Tokyo Summer Party

July 27th, 2010 | Posted in Events

We plan a relaxed meeting with a book exchange (bring as many books as you like) and activities to brush up networking skills, before the serious business of eating and drinking.

Date: Saturday August 28, 2010
Time: 3:30-8:30 pm (meeting from 3:30, dinner from 5:30, uketsuke starts 3:00)
Place: Suji’s (http://www.sujis.net/sub24_3.htm)
Cost: 3,000 yen (buffet + 1 drink, cash bar)
RSVP: Please reply by 9pm Tuesday August 24th (JST) from this form
https://jat.wufoo.com/forms/tac-summer-party-2010/

Learning about learning at Monterey

July 19th, 2010 | Posted in Articles

I have often mentioned Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) as a school to consider when people asked about further education in translation and interpreting. At the same time, although I had heard good things, I did not have first-hand experience of the school or know much about what it offers. Attending MIIS’s symposium and networking dinner on Sunday, June 20 in Tokyo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Japanese program, I learned about MIIS’s course content and saw the graduates in action.

Armed with the facts, I can now recommend MIIS with even greater conviction!


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JATLAW Bankruptcy Law Presentation Slides

July 7th, 2010 | Posted in Articles, Events

You can download Junichi Tobimatsu’s presentation slides from the June 26, 2010 JATLAW Seminar here: JATLAW Presentation (June 26, 2010) - Bankruptcy Law.pdf

You will need the member password published on the list to access this file.

PROJECT Tokyo 2010

July 6th, 2010 | Posted in Events

The PROJECT Tokyo 2010 organizing committee is pleased to announce the opening of registration for PROJECT Tokyo 2010 (PT 2010), the third in a series of one-day conferences on translation and interpreting organized by the Japan Association of Translators (日本翻訳者協会) for participants to build skills and exchange information about their professions.

Theme: Tools and Workshops: Better, Faster, Richer
Date: Saturday, September 11, 2010
Time: 9:30 to 17:00
Registration opens at 9:00
Venue: TKP Shinagawa Conference Center (http://tkpshinagawa.net/)
3F Takanawa Court, 3-13-1 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Approx. 5 minutes’ walk from Shinagawa Station (Takanawa Exit)
Admission: Students: Y4,000
JAT Members: Y5,000
Non-Members: Y6,000
Post-conference networking event: Y5,000 (two-hour buffet meal and open bar)

* Registration for the conference and post-conference networking event closes at midday on September 4, 2010. Registration is via the conference website only.

The program will consist of introductions to translation tools, workshops to improve practical skills, and informative sessions from industry specialists. More information on the program will be added to the website in the near future.

* Visit the conference website for more details: http://project.jat.org/

We look forward to meeting you there!

Tokyo Meeting July 17 2010

June 28th, 2010 | Posted in Events

Date: Saturday, July 17, 2010
Time: 14:00-17:00
Place: Forum 8, Shibuya (http://www.forum-8.co.jp/access/index.html)
Address: Dogenzaka 2-10-17, Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03-3780-0008
Speaker: Masashi Negishi
Presentation: “Could You Also Be A Tourist Guide? Inbound Tourism Trends and CS for Interpreter Guides”
Speaker Profile:
Masashi Negishi is the Managing Director and Secretary-General of the Japan Guide Association (JGA). He worked at JTB for forty years, more than ten of which were in overseas and domestic guide training and support. Before taking up his present position, he was the Travel English supervisor at a vocational school for students taking the ‘General Travel Industry Managers’ examination. For the past few years he has been on the tourist guide interpreters and regional guide interpreters oral examinations committee. He provides package tour CS coordinator services for foreign tourists to Japan, as well as training and development/ management/ lecturing, to JGA, local governments, and various organizations with interpreter guides and volunteers. In his spare time he does commercial interpreting and translation (tourism, agriculture, irrigation, ozone treatment, general).

