Aug 11

BAPCPA Man #3 – Enter Subprimulus

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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.

Update: Nice mention of BAPCPA Man on the independent law blog AboveTheLaw.com.

Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post.  Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.

Aug 10

Procrastination: TranslationParty.com

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TranslationParty.com is a simple and amusing procrastination tool that demonstrates the hilarious quirkiness of machine translation.  Enter an English phrase and TranslationParty will automatically translate it into Japanese, then back into English, then back into Japanese, etc.  Until a Zen-like equilibrium is reached…

From Twitter @leesean via @myGengo.

Aug 9

What I Like About JetWit

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(Originally posted on April 28, 2009.)

Here’s your chance to help JetWit.  Just share a comment on this post saying what you like about JetWit.  (Or email your comment to jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com and I’ll post it.)

Thanks for your help and yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Update: Thanks to everyone who has posted comments so far!

Aug 9

Job: Freelance E -> J Legal Translation for Islands Hospice

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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following freelance translation opportunity through the Honyaku E <> J Mailing List and thought it might be of interest to former JETs. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.

Islands Hospice is looking for a translator to translate 16 pages  (7100 words) of legal documents from English to Japanese.

For more information, see the additional posting on the Honyaku Home website, or contact Sohailah Sharp via e-mail, or phone at (918) 289-5408.

Aug 9

Job: In-House Translator at Nikko Asset Management (Tokyo)

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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following in-house translation opportunity through the Honyaku E <> J Mailing List and thought it might be of interest to former JETs. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.

Nikko Asset Management is currently looking for a J to E translator (native English) to work full time in-house at their Tokyo HQ location. Material to be translated includes analyst reports, formal letters, articles, contracts and ad hoc documents.

They are seeking an eager and forward-thinking professional. Prior finance translation experience is not necessary, but it is important to be interested in finance, writing, and language; to be experienced in translation in any industry; and to be a quick learner. The compensation is about 6 million yen base plus bonus.

Interview selection will be based on resumes and writing samples. Interested parties should e-mail their resume and a writing sample directly to Ken Cogger, or to the Nikko Asset Management careers e-mail address to apply. The first interview will also include a brief translation test. Note that Nikko Asset Management is NOT currently seeking freelance translators.

Aug 8

JQ Magazine’s Summer 2009 “¼ Cheap Trick” Issue Is Out Now!

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The leader of a band that’s sold over 20 million records and brought the words “At Budokan” to the big time, the new Japanese ambassador to New York, a tour of Philadelphia that’s uncannily Zen, and chats with award-winning writers, French pastry operations managers and even a maid-outfitted cosplay superstar complete with bunny ears. All this and more in the new summer issue of JETAANY’s JQ magazine.

To preserve our budget for alumni events, and in an effort to be greener and save paper, JETAANY will begin charging for print copies of JQ Magazine. The cost is $12 for 4 issues and you will only have the opportunity to sign up once a year – annual subscriptions will occur each fall.  Please note that the magazine, in its entirety, is also available online. If you would like to sign up to receive a paper copy by mail, please follow the PayPal link below (Add to Cart) or e-mail magazinesubscriptions@jetaany.org for more information. Remember you must put “JQ subscription” and your desired mailing address in the Paypal comments box.

Editor: Justin Tedaldi – magazine@jetaany.org

Aug 7

WIT Life #47: The Times They Are A-Changin’

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

An article from this past Tuesday’s (August 4) Daily Sun newspaper caught my attention as it focused on gaijin.  It described how  foreigners are increasingly being recognized for the prestigious literature Akutagawa Prize.  Last year Chinese writer Yang Yi became the first non-native speaker of Japanese to win, and her comment at the ceremony held at a Tokyo restaurant was, “As a foreigner I have written novels and I am thrilled to have been recognized in this way.”  The 44-year-old Yang’s award-winning work titled “Toki ga nijimu asa” (A Morning When Time Blurs) is set during and after China’s democratization movement centering on the 1989 Tiananmen Incident.  The book follows a Chinese man who lived through those times and later moved to Japan, still holding on to his ideals.

