LO
Translator / Interpreter — skills, knowledge and links
Where this job sits in the official classifications, what those classifications say it demands, and what it connects to. Every block names its source: our own judgements, the U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET, or the U.S. Department of Education.
How it connects#
O*NET also lists (no page here yet): Speech-Language Pathologists · Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary · Speech-Language Pathology Assistants · Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors · English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary · Tutors · Proofreaders and Copy Markers · Social Science Research Assistants
In the official classification#
Interpreters and Translators
Fit with this page: same job
Job Zone 4: considerable preparation
See it on O*NET OnLine ↗What O*NET rates highest#
From O*NET 27-3091.00 (Interpreters and Translators). Ordered by O*NET's importance rating; the words are O*NET's own scale anchors.
Transferable skills
- Social PerceptivenessImportant
- Service OrientationImportant
- Judgment and Decision MakingImportant
- CoordinationImportant
- InstructingImportant
- Complex Problem SolvingImportant
- Time ManagementImportant
- PersuasionImportant
Knowledge
- English LanguageExtremely important
- Foreign LanguageVery important
- Customer and Personal ServiceVery important
- Education and TrainingImportant
- AdministrativeImportant
- Public Safety and SecurityImportant
Work activities
- Interpreting the Meaning of Information for OthersExtremely important
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal RelationshipsVery important
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or SubordinatesVery important
- Updating and Using Relevant KnowledgeVery important
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and EventsVery important
- Getting InformationVery important
Abilities
- Oral ExpressionVery important
- Oral ComprehensionVery important
- Written ComprehensionVery important
- Written ExpressionVery important
- Speech RecognitionVery important
- Speech ClarityVery important
Essential skills
- SpeakingVery important
- Active ListeningVery important
- Reading ComprehensionVery important
- WritingVery important
- Critical ThinkingVery important
Our task judgements#
O*NET says what this job demands. It does not say what automation is doing to it — that is what this site's 5 task judgements are for: 3 backed by a verified event, 2 platform inference. VOLO judgement
Sources and rules#
- Four kinds of source, and each block says which: this site's own judgements, O*NET, the U.S. Department of Education's CIP–SOC crosswalk, or something computed mechanically from those. Nothing on this page is a rating we made up.
- O*NET's importance ratings are used only to order and shorten the lists. They are never combined with this site's impact index or evidence counts.
- The fit between our page and an O*NET occupation is our judgement and is stated per code: same job, broader, part of it, or only the closest there is.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026 release, U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration, CC BY 4.0. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The translations of O*NET descriptors on this page are ours, not O*NET's.