Translator's and Interpreter's Work

Literature translators

The work of literature translators covers fiction and non-fiction, recreational literature, children’s and young people’s books, plays, poetry, and comics.

In the words of Thomas Warburton, one does not always need to understand everything one has read, unless one has to translate it.

Document translators

Document translators work with all types of factual texts, such as non-fiction, manuals, annual reports, brochures, articles and documents.

As the field of document translation is extensive, many translators specialise in certain specific sectors, such as economics and trade, technology and industry, IT or medicine.

AV translators

Translators belonging to this section provide translations for audiovisual media: television, films, videos, DVDs and opera. The work covers subtitling, narration and dubbing.

Interpreters

Interpreting is verbal communication: an interpreter conveys a spoken message between two languages. In addition to outstanding language proficiency, interpreting requires extensive general knowledge and intellectual integrity, a keen interest in current affairs, articulate expression, powers of concentration, and the ability to work under stress, as well as diplomacy and social skills. An interpreter must have a good command of different interpreting modes and be able to use them appropriately in different situations.

Teachers and researchers

Teachers of translation and interpreting studies train future translators, interpreters and other experts in inter-cultural communication at universities as professors, lecturers and instructors. The work covers the professional practices of translation and interpreting, translation and interpreting theory, student guidance, and instruction for the writers of Bachelor’s and Master’s theses.

Translation and interpreting researchers usually also work in universities. Scientific research in the field is often basic research, benefiting most university-level education. It also increases knowledge of the field’s fundamental questions and phenomena. Research topics include the history of Finnish translations, regularities of translated Finnish language, interpreting and translating in the European Union, software localisation, and the relationship between the spoken word and images in translation.

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