Greetings! I've come in hopes that some of you experienced professionals out there might be able to offer some advice to a confused young aspiring translator/interpreter.

I am a native English speaker who speaks Japanese as a second language, and I am interested in getting into Japanese-English translation and/or interpreting but am unsure how best to go about it. At the moment I am 22 years old with nothing but a BA in Asian studies, and no experience in interpreting or translating. Currently my only work experience is in teaching English as a second language. I have spent some time in Japan and know Japanese to a fairly high level, though I plan to continue polishing it within the next year aiming for the level of a college-educated native speaker. Ideally, I hope to eventually live and work in Japan. Aspects of both interpreting and translation appeal to me, so if possible I would like not to be restricted to one or the other but to do a little of both.

I've considered attending the Monterey Institute of International Studies (http://translate.miis.edu/) and getting an MA in Japanese Translation and Interpretation. It seems to be an excellent program by all accounts, and surely completing it would give me the skills I need, but practically speaking I'm unsure if this degree would really give me any significant advantage in the job market as opposed to a certificate from a smaller intepreting/translation school. I've also considered attending a graduate program and/or interpreting/translation school in Japan, but this is what I'm really unsure about. I've tried searching the Internet for information in Japanese, but I haven't been able to find anything about native English speakers obtaining interpreting/translation training in Japan. There are many schools, but naturally they are all aimed at Japanese people who speak English as a second language.

Considering all this, my questions are as follows:

1. How financially feasible is it for an American still in debt from undergraduate school to attend a graduate program and/or interpreting and translation school in Japan? Is financial aid and/or scholarship money available? (If I were to attend school in the states, I know I could pay for it through some combination of loans, scholarships, and working while in school, but I'm not sure how such things work in Japan, especially for foreign students.)

2. Assuming it is financially feasible, does it really make any sense for a native English speaker to attend such a school in Japan? Are there programs in Japan that accomodate native English speakers with a near-native level of Japanese (i.e. programs that do not include the study of English as a second language and focus on the study of interpreting/translating as a skill rather than on language study)?

3. Assuming we can answer "yes" to all of the above, would there be any advantage practically speaking in obtaining certification in Japan as opposed to in the US? (Remember, my goal is to live and work in Japan.)

4. The Monterey Institute certainly seems to have a high reputation, and as far as I can see it offers the most thorough training for translation/interpreting available in the US. Career-wise, though, is it really worth it? If I go to this school, should I expect to be able to find a job in Japan soon after graduating, or is this unrealistic?

5. What else do I need to do besides getting training of some sort?

Sorry this is so long, but if anyone can answer even one of these questions, it would really help me out a lot!  よろしくお願いいたします。

Hi Jana

I highly recommend the T&I program at the Monterey Institute. The program is excellent; you will learn outstanding translation, consecutive interpretation and simultaneous skills there.

As for getting actual jobs, that's a whole another story! The profession is unregulated, hence no degree, no certification will give you a job or jobs. MIIS will teach you all the skills you need but you will be on your own after you graduate and you will have to find your own job or jobs.

Good luck!

Sarah

Dear Jana,

I know you're not going to want to hear this, but as a very young person (by interpreting and interpreting school standards) with only college-level training in the B language (and it will probably have to be a B language for JPN/EN, not just a C), you may not want a program that focuses only on skills rather than on language study. You will NEED more language study. Trust me on this one! I did my second MA, in interpretation, in Taiwan after nearly 20 years of Chinese, and there were still huge gaps in my Chinese for interpreting purposes.

Having said that, I always suggest that those hoping to acquire interpreter-level Asian languages go and do just that -- live there. Study there. Watch TV there. Do everything there. That's how you acquire everything you will need. Try your best to find a Japanese credential if you are hoping to live and work in Japan. The personal relationships you will develop are as important as the degree.

Just my US$0.02, but I personally wouldn't advise you to shell out for Monterrey just yet -- or perhaps ever, if a good Japanese program is available.

I totally agree with you, Terry. As a matter of fact, most T&I students at the Monterey Institute are in their late twenties or early thirties. One of the requirements for admission is a two-year stay in a country where your B language is spoken. Basically, you need near-native proficiency before you can learn T&I skills.

