Interpreter Kaiwhakawhiti Reo ā-Waha

Physical Requirements

Interpreters need to have good hearing. They also need stamina, as they often have to work long and irregular hours.

Useful Experience

Useful experience for interpreters includes:

• work with people from different cultures, or new migrants
• work in professional sectors such as law enforcement, scientific, legal, technical or medical environments
• living and working overseas – for example, going on a student exchange programme
• language study.

Personal Qualities

Interpreters need to be able to: 

• concentrate for long periods
• relate to people from a range of cultures and make their clients feel comfortable
• listen, process information and speak at the same time
• react quickly and work well under pressure
• cope with a wide variety of subjects and situations
• keep information private
• summarise and analyse information quickly
• work in a team.

Interpreters also need to have a good memory and good comprehension skills.

Skills

Interpreters need to have:

• an excellent command of their native language
• excellent knowledge of one or more other languages
• strong subject knowledge and specialist vocabulary
• general knowledge (for high-level settings)
• good public speaking skills (especially for consecutive interpreting, where an interpreter listens to the speaker, takes notes and then does a verbal interpretation)
• familiarity with interpreting booth technology
• a note-taking system for consecutive interpreting.

Conditions

Interpreters:

• usually work part time and do freelance work, or work irregular hours, and some are on call 24 hours a day
• work in a variety of settings such as courts, hospitals, offices and other workplaces
• may travel locally or nationally, including with tourists and business groups.