A dragoman was an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts. A dragoman had to have a knowledge of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and European languages.
Amédée Jaubert (left) was Napoleon's "favourite orientalist adviser and dragoman". He accompanied the Persian envoy Mirza Mohammad-Reza Qazvini at Finckenstein Palace to meet with Napoleon on 27 April 1807 for the Treaty of Finckenstein. Detail of a painting by François Mulard.
Plate from The Crescent and the Cross by Elliot Warburton entitled "Encampment at Baalbec, lady and dragoman in foreground."
Dragoman Joseph Shaar. Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek, 1891
Letter issued by Sultan Ahmed III assigning Nicola Danal Spiro as dragoman to Thomas Funck, Swedish envoyée to the Ottoman court.
Interpreting is a translational activity in which one produces a first and final target-language output on the basis of a one-time exposure to an expression in a source language.
A painting showing a doctor explaining the outcome of an operation to his servant, who acts as an interpreter
Stéphane Brizé (second from the right) speaking in French in Buenos Aires in 2019. Seated to his left, the interpreter (on the extreme right) waits to translate into Spanish.
Alan Gordon-Finlay trialling the Hush-A-Phone at the League of Nations, c. 1927 - ILO Historical Archives
Nuremberg defendants at dock listening to simultaneous interpretation
