Lucky_Two
New member
Registered: 2011-09-27
Posts: 5
Hi everyone,
If I were to learn Japanese solely to become a translator(mostly of technical/legal/etc. documents - I've heard that's where the most money is), what would be the most efficient path to take? This is a largely hypothetical question as I have many of other Japanese-related goals, but translating is something that I would like to do in the future as on-the-side work or perhaps full time. Since my recreational time is already spent in Japanese, I figure that side will largely take care of itself so I might as well spend my more intense study time focusing on a more "useful" aspect of the language.
Where I am currently: I finished RTK 1 quite a while ago, made my way through the majority of Tae Kim's guide(went through a rough pre-made deck as I read through the guide just to keep what I learned in mind), have been sentence mining(though not too hardcore), and I'm currently going through the Core 2K deck on Anki at ~60 cards a day. I'm immersed in Japanese most of the day and thoroughly enjoying myself.
I figure SRSing mass amounts of vocab, learning more advanced kanji and lots and lots and lots of reading would be the way to go, but I'm kinda lost when it comes to resources. I was thinking of picking up RTK 3 and KO2001, but there may be learning materials out there better suited to my purpose.
I realise this is a very long-term goal. Also, I know that being well acquainted with the style of English I will be translating into is equally important as being well acquainted with the type of Japanese I will be translating from. I feel I am somewhat well covered on that front but can definitely improve so advice from people with experience in this area is also welcome.
I'm hoping for some replies from people who work in/have previously worked in the translation industry, but any and all help is appreciated. 
There are probably many people who think they can just become translators, but reality's a bitch.
1) You'll probably need to become a linguist to have a shot at succeeding
2) Learn your own language and Japanese at the same time. I'd recommend reading newspapers in your native language
3) Listen to the news and be aware of the things around us
4) Acquire a scholarship (like MEXT) and go to Japan to study before you get a bachelor's degree
5) Make connections
6) If you can, get a master's degree in Japan
7) Read many books in Japanese
8) Never be satisfied with just some readings of a word. You need a deeper understanding of it, proper usage and various idioms/expressions
9) Be prepared for a lot of tough moments
10) Check if you want to become a translator again after you do get some of the things done
I'm aiming to become a translator/interpreter myself, so I have some background knowledge. It's hard. Good luck.
Last edited by merlin.codex (2011 October 27, 8:22 pm)
Jarvik7
Member
From: 名古屋
Registered: 2007-03-05
Posts: 3940
If you want to be a technical translator, you need technical knowledge. If you want to do legal translation, take some law courses. If you want to translate finance, take some economics courses. What you write has to look like it was written by a native English speaking economist/lawyer/automotive marketing drone (me)/whatever. You can't just process the Japanese into English like a machine. Direct translation is a very bad thing.
Study translation itself. You might want to make the masters degree merlin mentioned a masters in translation. There are a few famous schools for it around. I personally don't have a masters and I do fine, but I do have a certification from a 2yr course in translation as well as a strong background in both the sciences and humanities thanks to spending way too long in university.
Study English. This was the failing of most people in my translation course. They could understand the Japanese, but they were unable to put it into attractive, publishing-worthy English.
Enjoy language. "I figure that since I'm aiming to bilingual I might as well do translation" is not a good way to think. You have to enjoy playing with words or you'll hate your job and it'll show in your product and limited skill development. You don't really need to study linguistics like merlin said (though you should have impeccable grammar and be able to explain WHY things are or aren't correct - you will need to frequently justify your word choices to people further down the line), but you should WANT to study linguistics because you should be finding it fascinating. If you don't, you probably shouldn't be a translator. Liking Japanese is not enough. You will spend 10% of your time reading the Japanese source material and 90% of the time devising and revising the English.
Just knowing Japanese isn't enough to be a translator any more than having hands is enough to be an electrician.
