Overview
1. Automation Risk
2. User Poll
3. Growth
4. Wages
5. Volume
Decription
Resources
Comments

Interpreters and Translators

4.9/10 job score
AUTOMATION RISK
67%
risk level
POLLING
GROWTH
20.2%
by 2031
WAGES
$49,110
or $23.61 hourly
VOLUME
52,170
as of 2021
Vote
Comments (45)

What is the risk of automation?

We calculate this occupation to have an automation risk score of 67% (Robots are watching)

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated
Qualities required for this occupation:
Social Perceptiveness
Assisting and Caring for Others
Originality
Key
very important
quite important
[Show all metrics]

What do you think the risk of automation is?

How likely do you think this occupation will be taken over by robots/AI within the next 20 years?

How quickly is this occupation growing?

The number of 'Interpreters and Translators' job openings is expected to rise 20.2% by 2031
'Interpreters and Translators' is expected to be a very fast growing occupation in comparison to other occupations.
* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031.
Updated projections are due Sep 2023.

What are the median wages for 'Interpreters and Translators' in the United States?

In 2021 the median annual wage for 'Interpreters and Translators' was $49,110, or $23.61 hourly
'Interpreters and Translators' are paid 7.3% higher than the national median wage, which stands at $45,760
* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

How many people are employed as interpreters and translators?

As of 2021 there were 52,170 people employed as Interpreters and Translators within the United States.
This represents around 0.04% of the employed workforce across the country.
Put another way, around 1 in 2 thousand people are employed as Interpreters and Translators.

Job description

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

SOC Code: 27-3091.00

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Comments

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Japouni (Small chance) says
A lot of what makes up human conversation is what intention is being conveyed - a large part of that has to be read between the lines which is not something AI is likely to be good at until it actually reaches human-like capabilities
Jun 26, 2021 at 02:25 PM
Preston (Small chance) says
Because there is a human variable that is needed when addressing language discrepancies
Jun 04, 2021 at 11:00 PM
Josh (No chance) says
Language learning is a highly intuitive process that requires the brain's language mechanism. Ai are highly unlikely to posess or develop such a mechanism, that lets humans effortlessly switch "Mental-ese" into any language they know
Apr 09, 2021 at 06:32 AM
Melina (No chance) says
I don't think robots will ever be capable of understanding the nuances of every culture, something highly required to do an accurate translation that seems natural in the TL.
Mar 25, 2021 at 11:26 PM
Sasha (Could go either way) says
Takes away the personability/connection between parties, and there'll be a long way to go still if we're going off google translate aha
Mar 23, 2021 at 11:22 PM
IkariShinji says
As of right now, I can't really say anything. It could go either way, honestly. I mean, we all know that, someday, humans will be able to manufacture sentient machines. It is a matter of time. How much time? I don't know. It could take 20 years, or something. Anyway, even after the launch of this AI, translators will still be relevant for a while. You know, it will take a while for the cost benefit of these machines to pay off. After that, our jobs will probably be extinct. Or even better, I can imagine it becoming a luxury occupation, or something (some people will prefer the man instead of the AI).
Mar 18, 2021 at 01:19 PM
Paul says
I doubt it. Sometimes things like sarcasm and innuendo don't directly translate from one language to another. Context is also very important. It takes some deep study and insight to be able to become a translator/interpreter. I know this after studying Mandarin for the past 6 years. How long until AI can understand these things in the way humans can and respond the way a human would? I'd say we still have a long time until they're capable. Adjust the percentage to 10-15% probability at most, and I wouldn't see any issues with this prediction.
Feb 26, 2021 at 09:19 PM
EBH (Highly likely) says
it's already happening. look at google translate, word reference, and all the other translation apps
Feb 26, 2021 at 02:05 PM
Jozsef Hidegkuti says
No means to be replaced by AI. Giving back the meaning of a written text requires human interpretation/thinking. A simple example: Fruit flies like a banana. Once sentence two possible interpretations
Dec 28, 2020 at 02:36 PM
We're doomed. (Highly likely) says
Look up DeepL. It's already happening.
Dec 16, 2020 at 06:36 AM
nina says
very unlikely. automated translation will never be more than a tool for human translators. critical thinking, nuance, emotion, etc, these are key in speech and ai won't be able to mimic at least not for a long time.
Oct 28, 2020 at 03:16 PM
Evgeny (Likely) says
AI has been advancing rapidly in the translation industry and is already producing staggering results. As a translator, I actually take advantage of that, since AI helps me be more efficient and productive, i.e. it actually helps me make more money. Thus, I conclude that within foreseeable future the role of a translator will be largely reduced to that of an editor / proof-reader. This, however, should drive down the translators' wages significantly. Technically, we won't even be 'translators' anymore. I see this happening within one generation.
Oct 27, 2020 at 02:08 AM
IDK MAN says
Just thought I'd mention Interpreters translate spoken language or ASL. Translators translate written language. THEY ARE DIFFERENT.
Oct 23, 2020 at 06:11 PM
Ali (Highly likely) says
Google Translate is becoming better and better at translating texts everyday ,its only a matter of time before it could translate literature and common speech in real-time
Oct 17, 2020 at 07:05 PM
Philly (Highly likely) says
Just look at the DeepL translator. Some day this professional will be made completely obsolete, and it won't even be that long from now.
Oct 08, 2020 at 10:33 PM
Samuel says
I am honestly surprised this is not at 99% since if one day we can have a machine that can automatically translate languages its gonna be used heavily.
Sep 04, 2020 at 07:40 PM
Kris says
Believe me machines cannot think. Thinking is necessary for the job of translator/interpreter.
Cheers
Mar 01, 2021 at 06:00 PM
AnDrew (Likely) says
Google Translate, though by far not perfect yet could be a rising thing if computers can learn how to carry meaning.
Aug 17, 2020 at 04:21 PM
I brown-nose white men says
29% job growth by 2024, and a $52k average pay, same as accountants. Not bad for a job about copying and pasting from Google Translate.

