Interpreter vs Translator: What's the Difference?

An interpreter turns speech into another language, live. A translator turns written text into another language, with time to research and edit. Both need two languages at a high level. The day-to-day work is very different.

People mix the two up all the time, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts them as one job. Professional groups like the American Translators Association and NAJIT treat them as separate skills.

The short version

	Interpreter	Translator
Works with	Speech or sign language	Written text
When	Live, during the conversation	Before a deadline
Can fix mistakes	Right away, out loud	Before delivery, by editing
Uses references	Briefly, when there’s a pause	All the time
Typical places	Phone calls, video calls, hospitals, courts, meetings	At a desk, usually remote
Often paid by	The minute, hour or assignment	The word, page or project
Hardest part	Keeping up without leaving anything out	Making the text read like it was written in that language

What an interpreter does

An interpreter listens to one person and says the same thing in another language so the two people can talk. A doctor and a patient. A judge and a witness. A caller and a bank.

There are a few ways to do it:

• Consecutive. The speaker pauses and you interpret. This is how most phone and medical calls work.
• Simultaneous. You interpret while the speaker keeps talking, usually with a headset. Courts and conferences use this.
• Sight translation. You read a document out loud in the other language, like a consent form at a hospital.

Our guide to consecutive vs simultaneous interpreting explains the first two in more detail.

Interpreters work in person, over the phone (OPI) or on video (VRI). Many work from home for language service agencies and take calls one after another.

What the job asks of you:

• Listening and memory. You hold a full answer in your head, numbers and names included, then say it in the other language.
• Speaking well in both languages. Not just understanding. You have to produce clear speech at a normal pace, in the right tone for a hospital, a court or a customer service call.
• Quick decisions. When a word has no direct match, you decide what to do in a second or two.
• Knowing when to stop and ask. A good interpreter asks the speaker to repeat or explain rather than guess.

What a translator does

A translator works with written text: contracts, medical records, websites, manuals, books, school letters. They read the source, research the terms, write a draft, then edit it until it reads naturally.

What the job asks of you:

• Strong writing. The finished text should read as if it was written in that language.
• Research. Translators check terms in dictionaries, glossaries and similar documents.
• Attention to detail. One missed word can flip a meaning, like “take” and “do not take.”
• A specialty. Many translators focus on one field, like legal, medical, financial or technical.

Most translators use CAT tools (computer-assisted translation) that store past translations and approved terms.

Credentials

The paths are different.

Interpreters. Medical interpreters in the U.S. usually certify through CCHI or NBCMI. Court interpreters certify through a state court program or the federal courts. See our court interpreter certification guide. Many agency jobs ask for a language test and a training course, not a full certification.

Translators. The best-known U.S. credential is ATA certification, which you earn by passing an exam in a specific language pair and direction, like Spanish into English.

Not sure which credential fits you? Try our certification path finder.

Pay

The BLS reported a median of $60,170 a year in May 2025 for interpreters and translators together. It doesn’t split the two, and it leaves out self-employed workers. See our medical interpreter salary guide for what those numbers do and don’t tell you.

How you get paid matters as much as the rate:

• Phone interpreters are often paid per minute of call time, so quiet hours between calls may be unpaid.
• Staff interpreters at hospitals and courts are often paid by the hour or a salary.
• Translators are often paid per word, so research and editing time comes out of that rate.

Here’s a made-up example. A translator paid $0.12 a word for 2,000 words earns $240. If the job takes eight hours, that’s $30 an hour. A phone interpreter paid $0.50 a minute who gets 300 minutes of calls in an eight-hour shift earns $150, or $18.75 an hour. These are examples, not typical rates. Put your own numbers in the earnings calculator.

Which one fits you?

Interpreting may suit you if:

• You think fast and like talking with people.
• You’re comfortable not knowing what comes next.
• You can let go of a call once it’s over.

Translation may suit you if:

• You write well and enjoy getting a sentence exactly right.
• You like research and working at your own pace.
• You prefer deadlines to live pressure.

Plenty of people do both. A translator who knows the medical terms may move into medical interpreting. An interpreter tired of back-to-back calls may take translation work on the side. Just know they’re tiring in different ways. Interpreting drains you during the call. Translation wears you down over long hours at a screen.

FAQ

Is an interpreter the same as a translator?

No. An interpreter works with speech or sign language, live. A translator works with written text. Many people use the words the same way, but in the profession they’re different jobs.

Who gets paid more, interpreters or translators?

It depends on the language, field, location and how you’re paid. The BLS doesn’t publish separate numbers for each. Compare real offers by what they pay for all the hours you work.

Can a translator work as an interpreter?

Yes, but it takes practice. Translators know the vocabulary. Interpreting adds listening, memory and speaking under time pressure, and it usually needs its own training and testing.

What do you call someone who does both?

Usually “translator and interpreter.” Many professionals list both, and some agencies hire for both.

Is sign language interpreting interpreting or translation?

Interpreting. It happens live between people, just like spoken-language interpreting.

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Related reading:

• What is over-the-phone interpreting?
• How to become a medical interpreter
• Interpreter certification guide