translator

English

Alternative forms

• tr., trans., transl. (abbreviations)
• translatour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English translatour, from Old French translator, translatour, translateur, from Latin trānslātor, agent noun from perfect passive participle trānslātus, from trānsferō (“carry across”), from trans (“across, beyond”) + ferō (“bear, carry”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹænzleɪtɚ/, /ˈtɹænsleɪtɚ/, /ˌtɹænzˈleɪtɚ/, [ˌtʰɹænzˈleɪtʰɚ], [ˌtʰɹænzˈleɪɾɚ], /ˌtɹænsˈleɪtɚ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹanzleɪtə/, /ˈtɹɑːnzleɪtə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

Noun

translator (plural translators)

1. A person who converts speech, text, film, or other material into a different language. (Contrasted with interpreter.)
   • 1980, Ford, Gerald, “Boyhood—and Beyond”, in A Time to Heal‎^[1], New York: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 95:

     "You don't believe the Soviet Union is going to reduce its defense budget, do you?" Boggs asked.
     Premier Chou didn't wait for the translator to finish. "Never, never, never," he replied in perfect English.

2. (by extension) One that makes a new version of a source material in a different language or format.
3. A computer program that translates something from one language to another using machine translation.

   Synonym: machine translator

Usage notes

In the localization industry, a translator deals specifically with text as the input, while an interpreter deals with speech or signing as the input.

Related terms

• transfer
• translate
• translation
• translatory

Translations

someone who translates

• Afrikaans: vertaler, vertaalster
• Albanian: përkthyes (sq) m, përkthyese (sq) f
• Arabic: مُتَرْجِم‎ m (mutarjim), مُتَرْجِمَة‎ f (mutarjima), تُرْجُمَان‎ m (turjumān)
• Armenian: թարգմանիչ (hy) (tʿargmaničʿ)
• Assamese: ভাঙনি কৰোঁতা (bhaṅoni korü̃ta), অনুবাদক (onubadok)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܲܪܓܡܵܢܵܐ‎ m (tārgmana), ܬܲܪܓܡܵܢܬܵܐ‎ f (tārgmanta)
• Asturian: traductor
• Azerbaijani: tərcüməçi (az), mütərcim
• Bashkir: тәржемәсе (tärjemäse)
• Basque: itzultzaile
• Belarusian: перакла́дчык (be) m (pjerakládčyk), перакла́дчыца f (pjerakládčyca)
• Bengali: অনুবাদক (bn) (onubadok)
• Breton: troour
• Bulgarian: превода́ч (bg) m (prevodáč), превода́чка (bg) f (prevodáčka)
• Burmese: ဘာသာပြန် (my) (bhasa-pran), ဘာသာပြန်သူ (bhasa-pransu)
• Catalan: traductor (ca) m, traductora (ca) f
• Chechen: гочдархо (gočdarxo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 譯者／译者 (zh) (yìzhě), 譯員／译员 (zh) (yìyuán), 翻譯／翻译 (zh) (fānyì), 翻譯員／翻译员 (zh) (fānyìyuán), 翻譯者／翻译者 (zh) (fānyìzhě), 翻譯家／翻译家 (zh) (fānyìjiā), 翻譯官／翻译官 (zh) (fānyìguān)

• Czech: překladatel (cs) m, překladatelka f
• Danish: oversætter c, tolk (da) c (interpreter)
• Dutch: vertaler (nl) m, vertaalster (nl) f
• Elfdalian: yvyrsetter m
• Esperanto: (♂♀, professional) tradukisto, (♂) virtradukisto, (♀) tradukistino, (♂♀) tradukanto, (♂) virtradukanto, (♀) tradukantino
• Estonian: tõlk
• Faroese: týðari m, tolkur m, umsetari m
• Finnish: kääntäjä (fi)
• French: traducteur (fr) m, traductrice (fr) f
• Galician: tradutor (gl) m, tradutora f
• Georgian: მთარგმნელი (mtargmneli), თარჯიმანი (tarǯimani)
• German: Übersetzer (de) m, Übersetzerin (de) f
• Greek: μεταφραστής (el) m (metafrastís), μεταφράστρια (el) f (metafrástria)

  Ancient: μεταφραστής m (metaphrastḗs)