This year further diversity was added to the proceedings of this 141-year old award when Read More

Aug 6

Bankruptcy Bill #18 – Pro Bono

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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.

Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post.  Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.

Aug 4

BAPCPA Man #2 – Automatic Stay Force Field

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BAPCPA Man and Bankruptcy Bill are cartoons created by Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94) and Gideon Kendall.  For more cartoons, original bankruptcy haiku and even a bankruptcy country song, go to bankruptcybill.us.

Additionally, if anyone would like to take a stab at translating the cartoon into Japanese for JetWit’s Japanese fans out there, feel free to post in the comments section of this post.  Some cultural explanation might be helpful as well, given that Japanese bankruptcy laws are very different than the U.S.

Aug 4

Graphic novelist Lars Martinson seeks funding for comic book about East Asian calligraphy

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JET alum Lars Martinson, author of the graphic novel Tonoharu:  Part 1, is not only currently studying East Asian calligraphy in Ehime-ken, he wants to write a comic book about his experience.  And he’s in the process of seeking funding to help make this happen.

If you’ve seen Tonoharu:  Part 1, you know that “comic book” barely does justice to Lars’ sophisticated and detailed drawing style.  And having won a Monbusho Scholarship to help him fund the production of Tonoharu:  Part 1, Lars knows a thing or two about getting funding (as further demonstrated in a previous blog post titled “How to Apply for a Monbusho Scholarship“).

That said, it’s never easy getting funding and income as an artist/illustrator.  (See, e.g., Lars’ recent post on adapting his drawing style for professional and practical purposes.)  So if anyone can provide any assistance or leads to help Lars with funding, please feel free to get in touch with him at blog [at] larsmartinson [dot] com.

For information about Lars, you can read his blog at http://larsmartinson.com. You can also read a nice article about Lars from the Winter 2008 “Digital Media” Issue of the JETAA NY Newsletter, written by Alexei Esikoff (Fukushima-ken, 2001-02).

Jul 31

Job: Translator/interpreter for Saitama Prefecture International Division (Japan)

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This job listing is courtesy of Denise Schlickbernd, a JET currently working as a CIR in the Saitama Prefecture International Division.

The Saitama Prefecture International Division currently has a job opening for a translator/interpreter and is hoping to find a native English speaker to fill it. The details are as follows:

The Saitama Prefecture International Division in Saitama City is currently searching for a part-time English-to-Japanese translator and interpreter.

Responsibilities include:

· Editing and translation of English publications
· Creation and editing of English web pages
· Assist with projects to support foreign residents
· Native English checks of translated materials

Read More

Jul 30

CLAIR-NY’s Hanzawa-san on his life in NYC

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For those who don’t know him, Taichi Hanzawa (Miyagi-ken) works for CLAIR-NY (also known as the Japan Local Government Center or JLGC) and this past year served as the JETAA USA Liaison.  That’s the position responsible for coordinating with all 19 JETAA USA chapters to help them with their funding.  Takusan shigoto yo.  Cantan de ha arimasen. Yet Hanzawa-san has worked very hard and served admirably.

Recently, he wrote a short article for the Miyagi Ken Prefectural Newsletter where he reflected on his life in New York.  By way of context, Hanzawa-san and most of his colleagues at CLAIR-NY are part of a sort of inverse version of the JET Program.  They are all local government workers in their city or prefectural governments.  And they’ve all been selected to be part of a three-year program that starts with one year of training in Tokyo followed by a two-year assignment in a CLAIR office in the U.S., UK, Australia or elsewhere.

Below is the article by Hanzawa-san (along with a picture of him at a recent JETAA NY executive meeting held at the JLGC).  If anyone would like to post an English summary in the comments section (assuming you can make out the print below), that would be more than welcome.   (If you’d like a PDF version, e-mail jetwit [at] jetwit [dot] com.)

