Creative & Media
Interpreters and Translators
Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into another.
Median salary
$59,440
Typical range
$36k – $100k
Job outlook
+2% (about average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Interpreters and Translators
Education
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Interpreters and Translators Intern
Internship
$36,000
~4 mos to advance
Junior Interpreters and Translators
Entry / Junior
$35,630
~2 yrs to advance
Interpreters and Translators
Established
$59,440
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Interpreters and Translators
Senior
$79,635
Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.
Key skills
A typical day
- •Follow ethical codes that protect the confidentiality of information.
- •Translate messages simultaneously or consecutively into specified languages, orally or by using hand signs, maintaining message content, context, and style as much as possible.
- •Listen to speakers' statements to determine meanings and to prepare translations, using electronic listening systems as necessary.
- •Compile terminology and information to be used in translations, including technical terms such as those for legal or medical material.
- •Refer to reference materials, such as dictionaries, lexicons, encyclopedias, and computerized terminology banks, as needed to ensure translation accuracy.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Creative & Media
Explore all- University of Southern California12% admit · $86,000 grad pay
- New York University12% admit · $84,000 grad pay
- Northwestern University7% admit · $95,000 grad pay
- University of Chicago5% admit · $91,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.