Cost: JAT members free, Non-members 1,000 yen (advance registration not necessary)
Nijikai: from 5:15 Venue: The Aldgate British Pub (http://www.the-aldgate.com/ )
Cost: About 3000 yen (Food only/cash bar. Anyone attending only the nijikai, please contact TAC by 16/7)
Inquiries: tac@jat.org

JATLAW Seminar

June 18th, 2010 | Posted in Events

Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010
Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Place: Room 1106, Forum 8
Address: 11th Floor Shin-Taiso Building, 2-10-7 Dogenzaka, Shibuya, Tokyo
Map: http://www.forum-8.co.jp/access/index.html
Phone: 03-3780-0008
Speaker: Mr. Junichi Tobimatsu, Partner, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Presentation: Japanese Bankruptcy Law: Basic Proceedings and Terms
Cost: JAT members free, non-members 1,000 yen (pre-registration not required)
Nijikai: 17:30 – 20:00
Nijikai venue: Punraku (www.punraku.com)
Nijikai attendance: Registration required by Thursday 24, please
Contact: kyal.hill@hplt.jp

About the speaker:
Mr Tobimatsu (or Tobimatsu Sensei) is a partner attorney at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, one of Japan’s leading international commercial law firms. He specializes in commercial dispute resolution and bankruptcy and has extensive experience in both domestic and international matters. Since April 2010 Mr Tobimatsu has been serving as an Associate Professor at Tokyo University’s School of Law, where he lectures on civil procedure and other civil matters of practice.

About the seminar:
Mr Tobimatsu’s talk is entitled Japanese Bankruptcy Law: Basic Proceedings and Terms, and he will be focusing on the basic flow of bankruptcy proceedings and the meanings of terms used in Japanese bankruptcy law.

Book Review: Entrepreneurial Linguist

June 16th, 2010 | Posted in Articles

Fred Uleman reviews Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School Approach to Freelance Translation by Judy A. Jenner and Dagmar V. Jenner. Click the following link to read the review.
Review: Entrepreneurial Linguist

Tokyo Meeting June 19

June 11th, 2010 | Posted in Events

Date: Saturday, June 19, 2010
Time: 14:00-17:00
Place: Forum 8 (Shibuya)
Address: Dogenzaka 2-10-17, Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03-3780-0008
Speakers: Fred Uleman/Emily Shibata-Sato
Presentation: Translation Workshop Part II: “Animals in Translation” English to
Japanese Workshop
JAT members free, Non-members 1,000 yen (advance registration not necessary)
Nijikai: from 5:15 Venue: Punraku (http://www.punraku.com or http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g337700/)
Cost: 4,000 yen for all you can drink and nibbles.
Inquiries: tac@jat.org

Presentation Outline:
The source text is on a zoonosis 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu which swept through the
world last year. Animal quizzes and short passage translation prior to the
session (e.g.”犬猿の仲” in English is?). May talk about foot-and-mouth disease
if there’s time.
Materials for meeting: http://jat.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/tac-20106-text.pdf

PROJECT Tokyo 2010 - SAVE THE DATE

June 10th, 2010 | Posted in Events

The PROJECT Tokyo 2010 Committee is happy to announce that we have fixed a date and location for the event - TKP Shinagawa (very close to Shinagawa station) from 9:30 to 17:00 on September 11, 2010.

The committee is rather excited and preparations are underway to present a worthwhile event for all. We hope you will join us. The central theme of PT 2010 will be Tools and Workshops. We hope to offer a program of presentations about tools that can help your translation (translation memory, dictation, computer security, ergonomics, etc.), field-specific workshops (from EtoJ and JtoE) for honing your skills, and other useful presentations.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR SPEAKERS (particularly Japanese speakers) - if you are knowledgeable about a particular tool/field or willing to lead a workshop, or can recommend somebody else, please contact us pt2010@jat.org.

PROJECT Tokyo 2010 Committee
(Chair: Lisa Hew)

Meaning-centric Translation

May 21st, 2010 | Posted in Articles

This article by Fred Uleman originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the Tsuyaku-Honyaku Journal. Reprinted with permission.

What does this title mean, and why would I bother writing about it?

What it means

When you start learning a language, you spend a lot of time on vocabulary and grammar. As you advance, you do some practice translations for teachers who are primarily interested in seeing if you understand the vocabulary and the grammar. So your translations tend to reflect the vocabulary and grammar. Even if they are awkward, you do this to show that you understand these things. And you think these translations are faithful to the original.
But in the real world of commercial translation, we need a different kind of fidelity. We need to be faithful not to the vocabulary and grammar but to the meaning. The meaning needs to be the center of focus. We need to do meaning-centric translation.

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