FlightWay / Careers / Interpreters and Translators

Creative & Media

Interpreters and Translators

Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into another.

Sector: Creative & Media
Preparation: Zone 4 — considerable preparation needed
O*NET code: 27-3091.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others

central to the job — rated 93/100 for importance.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

a major part of the work — rated 81/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 79/100 for importance.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge

a major part of the work — rated 78/100 for importance.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

a major part of the work — rated 77/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 76/100 for importance.

Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into another.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Speaking

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a high level (61/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Reading Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Writing

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 66/100 for importance.

Knowledge

English Language

Needed at a high level (73/100), and rated 92/100 for importance.
Foreign Language

Needed at a high level (69/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Customer and Personal Service

Needed at a high level (67/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Education and Training

Needed at a solid working level (56/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.

Abilities

Oral Expression

Needed at a high level (68/100), and rated 81/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Written Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Written Expression

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 4 — considerable preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

A four-year bachelor's degree is the usual entry ticket.

Experience

Two to four years of related work, internships or research on top of the degree.

Training

Most of the learning happens before you are hired, not after.

What it pays

These are typical creative compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Interpreters and Translators specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

WPP · Pentagram · Google

$100k – $180k

Mid-size Agencies

$70k – $110k

Freelance & Boutique

$45k – $80k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

You are in front of the public, so the job is partly performance.From “Performing for or Working Directly with the Public”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Interpreters and Translators. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Creative & Media

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See your fit for Interpreters and Translators

Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Interpreters and Translators and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.