That we are either nonexistent or superfluous.

I’m an interpreter. The reason anyone will hire me is because not everyone speaks each others’ languages. In a perfect world, where there were no linguistic barriers, you would not need me. In a near-perfect world, where everyone has a Babelfish in their ears, you wouldn’t need me either. But we’re a long way away from either of those scenarios, so here I am.

I have never seen an interpreter in a Hollywood movie. Even in movies where large parts of the action are set in Germany or Russia or China or Japan, and involve someone from somewhere else (e.g. America), you will not see an interpreter. If the American speaks Japanese or whatever it is, he or she will say a few lines and then switch to English, and the Japanese or Chinese or Russian person will switch to English as well. If the American only speaks English, the other person will speak to them in English. No one ever says “Let’s bring in an interpreter.”

The one time I have seen an interpreter on the screen, and it wasn’t the news, it was in Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. She is always accompanied by an interpreter when she visits Americans. But although sometimes you do see her interpreter at work onscreen, sometimes editing cuts out the interpreter speaking, so it looks like the Americans simply understood Ms. Kondo speaking, and Ms. Kondo simply understood what the Americans were saying.

In real life, conversations between two people who really need an interpreter are often frustrating and often very peculiar. And not everyone can switch to fluent English. So interpreters are simply necessary to help some conversations happen.