Dear Geist,
What is the difference, if any, between
there's some overlap, and the usage guides you recommend are silent on the topic.

Dear Sasha,
Translation has to do with making a text (everything from long texts like books to short texts such as captions, signs, talk bubbles, etc.) accurately and smoothly available to readers of another language. The translated text incorporates the translator's knowledge of the culture or sub-culture of the original text, and that of the audience for the translation. The translation must also be true to the tone, voice and purpose of the original text, it must be well written and it must be free of introduced errors, especially in technical or scientific text.
Interpreters work with spoken language, continually paraphrasing content from one language for smooth delivery to another, and/or back and forth between languages. They work in the moment, with no time to think, or look something up, or ponder the best rendering of an untranslatable idiom.
That said, it's common to see the terms
used interchangeably, and there is some overlap in the daily work of both. Let's just say this: good translators and interpreters are magic.
—The Editors