Because we all know how great GT is, especially when it comes to context, emotions, hidden meanings and references.

I totally don't ROTFL when I see subtitles and websites translated by GT because the company didn't want to pay a professional translator.

I totally haven't made a killing from websites begging me to redo the steaming mess that is their Arabic website.

Sorry, not a chance in hell.
Aug 01, 2020 at 01:11 PM
Steph says
I am sure that most translators won't be replaced in the next 20 years. Some translators have already been replaced by AI in some fields, in some type of texts and in some language combinations. When humanity is able to develop and massively produce sentient AI able to express and convey all nuances of all 7000 different languages and cultures on Earth, AI that all humans can trust, afford, and depend on, then I think it will be time when the last human translator on Earth will likely be replaced.
Jun 17, 2020 at 10:15 PM
atheer (Could go either way) says
maybe could be replaced by the robots if the smart people made a perfect program for that or they wouldn't care about this field, no one knows
Jun 06, 2020 at 02:12 PM
Sarah Ramadan (Small chance) says
There is a small chance because machines are not accurate as humans are. Machines or robots will never understand emotions and feelings of humans. They can't get the main point of a conversation, for instance.
Apr 03, 2020 at 08:25 AM
anonym (Could go either way) says
Well, the answers may vary. It may be, but it also may be not. If somehow machine could capture the culture knowledge and the knowledge on how to perform the feelings, hidden meaning and symbolic from one's language, it can be dangerous thought.
Mar 20, 2020 at 08:04 PM
Khang (No chance) says
I don't think robots and AI can replicate every aspect of the language, and there are multiple languages existing in the world.
Feb 27, 2020 at 07:19 AM
NEO says
We now have the technology where we could insert chips inside our brains. It will combine superintelligence with our emotions so that AI could understand human "nuances" and so forth.
Jan 23, 2020 at 05:40 PM
IDK (No chance) says
This can only work if people are WILLING to do that, which I doubt most people are, as it is intensely intrusive
Oct 23, 2020 at 06:03 PM
Gabriela (Highly likely) says
A well-trained neural network can be 75-90% accurate for most texts. That's the biggest difference between translating and interpreting, which is why it's inaccurate to lump them together. A modern translator's job is simply to proofread the machine's output, which makes you x3 times faster and paid 1/4 of what the rates used to be.
Jan 23, 2020 at 01:32 PM
Nicolas (Highly likely) says
Google translate
Dec 01, 2019 at 02:42 PM
I brown-nose white men says
38% sounds right.

Unless we're talking about texts that are void of any emotion or context (terms of service, etc.), translation is for the most part creative rewriting. It actually requires intelligence, intuition, deep thinking, and heavy research, qualities that robots will never have.

I've seen movies, ads and websites translated to Arabic via Google Translate (probably to cut labour costs?), and they always have me ROTFL.

There's a reason why there's a huge projected job growth for translators and interpreters even in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world (United States).

I'm sorry but as long as people are speaking different languages, the world will always need us.

And hey, I can always be replaced by robots and move to teaching English (1% likely to be automated).
Jul 29, 2020 at 10:50 AM
GianZ says
The majority of translation tasks deal with "neutral" texts (manuals, websites, UIs, packaging etc.), where emotions, ambiguity and other subtleties play nearly no role. THOSE documents can be automatically translated without much effort. In those cases, translators maybe won't disappear, but they will be reduced in number and will mainly work as revisers. Have a try with DeepL and see if and how it can translate a sample from a manual o website).
Nov 17, 2019 at 04:55 PM
omer (No chance) says
No wayyyy. I mean think about the way you quickly understand another human's voice in an another language or his/her written stuff. Human feelings cannot be replaced by those high tech products/softwares. The only thing that they can do is, making our job easier for us -the translators & interpretators-
You can't beat human brain, you just help it unwillingly and unwittingly, as a robot...
Sep 01, 2019 at 02:55 PM
Me (Highly likely) says
It will happen in a very near future and there's no doubt for that. Maybe in some very important situations, like life saving operation, we will need translators a bit longer to avoid robot's mistakes but some day translators will be useless even in that picture.
Aug 09, 2019 at 11:34 AM
Tatiana (Small chance) says
Because this is a profession that does not rely solely on automation or direct interpretation.
Aug 08, 2019 at 01:34 AM
RB (Likely) says
It will replace the most jobs in 20 years to the point where most translators and interpreters go extinct, but it will take much more time replacing some of the... um... abstract areas, like literature, i think.
Jul 25, 2019 at 08:51 AM
Steve says
I think the number of professional translators will drop in future, as some work will be taken over by machines. However, there will always be areas where companies/banks/hospitals will not and cannot rely on a machine, as the text/content is too critical to risk any mistakes. This will be where the human translator will always be preferred. What's more, proofreading jobs should remain secure, as companies who do use machine translation will probably still want it checking by a human to be certain the context/subtleties have been interpreted correctly. So imho, no fear of the profession compelely disapearing any time soon.
Jul 22, 2019 at 01:07 PM
Ada (Small chance) says
Small chance. Have you ever tried the likes of gurgle translate or Babelfish? They are garbage at understaning nuances, context, subleties. I work as a translator and I don't fear a thing.


