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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 Tsukiji auction controversy I discussed here recently, one segment of the news took the pulse of different Japanese attitudes towards foreigners visiting the country. All of the respondents seemed to attribute any trouble they have experienced to cultural differences and not poor manners on the part of gaijin. 
The first spot was the discount store Daiso in Asakusa, where several signs clearly spell out what is not acceptable behavior in the store. For example, a comfortable looking low counter was a place many foreigners had been resting their weary legs. As this is not what Daiso intended the space for, it had to create a sign reading “Don’t sit on the counter.” Another problem the management encountered was Read More
Job: CIR in Gumma-ken
Jobs 
Comments Off on Job: CIR in Gumma-ken
Interesting. I knew companies like Interac offer a sort of private-sector version of ALTs. But I didn’t know there were private CIR positions like this one listed on Gaijin Pot for a position in Kusatsu-shi, Gumma-ken by a company called Heart English School.
http://www.gaijinpot.com/job_view.php?jid=23029
Jobs: International Education Programs
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Via Chronicle of Higher Ed international programs job listings:
2/2/2009
- Montclair State University (New Jersey) : Director of Study Abroad and International Student Exchanges
- Texas A&M University at College Station (Texas) : Director, Office for Latin American Programs
Learn more in our Employer Profiles
1/30/2009
- INTO Oregon State University (Oregon) : Center Director
Thunderbird Grads?
Advice, Career, Graduate School Comments Off on Thunderbird Grads?
I saw on the JETAA Pacific Northwest e-mail list that a JET alum is looking for perspectives and advice from other JET alums about Thunderbird School of Global Management’s program. If you graduated from Thunderbird, please feel free to get in touch with me if you’d like to talk to the JET alum. Or go ahead and post your comments below.
Translation “checking” question and answers
Advice, Career, Translating/Interpreting Comments Off on Translation “checking” question and answers
A Japanese native-speaker recently asked about rates for “checking” a translation. She was translating a resume and references for a client and her husband (an English native-speaker) was going to check her translation. The client asked how much she charges for checking, and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond.
JetWit put the “checking” question out to the Writers Interpreters Translators (WIT) Group and received the below responses. Feel free to post additional thoughts/advice in the comments section below:
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I wouldn’t charge less than 50% of my rate to translate the piece in the first place since, frankly, checking is a huge pain in the ass.
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Editing is typically 30-40% of your translating rate.
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Is the question about a Quality Manager or translation quality control type of position? Are they asking for one project or as a full-time job? Depending on that, the rates will be different. However, it is best to keep in mind that quality managers for translation companies usually don’t get paid very well, even though it’s a lot of tedious work!
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I usually charge 10 yen per word. This may seem like a lot, but the work usually involves a lot of retranslation. Checking can mean that you are supposed to confirm the contents. If the translation is poor, it can be a nightmare.
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NPR’s Studio 360 has a Japan fetish this morning with three separate and excellent stories on different aspects of Japan collectively titled “High Finance & Old Japan.” Definitely worth visiting their site to listen to the stories and watch accompanying video slide shows as well.
Below are the summaries taken from the Studio 360 website:
Pico Iyer: Outside Man
Travel writer Pico Iyer has lived in Japan for 20 years. And while he knows the locals still see him as an outsider, he told Kurt that this status helps him pay attention to his surroundings. Iyer says Japan is like a “2000-year-old person wearing a micro-skirt, with an artificial tan and carrying a surfboard.” Special thanks to Matthew Cavnar.
No Time for Tea
The tea ceremony is a 400-year-old ritual for making and presenting green tea. But in Japan’s fast-paced techno-centric society – one increasingly fueled by coffee – we wondered how the tea ceremony can survive. Studio 360’s Jenny Lawton talked with tea masters, old and young, to find out.
Suicide Forest
Aokigahara is the name of the forest at the foot of Mount Fuji. It’s been mythologized in Japanese literature as a sacred place for people to end their lives – and every year close to a hundred suicides are committed there. Studio 360’s Pejk Malinovski went to the forest to uncover its haunting allure and how the place lingers in the Japanese psyche.
It turns out that the phone interview that JETAA NY Quarterly Magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) had scheduled with Hikaru Utada for 1pm on Friday was a mistake–they actually wanted him to do it in person!
So Justin headed out (did his boss know where he was going?) and spent an hour or so chatting away with “Hikki” and asking her various questions he had requested and collected from readers via the “Ask Hikaru a Question!” JetWit post that ran on Thursday. Utada’s parents even showed up at the end giving Justin a chance to chat with Hikaru’s dad for a short while.
The article will run in the Spring 2009 issue of the JETAA NY Quarterly Magazine. But there may be some recorded clips of the interview posted here on JetWit as well as on the jetaany.org sometime in the next month.
Meanwhile, JetWit web traffic spiked mightily over the last two days as a result of the Utada posting on Thursday. It turns out that once word got out of Justin’s JETAA NY interview with Utada, a number of fans posted the item in the comments sections of several Utada-related blogs. Make sure to read the first one below which includes an entertaining discussion among several people of good questions to ask Utada as well as whether to submit a question even though they’re not JETs.
http://hikaru.sc/showthread.php?t=2265
Job: Project Associate – National Bureau of Asian Research (Seattle)
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) has an opening for a project associate at its Seattle office.
Project Associate, Center for Health and Aging, Seattle, WA
Position Description
NBR is seeking a Project Associate to provide administrative support to the Project Director in planning
and implementing the Pacific Health Summit and its related events and workshops. The Pacific Health
Summit is an annual event that strives to connect science and policy for a healthier world. Participants
include the top decision-makers in science, policy, industry, medicine, and public health from around the
world. The opening is a part-time to full-time, temporary, hourly position. For more information about the
Summit visit http://pacifichealthsummit.org/.
