Japan Association of Translators 日本翻訳者協会

JAT’s December meeting will be held on Saturday, December 13, from 14:00pm to 17:00, followed by the annual bounenkai. Details follow. Please note that the venue has changed from KIRARA to 東天紅.

Details for JAT-TAC’s December Meeting

Theme:    Book Translation
Panelists:  Fred Uleman, Emily Shibata-Sato, and Alison Watts
Date:     December 13, 2008
Time:     14:00 – 17:00
Place:     東天紅, Ebisu Garden Place Tower 39F (TEL: 03-5424-1015)
Cost:     JAT Members – JPY5,500*　　Non-JAT – JPY6,000

RSVP ASAP from here.

(* There is the possibility of a JPY500 discount for JAT members if enough people register. The deadline for the possible discount ends on December 3, 2008.)

The nijikai begins at 17:30 at Sapporo Beer Station, cost varies.
(more…)

The finalists for the 5th Annual JAT Contest for New and Aspiring Translators have been announced, for both the Japanese to English and English to Japanese sections.

Much thanks to our hard-working contest organizers and semifinal judges (JE: Nora Stevens Heath, Mark Stevenson, Ko Iwata; EJ: Takaaki Aono, Mayumi Adachi, Kiyoshi Fujimura) for making this happen.

The final results will be announced (with love) on Christmas Day, so stay tuned!

日本翻訳者協会と通訳翻訳ジャーナルの「～英語翻訳のプロたちが綴る～後進への招待状」連載企画ですが、2008年冬号（本日発売）にはMark Stevensonさんが「The pros and cons of in-house translation (versus freelancing for translation agencies) 」という記事を寄稿しました。

次号（2月21日発売）はPhil Robertsonさんが日英翻訳の品質管理について語ります。

通訳翻訳WEB

This article by Dr. David Petersen originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of the Tsuyaku-Honyaku Journal. Reprinted with permission.

Aside from a few volunteer projects, my start in translation profession was with a private school in Hiroshima where I was employed as a teacher. The English department had taken on responsibility for a visiting author who was writing a novel about the atomic bombing. She had amassed a series of transcripts taken from interviews in Japanese with atomic bomb victims, and came to us looking for a clean English version. The project was to take 6 months. Although the department accepted the work, this was its first venture into translation, and there was no one available to deal with the task on a full-time basis. Knowing of my interest in becoming a translator, I was given a portion of the responsibility, and eventually the better part of the material ended up on my desk.
(more…)