Jul 19, 2019 at 06:11 PM
So Min says
So yeah.... even I want to become a translator, but my friend was like is it the right option considering the advancement in technology and stuff. I was curious enough, I guess you’re right.
Translation or not words and feelings can only be expressed by a human being and not a robot or AI.
Feb 20, 2020 at 06:20 PM
Tomas (Likely) says
Maybe not right now, but it the future, digital translators will become better and better, till the point they replace humans
Jul 13, 2019 at 05:31 PM
Lakkir (Highly likely) says
Neuronal networks are already at the level of an interpreter as making translations, same error rate, they will be replaced soon
Jul 07, 2019 at 11:46 PM
Sarah (Highly likely) says
With the use of translation apps, translators are extremely likely to be laid off
Jun 25, 2019 at 10:15 PM
AC (Highly likely) says
Obviously artificial intelligence will be able to accurately translate in real time, reproduce/adapt voices and intonations... In my opinion it's one of the most threatened jobs
Jun 06, 2019 at 03:57 PM
Lucas Custodio (Highly likely) says
Today is effortless to make electronic tools with real-time translation in several languages, in a close future, human translators will be senseless.
Jun 01, 2019 at 12:02 PM
Lee Springer says
If you've noticed, public schools no longer teach children cursive (USA, IL) and typing as a form of writing/communication is slowly becoming the norm.

I predict that once communication via technology (emjoi, sms, email, mms) becomes preferable by humanity standards; then robots/technology will have the ability to translate between languages as written context will have a finer structure.

Currently, human interaction and cultural phrasing is developed at the human to human interaction. Remove the human to human interaction and then we're "dependent" on the translating robot to decipher our communication.

I predict that the high majority of translations will be completed over technology in the near future.
May 29, 2019 at 06:14 PM
Hugrún says
I'm a student of applied translation and we discuss this topic a lot in class. This sector has been predicted to be automated for some 30 years and yet we still need humans for it. The more I study the more I am convinced that us translators are going to be fine. It will take machines ages to match the nuances that humans notice.
May 22, 2019 at 04:18 PM
Caio (Highly likely) says
We already have Google translator lol
May 13, 2019 at 12:27 AM
Jane (Could go either way) says
But it still sucks lol
May 23, 2019 at 09:28 PM
Anna (Small chance) says
I'm studying to be a translator/interpreter and I honestly can't see how robots could understand some complex contexts.
May 01, 2019 at 05:16 PM
Lee Springer says
Since you're using a computer comment. You've removed all emotional context that comes when translating in real-time [Human-to-Human].
As humanity progresses to communicate via computer portal we'll naturally conform to a unified and popular lingos, shorthand and digital pragmatics.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Want to stop the robots from learning?
- Turn off Voice to Text on Voice Mail
- Stop using captions
- Don't use Siri, Alexa, and Google Home
- Don't use FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger.
- Built in speech to text on your phone, tablet or computer

If you have to utilize any of the following you're assisting the robots.

Google Meet currently allows you to turn on real-time captions when communicating over their services. It's only a matter of time when the "caption button' turns into a 'translate' button allowing me to communicate 'face-to-face' with someone who does not speak english.
May 29, 2019 at 06:57 PM
Lily (Could go either way) says
I don't even understand what's your point.
Jul 11, 2019 at 04:26 PM
Andrea (Small chance) says
Despite the odds, I know for fact that interpreting and translation rely on context, human context and pragmatics.
Apr 20, 2019 at 07:26 PM
Marie (Small chance) says
Translations within a corporation might be replaced by robots/AI (as it is already now, to a certain extent) but critical topics and situations will always require a human being for translation/interpreting. Too much is at stake and AI's aren't even close to grasp every crucial subtlety of the language (whether it be oral or signed)
Apr 04, 2019 at 03:25 PM
Caroline Elias (Small chance) says
Cause I'm working in this field ... so I'm aware of possible misunderstandings. Languages are so "fluid", emotional, corporal language related ... depending on contexts, different cultural backgrounds and habits...
Apr 04, 2019 at 01:54 PM

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