Also, while it is a Masters degree, a B.A. in your B language usually means that it is still a foreign language for you and it would raise a red flag.

Anyway, the T&I department has its own admission procedure so I wouldn't worry about Jana signing up for a program she cannot handle.

Thanks for all your replies, everyone.

Let me emphasize that I am well aware my Japanese skills are not yet up to the level of a professional translator/interpreter, which is why I intend to continue to work on that-- and yes, I do plan on spending some more time in Japan before I go back to school. At my current level I can understand about 99% of what I hear on Japanese TV and in movies, and can read just about anything as well-- it's only when reading novels that I still come across unfamiliar words, which tells me that my Japanese is not yet good enough. I plan to spend the next year working on my Japanese, with part of the year spent in Japan. Believe me, I do not have delusions of being ready to start translating novels tomorrow. I would not actually apply to an interpreting school until I knew I was prepared for it linguisticially. (Besides, as one person mentioned, you can't even get into Monterey without a certain level of language ability.)

So, for the purposes of this thread, let's assume that I already have the necessary linguistic skills, as I realize what I need to do to improve in this area and my questions are more related to other issues.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the compliment Suzuki-san, but the sheer amount of unknown words I come across in novels tells me that I'm definitely not yet where I need to be. I don't suppose native speakers would find two or three unknown words per page. It's different if I'm reading a simpler novel written for preteens, but if I pick up, say, a 村上春樹 novel there are far too many words I don't know. Really, the difference in vocabulary between newspapers/TV and novels is immense. I won't be satisfied until I can read Japanese novels as easily as I can read English ones, which at this point I cannot. Also, I still have trouble understanding some things on TV, such as comedy shows in which the comedians slur their words and use a lot of dialect/slang, or samurai shows in which people speak "old" Japanese. Sometimes I can barely understand a word people say in these shows. If it's a news program or a documentary in which people speak clear, standard Japanese, however, I usually understand 100% of it. Conversations with Japanese friends, online or in person, are also a breeze. My Japanese may seem "fluent" at first glance, but in fact it is far from the level of a native speaker who has grown up in Japan and been educated in Japanese. There's a fine line here that I still have not managed to cross. Perhaps that will give you a better idea of where exactly I am.

But anyway, I'm getting off my own topic here. As I said, I would like to focus on the questions I asked in my original post. Is there anyone here who knows anything about translation or interpreting schools in Japan?? I'm really having a lot of trouble finding relevant information about this. I just want to do my research so that when I'm ready to go to school, I'll know where I want to go and how to go about getting there.

Understanding everything is great -- but you do realize that working in Asian languages you will have to go both ways, and that means producing, well, everything, on command, instantaneously. Knowing, for example, all the astrological signs, chemical elements, parts of a pig, names of common construction fasteners, and I don't know what all. Most TV shows don't talk about welding, or grain storage, or the structure of the latest new athletic shoes.

But that's not really the main point. You will need to have the skills to "manipulate" Japanese teachers (and have them enjoy it and not think you're a b*tch for doing so) in order to get everything out of the school program in Japan. New English words will be spelled and written down and repeated for your Japanese classmates; new Japanese words will be said once and passed over and you're supposed to "pick them up". It's hard for Asian teachers, or truly bilingual teachers, to realize that we need a bit of support even if our Asian language is "wonderful" going in.

It's hard to say whether going to a US school, where the cultural and educational style will fit the Western student better, is the thing, or whether the linguistic benefit and networking advantages to be had at an Asian school, but which come with considerable stress and problems potentially extant due to differences in educational psychology, are better.

The first order of business, though, is to improve your credentials. Seriously. And that means simply getting older, as little as folks like to hear it. Knowing "how" things work. It's really important to the profession. The more background knowledge you have, the better things will go for you in school and beyond. I say these things having had the experience of doing an MA in interpreting in an Asian school. While it's true that "kids these days" have more advantages coming out of a 4-year college program in terms of learning the languages (more input, Internet, satellite TV, digital recorders and all sorts of things we only dreamed of "back in the day"), still the basics haven't changed that much. I have friends who did the same program I did in Taiwan who said at the end of it, "I wish they hadn't admitted me when they did. I didn't get the full benefit from the program because I wasn't ready." While those friends are working in the language field, they are NOT interpreters today.

