How to become an Interpreter
Also called: English interpreter
Stands between people who speak different languages and turns what is said into the other person's spoken language.
Main tasks
- Passing on what each person says when a few people are having an everyday conversation
- Attending negotiations and meetings and interpreting both sides accurately
- Standing beside the speaker at talks, remembering what is said and interpreting at suitable breaks
- Listening to the speaker through an electronic sound system and interpreting at the same time as the talk
- Attending technical training and interpreting operating steps and how machines work
- Taking notes to remember what a speaker has said over a period so it can be interpreted afterwards
- Researching and preparing the topics of meetings and talks in advance
- Translating recorded broadcasts and videos
- Translating written documents such as emails and materials
- Helping draw up contracts and memoranda in English
- Teaching Japanese to clients and students
- Helping foreign nationals with procedures at government offices in Japan
- Going with people to hospital and helping with conversations with doctors and with procedures
- Helping with procedures for moving in and out of accommodation
- Accompanying and interpreting on overseas tours
- Accompanying companies on overseas business trips, such as sales visits and factory tours, and interpreting
- Reading books to study their own native language
- Interpreting when warrants are carried out
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
No particular education or qualifications are needed to start. It is a world based on merit, where you get work through your track record and ability. Generally at least university-level education is needed, and many interpreters have completed interpreter training courses at universities, interpreting schools or graduate schools. The Test of Business Interpreting Skills (TOBIS) can be an advantage when looking for work. Interpreters get work by registering with an agency, through introductions from acquaintances, organisations or schools, or by being employed by a company. As well as advanced language skills, you need general knowledge, background knowledge of the fields you interpret in, and strong understanding.
Ways in
- University: Arts & Humanities degrees, Offered by 96 universities in Japan
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Foreign languages. 専修学校 courses in 外国語 (文化・教養関係) had 2,316 graduates in the 2024 school year, 870 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Interpreting and guiding. 専修学校 courses in 通訳・ガイド (文化・教養関係) had 647 graduates in the 2024 school year, 467 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥5,833,100 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥307,800, and the middle half earn ¥251,700 to ¥414,600 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Specialist professionals not classified elsewhere
- 0.80 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become an Interpreter?
No particular education or qualifications are needed to start. It is a world based on merit, where you get work through your track record and ability. Generally at least university-level education is needed, and many interpreters have completed interpreter training courses at universities, interpreting schools or graduate schools. The Test of Business Interpreting Skills (TOBIS) can be an advantage when looking for work. Interpreters get work by registering with an agency, through introductions from acquaintances, organisations or schools, or by being employed by a company. As well as advanced language skills, you need general knowledge, background knowledge of the fields you interpret in, and strong understanding.
How much does an Interpreter earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,833,100 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Specialist professionals not classified elsewhere, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become an Interpreter?
Usually. In this job's census occupation group, 67% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of an Interpreter?
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026