Brief Book Review: 医薬品開発-承認申請-市販後業務のための知っておきたい英単語・英語表現

医薬品開発-承認申請-市販後業務のための知っておきたい英単語・英語表現 Author: 内田たけみ ISBN: 978-4840746342 Second Edition, published September 2014 Price: 3700 yen plus tax (as of December 2018) 医薬品開発-承認申請-市販後業務のための知っておきたい英単語・英語表現 is now in its second edition. Written by Takemi Uchida, formerly an in-house translator with pharma companies Upjohn and Pfizer before retiring to become a freelance translator, this book dovetails...

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Mere Pebbles Along the Way Charles De Wolf It is said that while source texts are eternal, target languages are not, hence the enduring need for new translations of old works. And yet inasmuch as our perceptions too are subject to time’s vicissitudes, so in some sense are the seemingly unchanging texts themselves. The perfectly “normal” dialogue in older films such as Ozu’s Banshun (Late...

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Mini Book Review: 翻訳教室 Lectures on Literary Translation from English to Japanese

Mini Book Review: 翻訳教室 Lectures on Literary Translation from English to Japanese ISBN-13: 978-4022646644 Publication date: April 5, 2013 Price: 1,000 JPY plus tax Author: 柴田 元幸 Inspired by Kevin Kirton’s 2001 review of 翻訳夜話 that was recently republished on the JAT blog, I decided to buy a copy for myself. At the same time, I also picked up 翻訳教室, by one of the book’s interlocutors, 柴田元幸. I...

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Webinar Review: The translationQ Revision and Evaluation System

I know we have many JAT members who also teach translation or work in agencies as coordinators, so you may be interested to hear about a product I saw demonstrated in a recent webinar. Traditionally, the way we mark, revise, or evaluate student-submitted translation assignments is to open the documents in Word and use the Track Changes or Comment functions to identify, categorize, and correct...

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Book Review. 技術翻訳のチェックポイント:技術英文の作成と評価

技術翻訳のチェックポイント:技術英文の作成と評価 English title: Improving Translation Quality Author: Kevin Morrissey ISBN: 978-4621075654 Price: 2400 yen plus tax (as of December 2018) First published in 2005, and available in bricks-and-mortar bookstores and online, this very useful book is now in its sixth printing. I thought I’d take a look at it after the recent publication of the JTF翻訳品質評価ガイドライン. Improving...

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Joint JATINT/TAC Meeting, November 17, 2018: A Brief Report

I realized a long time ago that I didn’t have what it takes to be an interpreter. However, thinking that I still might learn something useful from a meeting aimed at interpreters, I attended the joint JATINT/TAC meeting held in Yoyogi on November 17, 2018. And so I did. The first speaker was Izumi Suzuki, whose presentation was titled 通訳ビジネスの成功に向けて. Suzuki-san provided a comprehensive rundown...

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Report of JATPHARMA Informal Get-Together in October

On the heels of the JTF Translation Festival in Kyoto and the 7th medical translation seminar organized by International Medical Translation Service, Inc., a small group of JAT members specializing in medical and pharma held an informal meeting in Osaka on Sunday October 28. Each attendee was tasked with preparing an eight-minute presentation on a subject of their choice in Japanese or English,...

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TAC Meeting Report--October 20, 2018

To be or not to be … productive? We will be now! The Tokyo Activities Committee meeting of Saturday October 20 featured twenty-year veteran translator Cathy Eberst reprising and expanding her IJET-29 presentation on productivity. Cathy began by asking the audience about whether they were productive and/or efficient, and whether there were any differences between these concepts. We were...

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From the Archives

How Not to Lose It in Translation..... by Emily Shibata-Sato and Cliff Bender “I can't believe it. My hands are shaking from excitement as I type this message!” replied Mako Sato upon hearing that she had won first place in the English- to-Japanese division of the First Annual JAT Translation Contest for new and aspiring translators sponsored by the Japan Association of Translators...

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The Sound of One Hand Clapping (Against Another): Murakami and Shibata Discuss Translation Kevin KIRTON (ケビン・カートン) If I had to offer a single compelling reason for translators to read 『翻訳夜話』(Hon’yaku Yawa) by Murakami Haruki 村上春樹 and Shibata Motoyuki 柴田元幸 (文春新書、2000 年、 ISBN コ-ド 4-16-660129-6), it would be this: it’s a very pleasurable way to find a renewed sense of wonderment for the...

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How Customers Can Make the Most of J-To-E Freelance Translators’ Services Frank Moorhead Translation services are usually provided by freelance translators or agencies. Freelancers work alone as individuals or small incorporated entities, while agencies are usually incorporated and have a number of translators on their books, including in-house employees, outside translators under exclusive...

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From the Archives

Translator Profiles: Melinda Hull and Ichiro Takahashi In 1993, Dan Kanagy conducted interviews of four JAT translators, Two of these interviews are reproduced here from the JAT Bulletin of that year. Translator Profile: Melinda Hull I'm interested in hearing about your background and how you came to live in Japan. I know Japanese wasn't the first language you studied. No. I met a Japanese...

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【開催報告】特許Pre-IJET: Translate the Meaning, not the Words! 特許翻訳における誤訳とそれがもたらす結果

An English writeup is in the works. In the meantime you can read the full Japanese language report here. https://jat.org/ja/blog/pre-ijet-2018-patent-report

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From the Archives

A Visit to Kyoto, the Capital Capital (IJET-2000) by Ann Macfarlane President, American Translators Association In planning for attending the IJET-2000 conference last May, I decided that I would work up my conversational Japanese. Like most translators and interpreters, I dislike being in a country where I can't exercise at least minimal politeness. And it's handy to be able to attach...

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ほんやくの日々 高橋聡 本厄というのは、なんとも因果な商売である。 実生活では縦のものを横にもしないくせに、活字と見ればすぐに横のものを縦にしたがる(横のものを別の横のものに変えることもある)。それが本厄者という人種だ。そもそも、ふだんから生産しているのがヤクだというんだから社会的には危険このうえない。ときどき自分でも「やくざな商売よ」などと口にするが、あながち謙遜ではなさそうだ。 本厄の世界の一部には古くからの徒弟制も根強く残っているが、しばらく前から電子計算機の導入が進んでいるというから、近代化が進んでいる部分もあるようだ。 本厄者は、組織の中で働く場合と、無所属の自由契約で働く場合がある。組織で働く場合、自分自身でヤクの生産に携わるかたわら、外注先からのアガリを点検することもある。本厄者ではあるが、組織に属している分、自由契約の場合より社会性は高いのがふつうだ。 無...

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