i'm in spanish 1, and my first language is english, but i also want to learn russian, italian, and possibly romainian. how many languages does the average interpreter speak? also, is it a lucrative(well paying) job?
2007-01-30 11:58:24 · 10 answers · asked by avielleb 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
For now, focus on the languages that you can easily learn, like Spanish or French. Try to perfect your knowledge of these languages. By the time you get to University, you'll be ready to pick up many other languages.
2007-01-30 12:03:02 · answer #1 · answered by darth_maul_8065 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Italian out of the way, I agree with Spanish coming first definitely, but I would lessen your expectations to no more than two languages at at time, unless you're a genius. I'd say take up Spanish and French. Your Italian will be helpful at times, but may be confusing. Personally, if you can just concentrate on Russian and learn that, it's a very important language right now. It all depends on what you're interested in and where you want to be. For europe, pick up French and German for sure, you will be set since you'll speak eng, fre, ger, and italian.
2016-03-28 21:33:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a lover of languages myself, it's good to hear that you have ambitions about learning foreign languages and plan to be an interpreter some day.
Two foreign languages are probably all you will be able to learn if you are talking about speaking them with native fluency.
However, there is also something called a "working knowldege" and a "speaking knowledge" of a foreign language. You don't need to know the whole language to have a working or speaking knowldege of it. A working knowledge requires knowing only about 5,000 to 10,000 words in the language and a speaking knowldge as few as 700 or 800 words in the language. Speaking with native fluency, however, will invove knowing at least 40,000 words in that language.
The human memory is capable of learning and retaining only so many words. So its impossible to speak say, seven (7) or eight (8) languages fluently like a native speaker. Whenever you hear about somebody being able to speak seven (7) languages, the reality is that they can probably only speak three (3) of them fluently while in the case of the other four (4) languages, what they have is a "speaking" or "working" knowledge of those languages.
Finally, don't be disappointed if your progress seems slow at first. You cannot learn a foreign language overnight. Fluency in a foreign language usually takes anywhere from seven to fifteen years to achieve.
2007-01-30 19:27:37 · answer #3 · answered by Brennus 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the more the better, but make sure that you have a thorough knowledge of the languages you do learn. Knowing 3 languages fluently is better than being iffy in 6 languages. Also, it's a good idea to learn the more widespread languages, like Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.
2007-01-30 13:29:42 · answer #4 · answered by sWtnsiMpLe 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Start with two (english and whatever you choose, spanish for example), and learn them well. It takes a lot to really understand all the nuances and references that are made. It can be lucrative, but it takes a while to build up clientele, and get known for your work. I would say that you should probably live in a place where spanish is the native language, somewhere like Miami :-)
2007-01-30 12:17:23 · answer #5 · answered by HolyLamb 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am sure the more languages you know the better. I would try to learn a language that is in the hot spot of the world or is in need.
Spanish is good, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, or Chinese.
I don't think an interpretor is a lucrative (relative word) job. However, it would give you opportunities for other positions in international companies.
2007-01-30 12:05:00 · answer #6 · answered by Laughing Libra 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I know that court interpreters can make $100+ for a half-day's work. They do simultaneous interpretation, which means they listen/speak at the same time. This is as tricky as it sounds and they take special classes to learn to do it. One "outside the box" idea for you is American Sign Language. ASL interpretation is very much in demand in the courts because there aren't too many certified interpreters out there.
2007-01-30 14:19:08 · answer #7 · answered by mrsdrucie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a very well-paid job! and the least number of languages you must speak is 2, but you really must know a lot about both languages and train yourself to think fast.
Learn Spanish very well and have a nice vocabulary in English.
2007-01-30 12:37:20 · answer #8 · answered by guidikc 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Its not the number (although that would be better) but how well you speak the language, somebody with just so so spanish cant translate as well as somebody who has studied it for years
2007-01-30 12:09:41 · answer #9 · answered by YouCannotKnowUnlessUAsk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can make lots of money, my spanish teacher makes a good one teaching at school and in the translating indistry 10 cents per word lol
but try to learn aribic the us government needs that.
I'd say 3
2007-01-30 12:09:22 · answer #10 · answered by DRAGON 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