Last edited by Jarvik7 (2011 October 27, 9:50 pm)
ta12121
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2009-06-02
Posts: 3187
The more I think about it, the more it really comes down to is it fun for you or not? For example, if one is learning Japanese but doesn't find it fun to do/interesting. In the long-run it will show. I presume translation is the same, if it's fun to you and a long-term goal. I don't see any reason why anyone can't do it. Then again, not everyone has the same passion to keep learning. Another good tip is, don't presume it will be a quick-fix type of thing. It will take time but it isn't impossible to do.
Last edited by ta12121 (2011 October 27, 10:48 pm)
Lucky_Two
New member
Registered: 2011-09-27
Posts: 5
Thanks for the advice everyone.
Reading over my first post, I didn't word my motivations well at all... One of the main reasons for my wanting to get into translation is a love for language. I have wanted to write as a hobby for quite a long time, but, unfortunately, Japanese and music beat out creative writing as my main time-sinks. I'm looking to translation as a means to justify spending time doing something I enjoy: studying the deeper aspects as English and writing. Also, I would try to translate subjects that I'm interested in like IT, Math, Economics, maybe even something music or video game-related(I'm aware of how taxing that last one is and how little it pays). The motivation is there. I will probably have to wait until at least a couple of years into my Japanese study to see if it will hang around, though.
Improving my English is something I had planned to do all along. I have a larger than average passive vocabulary due to reading a lot, but my understanding of grammar is largely intuitive. Actually, at this point I would say it's entirely intuitive. That's something I will definitely work to improve.
The only thing I wasn't planing on was taking courses. I had heard that not many companies will ask for degrees but will use a trial-piece as the main means of evaluation. I figured that a very strong grip on both Japanese, English, and the writing style used in the field along with a deep knowledge of the field would be enough.
Do you think heavy reading of the subjects(both in English and in Japanese) over the period of a few years would suffice, or will I need the bits of paper from the courses? I already have a relatively strong foundation in most of the fields that I plan on translating within, but I would need to make sure it's completely fleshed out be sure I pick up the nuances of the language used and can reproduce them.
Last edited by Lucky_Two (2011 October 28, 3:58 am)
Jarvik7
Member
From: 名古屋
Registered: 2007-03-05
Posts: 3940
If you want to work in the highest paying fields (legal, finance), you really should have a few courses under your belt, if not a major/minor. Saying "I read a bunch of books about it" isn't as impressive even if you have the same level of knowledge.
If you can speak enough Japanese to get through a job interview and say you are willing to stay for many years, you could get a job as an in-house translator in no time.
Not true, as there are VERY few openings, even if you are willing to work for exploitative wages. You're going to need to pass translation trials to even get to that interview too.
Coming over as an English teacher is a good idea though as it is MUCH harder to get a job offer (or even interviews) without a visa. Even worse, not being in Japan at all reduces your chances of getting hired to virtually nothing outside of events like the Boston Career Fair. Just don't stay teaching for too long or you'll get trapped. I only did it (jr. highschool ALT) for a couple months.
Last edited by Jarvik7 (2011 October 28, 2:50 am)
By "linguist" I meant getting any kind of degree, if it has a connection to Japanese or your native language. Sorry if it was a bit vague. Anyway, you can, of course, do without such a degree, but you'll probably have fewer chances.
I'm from Bulgaria, so my native language isn't English, but I'm learning all 3 languages at the same time (bg, jp, eng).
Interpreting is quite fun. Done it on a few occasions 
Zgarbas
Watchman
From: Romania
Registered: 2011-10-09
Posts: 879
Website
ta12121: Most Universities aim to have people graduate with an N3, if that. We do have like...1 person in the class take the N2 before they graduate, but most of our second years have yet to reach N5 level. Hilariously enough, one of our dropouts enrolled when she already had the former level 3 under her belt and is now in her third year...still at at N4 level.
Which is particularly fun when coupled with the fact that there are no Japanese masters in the entirety of Europe(except the UK), so you just spent 3 years barely getting the basics of a language which you are unable to pursue in an academic matter.
...or go teach English in Japan, but it's not like you need to know Japanese to do that.
<- one of many who should have really checked the master courses before enrolling.
Last edited by Zgarbas (2011 October 28, 5:17 pm)