• Greenlandic: nutserisoq
• Gujarati: અનુવાદક (anuvādak)
• Hawaiian: mea unuhi
• Hebrew: מְתַרְגֵּם‎ (he) m (metargém), מְתַרְגֶּמֶת‎ f (metargémet)
• Hindi: अनुवादक (hi) m (anuvādak), भाषांतरकार m (bhāṣāntarkār)
• Hungarian: fordító (hu)
• Icelandic: þýðandi (is) m
• Ido: (♂♀, professional) tradukisto (io), (♂) tradukistulo, (♀) tradukistino, (♂♀) tradukanto (io), (♂) tradukantulo, (♀) tradukantino
• Indonesian: penerjemah (id)
• Irish: aistritheoir m
• Italian: traduttore (it) m, traduttrice (it) f
• Japanese: 翻訳者 (ほんやくしゃ, hon'yakusha)
• Kannada: ಅನುವಾದಕ (kn) (anuvādaka)
• Kazakh: аударушы (audaruşy), аудармашы (audarmaşy)
• Khmer: អ្នកបកប្រែ (nĕək bɑɑk prae)
• Korean: 번역자(飜譯者) (beonyeokja), 번역가(飜譯家) (ko) (beonyeokga)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: وەرگێڕ‎ (ku) (wergêrr)

  Northern Kurdish: wergêr (ku), terciman (ku)

• Kyrgyz: котормочу (ky) (kotormoçu)
• Ladino: terdjuman m
• Lao: ຜູ້ແປ (phū pǣ), ນາຍພາສາ (nāi phā sā)
• Latin: interpres m or f, trānslātor (la) m
• Latvian: tulkotājs m, tulkotāja f
• Lithuanian: vertėjas m
• Luxembourgish: Iwwersetzer m
• Macedonian: преведувач m (preveduvač), преведувачка f (preveduvačka)
• Malay: penterjemah (ms)
• Malayalam: വിവര്ത്തകന് (vivarttakanŭ)
• Maltese: traduttur m
• Manchu: ᡨᡠᠩᠰᡝ (tungse)
• Maori: kaiwhiringa reo, kaiwhakamāori
• Marathi: अनुवादक (mr) (anuvādak)
• Middle English: translatour
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: орчуулагч (mn) (orčuulagč), хөрвүүлэгч (xörvüülegč)

• Ngazidja Comorian: mtafsiri class 1/2
• Norman: traducteux m
• Northern Sami: jorgaleaddji
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oversetter m

  Nynorsk: omsetjar m, omsettar m

• Occitan: traductor (oc)
• Old English: wealhstod m
• Oriya: ଅନୁବାଦକ (ônubadôkô)
• Pashto: ترجمان‎ (ps) m (tarǰomãn), مترجم‎ m (motaraǰém), ژباړن‎ (ps) m (žbāṛán), ژباړونکی‎ (ps) m (žbāṛúnkay)
• Pennsylvania German: Iwwersetzer m
• Persian: ترگمان‎ (targomân), مترجم‎ (fa) (motarjem), ترجمنده‎
• Plautdietsch: Äwasata m
• Polish: tłumacz (pl) m, tłumaczka (pl) f, translator (pl) m, translatorka f
• Portuguese: tradutor (pt) m, tradutora f
• Romanian: traducător (ro) m, traducătoare (ro) f, translator (ro) m, translatoare (ro) f
• Romansch: translatur m, translatura f
• Russian: перево́дчик (ru) m (perevódčik), перево́дчица (ru) f (perevódčica)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-theangair m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прево̀дилац m, прево̀дитељ m

  Roman: prevòdilac (sh) m, prevòditelj (sh) m

• Sinhalese: පරිවර්තක (pariwartaka)
• Skolt Sami: ǩiõlljåårǥlõʹtti
• Slovak: prekladateľ m, prekladateľka f
• Slovene: prevajalec (sl) m, prevajalka f
• Somali: turjume
• Sorbian:

