What Happens When You Confuse Translation with Interpretation?

While translation and interpretation are often lumped together in the language services world, they actually represent two different facets of the industry. Two language pairs could be changed into one another, but they have different understanding processes and eligibility skills. This can lead to severe communication failures in the best case, and in the worst case could lead to significant missed opportunities as well as legal or medical misunderstandings.

What actually occurs, then, when you confuse translation with interpretation? Let’s break it down.

Hiring the wrong professional for the job

One of the byproducts of this is mistaking an interpreter for a translator, or a translator for an interpreter when you should have used the other. But if you are going to host an international live conference and the organiser is specialized in written matters, it will cause delays, communication breakdowns and angry attendees.

Translators handle written texts (documents, books, websites), as interpreters work with the spoken word (meetings, court hearings, medical consultations). Use the wrong one, and your project or event can go completely off the rails.

Because in that case, you run the risk of miscommunication in a life or death situation.

Mistakes like using the wrong type of language service in high-stakes environments such as hospitals or courtrooms can be very significant. Having a translator does not help much in the instant communication between a patient and being that would call for an interpreter, which is also out of place when it comes to translating a 100-page legal document.

This confusion can lead to medical advice being misconstrued, legal transcripts misinterpreting and commercial negotiations becoming convoluted in a way that not simply puts lives or deals at risk but makes fundamental human sense.

Unfortunately, your brand gets lost in translation.

You will need a translator to help preserve your meaning and tone as well as your copy’s sense in writing, whether you are localizing content for marketing or branding. Even if you were to ask an interpreter to do this, then the overall poor quality would not communicate well with your audience or represent your brand in a way that is suitable.

Every role has its own unique set of skills. Top interpreters are great listeners and adept at on-the-fly problem-solving and rendering the equivalent of real-time subs. On the other hand, writers focus on the text and its precision, grammar and how cultural nuances are to be used in written text while translators do it in oral language.

You Waste Time and Money

Selecting just any service can result in expensive delays. This may require you to rehire the right man for the job, repeat some work or extend project deadlines. Even worse, the financial and reputational fallout can be millions of times more damaging if the scope is a business deal or life-or-death standard such as in medical or legal representation.

Ultimate Words: Understand the Distinction and Opt Accordingly

The importance of knowing the difference between translation and fast interpretation services is not just to call things by its correct name but a tip to build clear communication.

Lead Generation with Translation servicesIf you want to get written content converted from one language to another, use a translator.

Recruit an interpreter for in-person disscussion or verbally delivered language support.

Being able to tell the difference empowers you to make intelligent choices about how to represent yourself and your work in a professional context, which prevents you from looking foolish or causing damage and enables your communications to reach who needs to receive them when they need it.