The purpose of this paper is to study the quality of interpretation and translation or how faithful the interpreter or translator has been in rendering the original. What exactly is meant when we talk about faithfulness? Most agree that the message has to be understood and transmitted. While interpretation involves instantaneous communication, there is a time lag in translation. This paper will study whether the time factor affects faithfulness. In translation, a translator must be faithful to the author's intended meaning and not the individual words; the translator must be faithful to the target language; and the translator must be faithful to the target readers. Unlike translation, most interpretation acts takes place in real time. The interpreter must grasp the message instantaneously and then convey the message immediately. Though there is a difference in the length of the output for simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, this does not interfere with the degree of faithfulness. A faithful interpretation is judged by the content and the tone, which produce the same cognitive and emotional effects.