  Lower: pśełožowaŕ m

  Upper: přełožowar m, přełožer m

• Sotho: mofetoledi
• Spanish: traductor (es) m, traductora (es) f
• Swahili: mfasiri (nc 1/2), mfumbua (nc 1/2), mtapta (nc 1/2)
• Swedish: översättare (sv) c
• Tajik: тарҷумон (tarjumon), мутарҷим (mutarjim)
• Tamil: மொழிபெயர்ப்பாளர் (moḻipeyarppāḷar)
• Tatar: тәрҗемәче (tt) (tärcemäçe)
• Telugu: అనువాదకుడు (te) (anuvādakuḍu)
• Thai: ผู้แปล (pûu-bplɛɛ), นักแปล (nák-bplɛɛ), ล่าม (th) (lâam)
• Tibetan: སྐད་སྒྱུར (skad sgyur)
• Tigrinya: ተርጓሚ (ti) m (tärgʷami), ተርጓሚት f (tärgʷamit)
• Turkish: çevirmen (tr), tercüman (tr)
• Turkmen: terjimeçi
• Ukrainian: переклада́ч (uk) m (perekladáč), переклада́чка f (perekladáčka)
• Urdu: مترجم‎ m (mutarjim), ترجمان‎ m (tarjumān), انوادک‎ m (anuvādak)
• Uyghur: تەرجىمان‎ (terjiman)
• Uzbek: tarjimon (uz)
• Vietnamese: thông dịch viên (vi), dịch gỉa
• Volapük: (♂♀) tradutan (vo), (♂) hitradutan, (♀) jitradutan
• Walloon: ratourneu (wa) m, tradujheu m, ratourneuse (wa) f, tradujheuse f
• Welsh: cyfieithydd (cy)
• West Frisian: oersetter m
• Yiddish: איבערזעצער‎ m (iberzetser), איבערזעצערין‎ f (iberzetserin)

language interpreter

• Bulgarian: преводач (bg) m (prevodač)
• Catalan: traductor (ca) m, traductora (ca) f (proscribed)
• Galician: tradutor (gl) m, tradutora f (proscribed)
• Macedonian: толкувач m (tolkuvač)
• Maori: kaiwhakawhiti reo
• Greek: μεταφραστής (el) m (metafrastís)
• Italian: interprete (it) m or f
• Latin: interpres m or f, trānslātor (la) m
• Persian: ترجمال‎ (fa)
• Portuguese: tradutor (pt) m, tradutora f (proscribed)
• Romanian: interpret (ro) m
• Spanish: traductor (es) m, traductora (es) f (proscribed)
• Tigrinya: ተርጓሚ (ti) m (tärgʷami), ተርጓሚት f (tärgʷamit)

machine translator

• Catalan: traductor (ca) m, traductora (ca) f
• Esperanto: tradukilo (eo)
• Galician: tradutor (gl) m, tradutora f
• Greek: μηχανικός μεταφραστής m (michanikós metafrastís)
• Italian: traduttore (it) m
• Macedonian: преведувач m (preveduvač)
• Persian: ترجمال‎ (fa)
• Polish: tłumacz (pl) m, translator (pl) m
• Portuguese: tradutor (pt) m, tradutora f
• Spanish: traductor (es) m, traductora (es) f
• Tigrinya: ተርጓሚ (ti) m (tärgʷami), ተርጓሚት f (tärgʷamit)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English translator, from Middle English translatour, from Old French translator, translatour, translateur, from Latin trānslātor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /transˈla.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atɔr
• Syllabification: trans‧la‧tor

Noun

translator m pers (feminine translatorka)

1. (literary, translation studies) translator (someone who translates)

   Synonym: tłumacz

Declension

Declension of translator

	singular	plural
nominative	translator	translatorzy
genitive	translatora	translatorów
dative	translatorowi	translatorom
accusative	translatora	translatorów
instrumental	translatorem	translatorami
locative	translatorze	translatorach
vocative	translatorze	translatorzy

Noun

translator m inan

1. (computing) translator (computer program that translates something from one language to another using machine translation)

Declension

Declension of translator

	singular	plural
nominative	translator	translatory
genitive	translatora	translatorów
dative	translatorowi	translatorom
accusative	translator	translatory
instrumental	translatorem	translatorami
locative	translatorze	translatorach
vocative	translatorze	translatory

Derived terms

adjective

• translatorski

 

Related terms

adjective

• translacyjny

 

nouns

• translacja
• translatorium

 

Further reading

• translator in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• translator in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French translateur, from Latin translator, translatoris.

Noun

translator m (plural translatori, feminine equivalent translatoare)

1. translator (someone who translates)