→ 

A translator needs:
 Excellent reading skills. The effective transfer of a message across languages hinges
on perfect comprehension of the source language(s).
 Excellent writing skills. The end-product in the target language(s) must sound
natural, idiomatic, and be productive.
 Excellent analytical skills. Pay great attention to conveying details and nuances,
detecting typos, proofreading, and editing.
 Excellent IT skills. This need ranges from the more basic keyboarding skills and use
of word processing tools to the more advanced Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT)
tools, which play an ever more pivotal role in the translation industry.

→ An interpreter needs:

 Excellent listening skills of the language(s) they interpret.
 Excellent speaking skills in the target language(s). This requirement includes clear
diction, voice projection, and discourse structuring.
 Excellent memory and note-taking skills. Interpreters must be aware of the different
techniques they can use to gather and organize the speaker’s information, so they can
afterward relay in the target language.
 Excellent interpersonal skills. Interpreters deal with humans, so they must pay
attention to aspects such as body language, non-verbal cues, and cultural differences, to
name but a few.
➤ There are, of course, specific skills which overlap:
1. Both must have proficient or native-like knowledge of their foreign and source
language(s) and culture(s)
2. and they will, preferably, possess specialist knowledge of one or more areas of
expertise.