What a translator really does
You carry meaning from one language to another under deadline, where one wrong term can cost a client money or trust.
FieldCreative and media
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Considerable preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for translators, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Read the source text and the brief to learn who it is for and what it must do
- Translate documents such as manuals, contracts, marketing pages and app text
- Build and follow glossaries so technical terms stay the same every time
- Look things up constantly in dictionaries, term banks and reference material
- Send questions to the client or author when the source is unclear
- Proofread and revise your own work and sometimes review other translators' work
- Agree scope, deadlines and fees with clients or agency project managers
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- Accuracy is almost everything; there is very little room for 'close enough'. Importance of Being Exact or Accurate: 92% extremely important (O*NET Work Context)
- Mistakes can have serious real world results. Consequence of Error: 51% extremely serious (O*NET Work Context)
- Deadlines are a daily fact of life. Time Pressure: 72% every day (O*NET Work Context)
- Keeping your word choices consistent is core work, not polish. Task rank 6, importance 84, Core: check translations of technical terms to ensure they remain consistent throughout revisions; Importance of Repeating Same Tasks: 55% extremely important
- Confidentiality is rated the most important task in the job, above translating itself. Task rank 1, importance 97, Core: follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information
How people get into it
Job Zone 4: 55% of new hires have a bachelor's degree and 28% a master's degree, often in a language, translation or the subject they specialize in. Native or near native skill in two languages is expected. Many build a track record through agency work and certification, for example from the American Translators Association.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Lindqvist Language Partners, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: This trial is written translation only; spoken interpreting, which O*NET groups into the same occupation, is not covered. You need real skill in a second language to do it, so the platform must offer the trial in a language pair you know. It also cannot show the long solo hours of focused reading, the business side of finding freelance clients, or using full professional translation memory tools. O*NET groups translators with interpreters, so some Work Context numbers, such as daily public speaking and face to face contact, mostly reflect interpreting work. Launch content is written for one pair, English to Spanish for the United States market; other pairs need their own source texts written and checked by a native professional translator before release.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 27-3091.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.