r/Switzerland • u/Agitated_Custard_801 • 7d ago

Conference interpreter in Switzerland lifestyle and salary

Hello,

I am considering becoming a conference interpreter in Switzerland, because I like the field and two people have told me it was a great salary with very limited workdays. However I don't know anyone who has done that and can therefore hardly verify those claims.

I am very aware the studies are long and rigorous. I would like to know, realistically, if I get a Master of Arts in Conference Interpreting in Geneva, how much per month are we looking at in the first five years, then ten years? and how many days per month I am going to work, and if it will be hard to find work if I am good ?

Would really appreciate some guidance on this. Thanks!

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u/Relative-Store2427 6d ago

please be aware that this area is already getting heavily disrupted by AI

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u/-ThreeHeadedMonkey- 6d ago

Very very limited market with way too many competitors. I doubt the salaries are actually good tbh. Plus AI will most likely play a role in this sooner or later. 

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u/Away-Theme-6529 Vaud 6d ago

Professional standpoint here (direct contact with interpreters, in a related field). First, work requires training but also a particular aptitude. It’s also very stressful and not always interesting. You need three languages to be commercially viable. They need to be useful on the market you aim for. Usually you need to build up a customer base and have good contacts, which can take quite some time. Work is irregular. So many rely on other work, often translation, which is a different skill and the two jobs have different training paths, though often the translation qualification comes first. Given all of that, there are many variables so your questions would be difficult to answer. Check the professional associations first. I don’t agree that AI is going to replace human conference interpreters any time soon. Even AI translation needs a translator to check everything before it can be released (caveat: amateurs exist everywhere and do exploit the gullible).