Translators are not linguists; here’s the difference
By: Natpaphat, You Can Call Me Ao
Tags: Language, Language Translation, Translation Services, Thai Translation, Translation

Linguists and translators in professional areas

As we have seen some general scenarios of these two professionals, let’s move a bit further to career examples, which will help clarify exactly how translators and linguists contribute their skills and knowledge in different paths.

First, the translators, the job tasks obviously require the communication abilities between two or more languages in a professional manner. Not everybody who can speak a variety of languages can become a translator, as the expertise of professional topics is needed. Since humanity is driven by cooperation of different partners around the world, in matters of research, education, healthcare, human rights, economics, business, etc., accurate communications between those parties is essential. (I’ll go into more detail on what “accurate” means in a future post.) Imagine discussions at a global economic conference; sometimes the words “bull”, “bullish” or “bear”, “bearish” are used, which has nothing to do with animals or lives. In this example, the behavior of animal’s attacks; bulls (horns up) and bears (paws down) are representing stock market fluctuations. When stock prices rise up and generally keep moving on the optimistic side for months or years, that circumstance correlates with the furious bull battle. Meanwhile, a bear attack seems reluctantly slow, therefore the term displays the period of downward stock price trends. Experience of context and terminology is important for translators in order to effectively accomplish their duties.

Equally important, linguists contribute various kinds of societal benefits. Thorough studies of language origins and history, combined with comprehension of human linguistic behaviors, make linguists great at solving language-related problems. For example, children or people born with oral conditions which might cause speech disorders can receive speech therapy conducted by linguistic therapists. Linguistic specialists apply scientific methods with human oral structure to assist patients on developing their sound and speaking articulation.

Another example of a linguistic professional, forensic scientists or government intelligence officers use linguistic training to solve crime cases and identify terrorists using their linguistic identities from voice recordings and documents such as threatening emails, witness statements, suicide notes, etc. Everyone has their own unique characteristics of speaking, writing, and interacting, thus a few sentences can help professionals identify the person that the communications belong to. Forensic linguists are normally involved with law enforcement and crime prevention. Organizations like the CIA and FBI for example, use linguistic and cultural expertise to protect against domestic and international threats.

Both linguists and translators work with languages, but in significantly different areas to accomplish different missions. Depending on which direction these language lovers decide to move forward, they may become end up as a linguist, translator, or another language-related professional. Whether they are helping people successfully negotiate a business deal, or helping with a criminal investigation, the two professions are indispensable for their respective duties. They are not, however, interchangeable: a translator cannot automatically perform the role of a linguist, and vice versa.