Yes, I do realize this, and I realize it will take a lot of time and hard work to acquire all this knowledge. I am prepared to do whatever it takes. Let me emphasize once more, I am fully aware that my language skills as they stand are far from sufficient. I am not naive about this. I have done my research and I do understand that this is an immensely challenging profession. But language is my passion, and I know this is what I want to do.

Originally written by Terry Waltz, Ph.D. on June 19, 2007 9:42 AM But that's not really the main point. You will need to have the skills to "manipulate" Japanese teachers (and have them enjoy it and not think you're a b*tch for doing so) in order to get everything out of the school program in Japan. New English words will be spelled and written down and repeated for your Japanese classmates; new Japanese words will be said once and passed over and you're supposed to "pick them up". It's hard for Asian teachers, or truly bilingual teachers, to realize that we need a bit of support even if our Asian language is "wonderful" going in. It's hard to say whether going to a US school, where the cultural and educational style will fit the Western student better, is the thing, or whether the linguistic benefit and networking advantages to be had at an Asian school, but which come with considerable stress and problems potentially extant due to differences in educational psychology, are better.

It sounds like you are clearly in favor of the idea of going to a Japanese school, am I correct? I'm starting to lean more towards that option myself. If the only problem it presents is a different culture and a bias towards Japanese native speakers (and if the networking benefits are as great as you say they are), I'm up for the challenge. To be honest, I'm itching to get to Japan as soon as possible. However, I'm still confused as to how I'm supposed to get there. May I ask how you managed to find, get accepted to, and pay for your MA program in Taiwan? Did you live in Taiwan for a while doing something else before you went to school?

Originally written by Terry Waltz, Ph.D. on June 19, 2007 9:42 AM The first order of business, though, is to improve your credentials. Seriously. And that means simply getting older, as little as folks like to hear it. Knowing "how" things work. It's really important to the profession. The more background knowledge you have, the better things will go for you in school and beyond. I say these things having had the experience of doing an MA in interpreting in an Asian school. While it's true that "kids these days" have more advantages coming out of a 4-year college program in terms of learning the languages (more input, Internet, satellite TV, digital recorders and all sorts of things we only dreamed of "back in the day"), still the basics haven't changed that much. I have friends who did the same program I did in Taiwan who said at the end of it, "I wish they hadn't admitted me when they did. I didn't get the full benefit from the program because I wasn't ready." While those friends are working in the language field, they are NOT interpreters today.

What are you saying, exactly? That I shouldn't go into an MA program yet simply because I'm not old enough? I should think that it's not about age per say, but about knowledge and experience-- I acknowledge that I do lack knowledge and experience, but surely there is no "magic number" that makes it suddenly okay for me to do this. I guess I don't understand exactly what you're suggesting I should do. You seem to think that I'm probably not ready to go to school yet, but what exactly do I need to do to prepare myself so that I am ready? Start memorizing astrological signs and chemical elements in Japanese? Try to do some "practice" interpreting and translation on my own? How exactly can I "improve my credentials" and obtain this "background knowledge" you speak of? I'm certainly not qualified to begin working as an interpreter or translator now, since I have no experience. It seems to me that the best thing to do would be to get some training and go from there, but perhaps I'm wrong?

Also, perhaps I should add that I did not learn all my Japanese in college-- in fact, I learned very little Japanese in my college classes. I studied it on my own all throughout high school, and when I got to college I was able to start out in a higher level Japanese class. Even throughout college I continued to study extra material outside class because class was not challenging and I didn't feel I was getting much out of it. Believe me, I share your apparent mistrust of the quality of foreign language education in universities-- as far as I'm concerned, a BA in Japanese, in itself, doesn't mean much of anything.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to argue with you or anything-- I appreciate your advice, I greatly respect you for your professional accomplishments, and I'm just trying to make sure I understand what you're trying to say.

By the way, this is off topic but I have to ask-- Where in Taiwan did you live? Believe it or not, I'm actually in Taiwan right now teaching English, in a small town near Taipei. :D

Edit: Actually I just looked at your profile, and I see you went to 輔仁大學. Wow-- it just so happens that I live in 新莊, only about 20 minutes away from 輔大! @@; It's a small world, eh?