Regardless of how the diverse plethora of languages that currently populate the earth came into existence, the job of translators and interpreters has always been of great importance.
Initially, in the conquest of North and South America by the Europeans, the Spanish, English, and French languages were the three main languages that came to be known in the areas where mostly indigenous languages were once spoken. Translators and interpreters during those times were mainly used to communicate amongst the parties for various topics usually consisting of religion and political debate. For many of the translators and interpreters then, medical and legal interpreting that are so common today were unheard of.
Among the most widely known translators and interpreters that worked with the indigenous populations and the Europeans were people who were not only able to communicate on a linguistic level, but also had an incredibly deep knowledge of the two communicating cultures.. Many of these translators usually were raised in either a culturally diverse home, or in a home where the target language was constantly spoken.
Among the first of these people who translated and interpreted during those times was named Malinche. Malinche worked with the Spanish interpreter, Jeronimo de Aguilar during the Spanish conquest to communicate with the Aztec Indians who inhabited what is known now as Mexico. Malinche spoke Mayan and Nahuatl (the Aztec language) and Jeronimo de Aguilar spoke Spanish and Mayan, so Malinche interpreted what was said in Nahuatl into Mayan, Jeronimo de Aguilar would interpret that message into Spanish and vice versa for Cortez and his troops. Eventually Malinche was able to learn Spanish and no longer needed to work with Jeronimo de Aguilar.
To this day, to people familiar with the Mexican culture, the name Malinche tends to conjure up feelings of negativity and betrayal which, unfortunately, were the result of her misuse of the trust granted to her as the
Language Translation Services provider. However, aside from her betrayal and deception, Malinche did have several good qualities that translators and interpreters today aspire to. The most important of these traits was the use of advanced cultural and linguistic knowledge in her work. She was given the task of communicating a lot of ideas that, at the time, were very controversial to the people there, but through her cultural and linguistic knowledge, she was able to gain the trust of both communicating parties.
Even though Malinche had less than pure motives, her knowledge on language and culture, as well as being seen as trustworthy through the eyes of both audiences was what made her a good translator and interpreter. It is these traits that language professionals today work for years to master.
