I was wondering if anyone who reads this board took this test and class. Its a correspondence course designed for introducing translation and interpretation. Im really geared up to give it a try, so does anyone have any advice about passing the test (hopefully someone has taken the same one)? From what I gather, there will be a simultaneous interpretation part.

I have no experience with any form of translation, so even when I understand and can reply in Japanese, its often difficult to put in english

thanks in advance for any tips

I never took it or know anything about it, but if you intend to do translation I highly recommend training. Producing a good translation requires a lot more than being good at the source language.

If this course is worth doing they'll have you do lots of practice translations which you submit, get feedback about, and resubmit revisions of. Interpretation and translation are actually pretty different though so if they try to shoehorn it all into one course it's potentially iffy. There are very few simultaneous interpreters who weren't raised bilingually.

I got a translation certificate on top of my degree from my university by taking some extra courses. (192 class-hours worth over 2 years - Translation theory, history of translation, Japanese-English translation, Practical Japanese-English translation)

Jarvik7 Wrote:[...]
if you intend to do translation I highly recommend training. [...]

Do you have any specific recommendations? Mostly, do I look inside universities for courses in the subject area or outside of Universities for translation/interpretation training companies?

As for the Clair course, my CIR took the pedagogy one and said it was great. No info on the Translation side, sorry.

having tried to do translate and interpret, I whole heartedly agree that they require special training (and from what I gather, lots of it ) and dont nessecarily reflect one's linguistic ability

Having said that, to get my start I need to be able to get into the course (even though its for beginners, test is June 26th). So should I just jump in there and do loose translations of different things? Is it helpful to watch the news on NHK and speak as much as I can in English?

I guess what Im getting at is, how can I get into the "mode?" Are there any links or strategies that anybody has for some basic rules of translating and interpretation. I say that realizing that there is real depth to this, but i have heard people make general comments like "translate from front to back."