 39% covered lexicographer 36% covered interpreter You are here
  • 70% and above · short step
  • 50 to 70% · real move
  • Below 50% · substantial retraining
The 5 nearest destinations from interpreter, each one a link to that move’s record. Distance from the centre is how much retraining the move takes; the figure on each is how much of that role an interpreter already covers. All 5 are listed in the tables below.
Table 1

Table 1 · Within reach

Table 2

Table 2 · A bigger jump

Possible, but expect real retraining rather than a sideways step.

Table 3

Table 3 · What the job itself asks for

An interpreter needs 19 required skills and areas of knowledge. These 10 are the ones fewest other jobs share, so they say the most about the work.

Required skill Area
  • follow interpreting quality standards management skills
  • memorise large amounts of information information skills
  • perceive context when interpreting communication, collaboration and creativity
  • interpreting modes arts and humanities
  • perform bilateral interpretation communication, collaboration and creativity
  • preserve meaning of original speech communication, collaboration and creativity
  • interpret spoken language between two parties communication, collaboration and creativity
  • manage a good diction communication, collaboration and creativity
  • translate spoken language consecutively communication, collaboration and creativity
  • translate spoken language simultaneously communication, collaboration and creativity
Table 4

Table 4 · Jobs that lead here

The reverse view: occupations whose skills already cover much of what an interpreter does. The figure is how much of this job each one brings.

Index

Look up another occupation

Interpreter is filed under Professionals, ISCO major group 2. The full index lists all ten groups.

Note

How these figures were compiled

Overlap is how much of the target role is already part of an interpreter’s work. It is directional: the figure for the reverse move differs. Every entry above opens the full comparison for that move: what carries over, what is missing, and where to start. The full method.