Event: Hanami Party (Toronto, ON)
Events, JETAA Chapters 
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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following event through the JETAA Toronto April newsletter and thought it might be of interest to former JETs in the Toronto area. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.
Come out to the third annual Hanami Party in High Park. Forget the rain of 2008 and the bare trees of 2007, this year’s cherry blossom viewing promises to be the best yet!
All JETs, family, and friends are invited to attend JETAA’s High Park party. Bring your favourite hanami snacks or enjoy some of the refreshments provided by JETAA Toronto.
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Job: Web Applications Developer (Omotesando, Tokyo)
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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following employment opportunity with Linc Media through the BiOS job mailing list job and thought it might be of interest to former JETs still living in Japan that have experience developing web applications. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.
Web Applications Developer – Omotesando, Tokyo
Linc Media, the parent company of BiOS, is currently recruiting for a Web Applications Developer to join their growing software development team. Working on a variety of projects, you will be required to demonstrate strong programming skills and a good level of understanding of foundation computer science, such as OOP, data structures, design patterns, algorithms. In addition to this you will need polished PHP5, and extensive experience with Zend Framework, MySQL, Apache, and other programming languages.
Job: Technical Translator (Seattle, WA)
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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following employment opportunity through the Honyaku E <> J Mailing List and thought it might be of interest to former JETs in the Seattle area. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he periodically posts job listings and event information for JET alumni.
Job Description:
The client is looking for a technical translator from Japanese to English to translate programmer’s manuals, instructions and documentation. The linguist should have a strong knowledge of programming theory and application. This is a 6-12 month contract in Seattle, WA.
Moving on up
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Shannon Quinn, who has served as a JETAA USA Country Representative for the past 3 years, has stepped down from her position after moving to Tokyo this past fall to start her new job as an ALT Advisor at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
O-tsukare-sama deshita, Shannon, and ganbatte kudasai!
Job: Alumni Coordinator and English Tutor – American University (D.C.)
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Via JETAA DC:
Alumni Coordinator and English Tutor
Description: American University Washington College of Law International Legal Studies Program (ILSP) is seeking an Alumni Coordinator and English Tutor who will report directly to the ILSP Director. The incumbent will provide English tutorial help, including research paper review, pronunciation workshops, and help with clear and accurate expression to the ILSP LLM students. In addition, the incumbent will be responsible for writing and publishing a bi-annual alumni magazine and will edit and oversee the publication of the ILSP Law Journal, a student-run law magazine. Finally, the incumbent will maintain contact with ILSP alumni through the Alumni listserv, social websites such as Facebook and InCircle, and alumni reunions. Read More
Thanks to Friend of JET Nina Morgenlander for sharing the job listing from her company, ELS Educational Services, Inc., which provides English language and educational exchange services:
TITLE: International Recruitment and Placement Services Coordinator
LOCATION: Princeton Headquarters
DEPARTMENT: International Recruitment and placement Services Read More
Roland Kelts speaking at Sakura-Con in Seattle
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Here’s the link to his page on the Sakura-Con site: http://www.sakuracon.org/programming/guests/kelts.php
Anyone who works with language enough will start to develop serious relationships with their dictionaries. A few years back in my now defunct blog bout living in Japan, I wrote about my idiosyncratic relationship with three great print reference guides. For the most part I’ve stopped using them, and like pretty much everyone else am relying on the wealth of free language resources available online. What they lack in the personality, color and accumulated dirt of my paper dictionaries they make up by being flexible, constantly up-to-date, and practically limitless.
Still though, they all have their own quirks and strong points. Even aside from their Translate tool, (I still prefer Babelfish) Google is gradually becoming the standard way to check evolving word usages and meanings, but it doesn’t have the strong points of a dictionary: a comprehensive organization system, and specific meanings. Typing in “define:” and then a word, abbreviation or phrase will produce a page with definitions (i.e. “define:japanese“) but as far as I can tell this is currently only available in English. There are currently a wide, (and growing!) array of online Japanese-English dictionaries out there, almost all of them available for free. I’ll list a few here with their relative merits, but please add any others you know about in the comments!
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Straight from the web-nerd humor of their byline “ALC, Creating an Earthling Network” (地球人のネットワークを創るアルク), ALC announces itself as a dictionary for the internet. ALC is not simply in the business of dictionaries and translation, it has a bewildering array of sites, all vaguely based Read More
Job: Large J>E Translation Project
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Here’s a big translation assignment, courtesy of WIT member and NY JET alum Marc Carroll. If you apply to work on the project and you heard about it through JetWit, please make sure to let them know, as indicated in the text below.
Yoroshiku and ganbatte.
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*Please do not repost this message on any other websites.*
SUBJECT: Large Japanese into English Translation Project
Transperfect Translations is recruiting translators to work on a large-volume, Japanese-into-English translation project for a multinational electronics firm.
Subject matter includes technical translation, general company literature, legal documentation and internal correspondence.
This project is scheduled to run from mid-April through the end of June, but may possibly run longer.
All translators are required to sign confidentiality and independent contractor agreements. Once signed, sample files can be sent for preview and the scope of work will be explained.
Interested parties send should a response with CV and rate information to cv@transperfect.com.
Please also be sure to include in the subject line, “JetWIT Translator“.
*Please do not repost this message on any other websites.*
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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.
Following up on the recent J-News Mini-Roundup posted on jetwit, the unemployment craze is also having an effect on the kinds of jobs new Japanese graduates want to apply for. According to a survey by Recruit of 5810 college students and 2099 grad
uate students from the class of 2010, travel industries come out ahead while manufacturing jobs were left in the dust. The financial and insurance industries also came out strong, occupying five of the top ten spots. Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) took the top spot after being 4th last year, and in 2nd was East Japan Railway Company (JR East). All Nippon Airways (ANA), which had claimed the top spot last year, trailed at 3rd and Mizuho Financial Group came in 4th.