Hofstra Marketing and International Business Career Fair
Career, Events, Jobs, Networking, Uncategorized Comments Off on Hofstra Marketing and International Business Career Fair
I received the below information in an e-mail. I have no connection to Hofstra, so no idea how they got in touch with me. It looks rather JET-relevant, though, so take a look if you’re in the market.
Hofstra University Frank G. Zarb School of Business
MARKETING & INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CAREER FAIR
Sponsored by The Career Center at Hofstra University, Alpha Kappa Psi – The Professional Business Fraternity, The Hofstra American Marketing Association, The International Business Association, and The Advertising Club
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
11 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Student Center, Multipurpose Room
TO REGISTER FOR THE FAIR… Read More
Yomitime JetWit article translation (by Joel Dechant)
Article/Journalism, Interview/Profile, Translating/Interpreting, Uncategorized, Writers Comments Off on Yomitime JetWit article translation (by Joel Dechant)
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Back on January 15, JetWit posted a link to its first media hit, an article that ran in Yomitime, a free Japanese-language weekly publication. Below is a translation of the article into English generously provided by professional translator/interpreter Joel Dechant (CIR Kagoshima-ken, 2001-04) at the request of JetWit. (FYI, Joel actually translated it very quickly. I just forgot to post it until today.)
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Two Men Work Behind the Scenes for the JET Program, Publish Newsletter on Japan
By Kinoue Imai Weinstein
Translation by Joel Dechant (CIR Kagoshima-ken, 2001-04)
The original article ran in Japanese in Yomitime, a free Japanese weekly newspaper 1/9/09
The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program is a Japanese government-sponsored program under which fresh university graduates from English-speaking countries are invited to teach English in Japan’s junior and senior high schools. Started in 1987 with 848 participants, the program’s American alumni association alone now boasts 5508 members, approximately 1000 of whom are in New York. One alumni, Steven Horowitz (age 38) began publishing a quarterly newsletter, JETaaNY, in 2002. The 24-page[1] newsletter covers recent JET alumni developments and news about Japan. Horowitz recently handed off his editor-in-chief duties to Justin Tedaldi (age 29) who plans to expand and enrich the newsletter.
The reason for starting the alumni association and holding the occasional gathering after returning to the States, says Horowitz, was “because our experience working in Japan when we were younger is an important part of our identity, and of course because we wanted to be friends with people who we had something in common with.” Read More
Job: ESL Instructors – Midwest University (Annandale, MD)
Jobs Comments Off on Job: ESL Instructors – Midwest University (Annandale, MD)
Via JETAA DC:
Midwest University, Washington D.C. (http://www.midwest. edu/) is seeking ESL instructors for our Annandale campus. Part-time evening positions: 5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Monday through Wednesday) Training and/or experience in teaching English as a second language preferred but not required. Reliability a must.
Qualified candidates, please send resume or CV via email to:
Lee, Eunmee Ph.D., Assistant Professor, TESOL Coordinator, ESL Coordinator
Midwest University-Washingt on D.C.
e-mail: tesol@midwest. edu
Job: Assistant to the Associate Director – Asian Cultural Council (NY)
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A new job listing from Miho Walsh, former JET Liason at the Japanese Consulate in NY, former Director of the Donald Keene Center at Columbia and now the Associate Director at the Asian Cultural Council in New York.
She is looking for an Assistant to the Associate Director/Coordinator of Special Programs. All inquiries can be sent to her at: mwalsh /atto/ accny /dotto/ org.
Read on for more info. Read More
Jobs: School for International Training (Vermont)
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Via the Chronicle of Higher Ed international jobs page:
1/28/2009
- World Learning (Vermont) : Associate Dean of Student Affairs, SIT Study Abroad
- World Learning (Vermont) : Director of University Relations, SIT Study Abroad
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I recently learned of the existence of the Society for Writers, Editors and Translators (SWET) (www.swet.jp), a Tokyo-based group that seems to share a lot in common with JetWit and the Writers Interpreters Translators (WIT) Group–except that SWET has been in existence for 25 years! (Read the full history of the group here.)
In 1998 SWET members collaboratively published the Japan Style Sheet as a guide for professional translators
The other day I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth Stevens, one of the founders of SWET who now lives in the NY area. She introduced me (via email) to Lynne Riggs, the co-founder and current organizer of SWET, who in turn introduced me to SWET webmaster Sako Eaton.
Needless to say, we were all happy to learn of each others’ existence, and I wanted to make sure to let all the JET alumni and Friend of JET readers out there know about SWET (which, amusingly, has “SWET Shirts” for sale on their website).
In addition to a terrific website, SWET also has an e-mail list and RSS feed that are free. You can also sign up for SWET membership for 5,000 yen or $50/year which entitles you to receive their newsletter containing various info and articles that do not appear elsewhere.
I look forward to future collaboration with the SWET folks. (You’ll notice there’s already a sidebar widget for SWET with the RSS feed from their site.) And I encourage any readers to suggest and help implement additional ideas to help foster collaboration as well.
Job: Interpreter (E->J) for Outdoor Research (Seattle area)
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Via JETAA Pacific Northwest:
Needed: (Must fill ASAP)
Interpreter (English- Japanese) – familiarity with the garment industry a plus but may not be required! Must be fluent in both Japanese & English to act as interpreter for business meeting between Outdoor Research (www.outdoorresearch .com) staff and their Japanese contact to explain new line of products for sale & distribution in Japan.
Dates: February 2nd & 3rd – if available please provide full day, 8 hour & 12 hour rates
Contact: Mr. Alex Kutches 425-345-9554 / alexk @outdoorresear ch.com