Jul 29

WIT Life #46: Defining adulthood, hostess envy and 2-D love

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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.

There is talk in Japan of changing the legal adult age of 20 down to 18, as a government advisory panel introduced this idea on Wednesday.  This was put forth by the Democratic Party, who is expected to take power from the long-reigning Liberal Democratic Party in the upcoming general election.  The proposal will be submitted to Japan’s justice minister if the Legislative Council approves it at its general meeting in September.  This could go through sas early as May of next year, and it would allow people to vote in elections and get married without permission from their parents two years earlier than is currently permitted (the current marriage age is 18 for men and 16 for men, but they suggest making it 18 for both).

It has been said that this idea is being floated for the purpose of “young people’s self-sustainability,” but the word on the street from those interviewed on the news was that Read More

Jul 26

The question of translation software – by James Scanlon-Canegata

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James Scanlon-Canegata returned from JET last year and, in addition to pursuing research on religious studies, he’s also started working as a professional translator.  Recently, after taking a freelance job from a large translation company, he learned that he was expected to use translation software to aid his work.  This led him to the honyaku Google group to seek advice and perspective on the software issue.

JetWit thought it would be interesting to hear what James has learned so far and share it for the benefit of the JET and JET alum community.  Read on for his experience so far:

I was also completely unaware that translators used any kind of translation software when I first started thinking about doing it. I have a friend who does English-Portuguese translation and I first found out from her that this is something most professional translators use. When I did my first paid translation I just worked on Word and excel and it was very slow-going and tedious at some points. That’s when I started to wonder if translation software could help move things along.

I have a Mac and so I tried a couple of free translation programs that I saw recommended on online forums. I ended up feeling mostly confused about, well, everything. But specifically, I had the most trouble with the actual interface of the applications. The program would isolate a small area to be translated automatically and the idea is that you would go along and translate the parts until you’re through. But, with Japanese of course you have to start from the tail-end of the sentence and translate backwards a lot of times and it seemed like the application just wasn’t programmed for that type of translation. The same would go with sets of sentences where the meaning just won’t come out right if it is translated into English word-for-word in its original order. The program also seemed to break sentences up into seemingly random segments without any regard for periods or commas or common sense (on terms of a Japanese-English translation type of common sense).

This may just be because I’m an inexperienced translator, but my theory was that the software was geared Read More

Jul 25

Learning to Bow…in Iraq?

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Just heard an NPR interview with Wesley Gray, the fluent-in-Arabic author of Embedded:  A Marine Corps Advisor in the Iraqi Army, and it struck me that it might be the Learning to Bow:  Inside the Heart of Japan for current day Iraq.  Learning to Bow by best-selling author Bruce Feiler (Tottori-ken, 1989-90) was the original “JET book,” describing the experience of living in Japan and making sense of the cultural differences.

I think it would be interesting to hear some JET perspectives on the book, perhaps contrasting Gray’s experience with their own cross-cultural experience in Japan.  Please feel free to post your comments below.  Also, if anyone wants to write a review of the book, just get in touch.

Here’s a summary of the book from Amazon:

From Publishers Weekly
In this illuminating memoir, Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Gray recounts his eight-month tour as part of a Military Transition Team, working as an advisor to the Iraqi Army on location. Gray was fluent in Arabic prior to deployment, giving him enormous insight into the culture and worldview of Iraqis as citizens and soldiers and obvious advantages over colleagues (and competing memoirists) relying on translantors On many occasions, Gray encounters an Insh’ Allah philosophy, a mantra of “If God wills it” or “God willing” can strike Americans as lazy or unmotivated. Among other startling lessons, Gray discovered that loyalty to tribe supersedes duty to the state; the Iraqi Army soldiers he was training were spending their monthly leave in the ranks of local tribal militias. Gray details the cultural nuances and interpersonal relationships of occupied Iraq with such care and clarity, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in the the reconstruction, especially those set to deploy.