The largest descents were those of Read More
JET Alum Zach LeNarz has set up a Facebook group called “JETAA Law” for JET alums who work in the legal profession, are in law school or are in any other way connected with the law. (If the link doesn’t work for any reason, just do a search for “JETAA Law” on Facebook.)
So go ahead and sign up. No contract, waiver or non-disclosure agreement required. :-)
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered…
A newly arrived ingénue sits on the 2nd floor of a local coffee dive in her adopted 田舎 dwelling. Birds are chirping. Squid is drying. All seems right with the universe.
Without warning, the earth trembles.
Delicately ejecting the coffee just inhaled a mere moment ago, our ingénue dives Bruce Willis style under the nearest table, taking out an entire shelf of neatly-stacked, carefully-categorized dog-earedまんが.
Her Japanese companion raises an eyebrow. She hasn’t even put down her cup.
“Uh…大丈夫?”
“No!” Ingenue blurts, biting down on a freshly polished nail to stay the hysteria. “This is it! Doomsday! The roof’s gonna cave, we’re all gonna perish-”
“ええじゃん? A little one like this?…” The owner, a puckish man named Kurochan, laughs as his establishment sways to and fro.
That was my first earthquake ever. Read More
The Release of the Golf
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J-News Mini-Roundup is a recurring feature written by Friend Of JET, Jon Hills, who maintains the blog for Hills Learning (www.hillslearning.com). Hills Learning is a NY-based language learning services company offering customized and personal Japanese language learning options.
All three main newspapers ran headlines this morning about the release of the new Volkswagen Golf. Each journalistic style gives the reader a different image of what kind of car is coming to the market. The newspapers, however, did all focus on the ability of the new car to have better gas mileage.
- Nikkei – (Glamorous) What’s very interesting about the Nikkei’s description is it cleverly overlooks the VW being an imported car, where as Yomiuri and Asahi focus on the fact that it’s a German car. It starts off with “Volkswagon Group Japan” has made an announcement. The Nikkei then starts into the description with phrases such as “equipped with a new form of engine”, “technology of a high quality car” and “the parts have been actively pioneered to increase a feeling of high class.” It makes you wonder who Nikkei’s sponsors are…
- Yomiuri – (Economical) Yomiuri is the only newspaper that uses the term “hatchback” to describe the golf. I’s 5 person capacity makes you think more about a family vacation than “high class”. Also when describing the gas mileage of the new model, they claim “while driving on the road the car’s gas mileage has been developed to have 16 kilometers to the liter.” Nikkei describes gas mileage development as “gas consumption performance.”
- Asahi – (Safe) Asahi was the only newspaper to mention that the VW has airbags, and in fact mentions it in the title right along with “gas mileage”. It also gives an estimate for gas mileage (in kilometers) per liter of 16.2 to 16.8, which was higher than both what the Yomiuri and Nikkei predicted of a flat 16. Still not convinced it’s the safest car? They then go onto describe Volkswagon has sold 26 million cars worldwide since 1974, and particularly in Japan they’ve sold 510,000.
By Kirsten Phillips (Niigata-ken, 2005-08)
Japan is known to the world at large for its countless and enduring cultural contributions from the over-appreciated 茶の湯 to the oft overlooked (but sorely missed) heated toilet seat. However, there is one thing I’d like to scrawl into every guide book; one nuance of Japan that I’d like forever engraved in the minds of curious tourists: Excess noise.
What exactly is meant by excess noise?
It’s not something one cannot become desensitized to in time. But it is yet another reminder you are no longer in Kansas.
いっらしゃいませ！For the timid/under-informed, this customary holler of welcome and professional integrity is as intimidating as a car honk. Haplessly wander into any establishment in Japan and you will have to grow accustomed to multiple people welcoming you with bellowing. At least you know you’ve got their attention? But I’ve heard some dudes get creative with their shouting. Almost made me want to inch away from all that tempting スルメ they were peddling。
Let’s not even get into election time, shall we? Oh man, oh man.
Jingles. It seems like everything in Japan from coal to second hand stores has a mind-numbing jingle to it. I bet they even have a jingle for jingles! Augh! I pitied the dudes who had to work at Off House the recycling center. I have witnessed the slack jaws and desperate gazes of Disney employees trapped in their kiosks and made to listen to the Pocahontas soundtrack on an endless loop. So, too, was the fate of the Off House worker. But the fun did not stop there. Oh no.
“Why is the food singing at me?” I wondered aloud as I stared at the onigiri. Read More
Job: English to Japanese Translator (Toronto, ON)
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JetWit job poster Stephen Palanik (Fukushima Ken, 2004-08) learned of the following employment opportunity being offered through Pasona Canada and thought it might be of interest to former JETs in the Toronto area. Stephen is a translator based in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Ken, and he will be periodically posting job listings and event information for JET alumni.
Pasona Canada is currently accepting resumes for the following professional opportunity on behalf of their client in downtown Toronto.
Job Title: ENGLISH TO JAPANESE TRANSLATOR
SUMMARY: Reporting to the Head of the Japan Desk in Toronto, the successful candidate must be knowledgeable about world financial markets, industries and macro economy. He or she must work quickly and accurately, and write Japanese in a clear style. The successful candidate will also be committed to producing news more quickly than the competitors. The desk forms an important part of the organization’s 24-hour news translation service for Japanese-language clients. Read More
