Language practice is the practice of working with language. People who are language practitioners usually work in either translation, interpreting, text-editing, copywriting, language planning and language management, and are often fluent in at least two languages. In South Africa, with our 11 official languages, language practitioners are highly sought after in both the private as well as public institutions.

As a language practitioner, you can either work on a freelance basis or for a company/governmental institution. Our graduates have done extremely well in both instances, with many finding jobs in television, radio, and even at Parliament as interpreters or translators, while others start their own translation and editing businesses. The options for a language practitioner are endless. Three of the most popular fields of language practice are translation, interpreting and editing.

Translators work with written texts and can work in various fields such as literary translation, news translation, subtitling, legal translation, to name a few.

Interpreting is the oral transfer of messages from one language to another. You will find that interpreters work in a variety of fields, ranging from courtrooms, police stations, conferences, to governmental institutions such as Parliament.

The common perception is that most bilinguals can interpret and translate, but this is not the case. In fact, not even all good translators can interpret, and not all good interpreters can translate. Language practitioners are trained language specialists who work hard to be good at their jobs.

For this reason, the academic training of language practitioners has become increasingly popular, and many bilinguals have found their calling in language practice.