14 Years of JLD Sessions

Nadine Edwards

JLD Administrator

For a few years, the leadership of the Japanese Language Division has been trying to find ways to encourage feedback regarding topics and type of sessions members want at the annual conference. 

Earlier this year, JLD Member Y. Usui volunteered to help tabulate and classify 14 years of data (139 sessions, from 2002 to 2016). 

In anticipation of our brainstorming discussion during the JLD Annual Meeting on Friday, October 27th, below is an informal summary of the data tabulated.

We look forward to your questions, comments, and discussion on this data on the Yahoo mailing list, and especially when we brainstorm topics for next years' sessions at the Annual Meeting.

Session J-10: Readability Matters, Insist on Human Touch to Stay Competitive Presented by Naoko Uchida

Summarized by Rika Mitrik

ローカリゼーション分野でコンテンツの和訳を手掛ける内田順子さんが訳質の問題がどのような経緯を経て出てくるのか事例を挙げながら説明してくれました。誤訳ではないけれど、ターゲット言語である日本語では不自然な表現がいくつもの工程を経た後でも残ってしまうのはなぜなのでしょうか。

Proposals for ATA58

The American Translators Association is now accepting presentation proposals for ATA's 58th Annual Conference in Washington, DC (October 25-28, 2017). Proposals must be received by March 3, 2017.

Is there a session you would like to present at ATA58? Is there a workshop or issue you think would be of interest to members? The JLD Planning Committee is meeting to discuss the slate. Send your ideas to divisionJLD@atanet.org. 

You can see the Proposal for Conference Presentation on the ATA website.

ATA57: JLD Sessions & Events

We are pleased to announce Prof. Jay Rubin will be our Division Guest Speaker this year. You can find his bio here. And here are some of the other JLD sessions at the conference.

The early bird deadline for the conference is this Friday, September 23. The standard registration period ends October 14. If you are planning to be there, don't wait. 

ATA 2015: How to Read and Translate Risk and Safety Vernacular Phrases in Technical Texts

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session ST-3
Friday, Nov 06, 10:00am-11:00am

Session summary by 

Noriko Nevins

The purpose of this presentation was to inform translators who translate chemical documentation that there are official set translations that employ established and accepted terminology for internationally standardized Risk and Safety phrases (known as R- and S-phrases) as well as Hazard and Precautionary statements (known as H- and P-statements). And there has been an ongoing effort towards international harmonization with translations available online. Many translators are not aware of this and come up with their own original translations when they actually should use official translations.

ATA 2015: Translating Racially Sensitive Passages and Other Minefields

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J1

Thursday, Nov 05, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Session Summary by

Sarah Lindholm

In this session, the Japanese Language Division’s 2015 Distinguished Speaker, Juliet Winters Carpenter, used various excerpts from an as-yet-unpublished thirty-page section of her translation of Minae Mizumura’s novel 『私小説 from left to right』to discuss the different ways that she worked with the author to tackle racially sensitive and/or culture-specific content for English publication.

ATA 2015: Skills and Strategies for Deciphering Handwritten Japanese Documents

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J-6

Saturday, Nov 07, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Session summary by

Paul Koehler

A session on how to decipher difficult-to-read handwriting in Japanese was given by Dr. Mariko Okada, an associate professor at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo, and ATA (American Translators Association) Japanese Language Assistant Administrator Yoshihiro Mochizuki, a lecturer of Japanese at the University of Michigan.

Several examples of difficult-to-read letters and correspondence in Japanese were given in order to show how relevant the handwritten style is to translators in the present day. A brief history of the evolution of the Japanese language was given. In particular, emphasis was given on the origins of hiragana and how the standardization of those characters reached its most current form only in 1900. As such, there are examples of handwritten documents that are very difficult to read due to changes in the characters over the years. Two terms used for these changes are変体がな (hentaigana) and くずし字崩し字 (kuzushiji). Technically speaking, くずし字 is the umbrella term for any cursive style (including kanji) and 変体がな are a variety of different kana that stem from different kanji (字母).

The second half of the session was dedicated to a workshop where participants broke up into four groups and attempted to decipher difficult documents, with the assistance of handouts and guidance by Okada and Mochizuki. This session helped shed light on how to deal with such documents, which are a problem for translators regardless of whether they are native English or native Japanese translators.

(Added 2016.01.07)

源氏物語から蕎麦屋の看板までマスター 変体仮名あぷり・The Hentaigana App 早大・UCLAで共同開発（早稲田大学，2015/11/2） http://www.waseda.jp/top/news/34162

Kuzushiji Dictionaries
伊地知鉄男『仮名変体集』新典社，1966. 
児玉幸多『くずし字用例辞典』東京堂出版, 1993.
児玉幸多『くずし字解読辞典』東京堂出版, 1993. 
高田竹山監修『五体字類』西東書房, 2001.

Self-Study Materials
O’Neill, P.G., 1984. A Reader of Handwritten Japanese, Tokyo: Kodansha International. 
菅野俊輔『書いておぼえる江戸のくずし字いろは入門』柏書房, 2006.
中野三敏『くずし字で「百人一首」を楽しむ』角川学芸出版, 2011.

変体仮名あぷり iPhone/Android
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ATA 2015: The Japanese-English Interpreter's Panel

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J-8

Saturday, Nov 07, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Session Summary by

Tyler Miller

There were many things to take away from the entertaining and informative Japanese/English Interpreters Panel at the Miami ATA conference.  The four presenters, Ms. Izumi Suzuki, Mr. Hiro Tsuchiya, Mr. James Patrick, and Mr. Paul Koehler each provided different perspectives on not only on the ever-changing world of Japanese/English interpretation but also the nebulous role that an interpreter can sometimes play in that world. Each presenter brought their differing views on some of the challenges faced by interpreters as well. 

ATA 2015: Challenges of Literary Translation: Finding your Voice

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J-4

Friday, Nov 06, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Session Summary by

Patricia Pringle

Juliet Winters Carpenter shared with us the various types of challenges and choices she faces as she translates Japanese literary works. She gave us some idea of the complexities of translating another's words while expressing a voice that is compelling for English readers and retains the flavor of the original. When is a translation too free? What do you do with specific cultural references? Can you leave things out? Can you add things? What about explanatory notes?

ATA 2015: Deposition Interpreting Workshop

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J3
Thursday, Nov 05, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Session Summary by

Miyako Okamoto

Izumi Suzuki started her workshop by asking the attendees’ preferred language, Japanese or English. Then she asked how many have ever interpreted in deposition. She saw only few hands and decided to give basic level of workshop. Basic does not always mean easy. All of the attendees were on the hot seat trying to provide accurate interpreting of a video-taped sample case, TRZ vs Max Mutual Insurance. Here is the brief summary of what we learned.

ATA 2015: “Two Roads Diverged…”: Making Good Choices in Japanese-into-English Translation

ATA 56th Annual Conference Session J2

Thursday, Nov 05, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Session Summary by

Drew Fernando

As you probably already guessed by the allusion to the famous poem by Robert Frost, Session J-2 dealt with choosing between the possible options when translating from Japanese into English. It was presented by Professor James (Jim) Davis, director of the Technical Japanese Program in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Engineering.

ATA 2015: Wrapping up Miami

It has already been over a week since our colleagues headed home from the ATA’s 56th Annual Conference in Miami full of new ideas and inspiration, wads of business cards, and hopefully some deeper business relationships. This was an election year for the JLD, and I feel privileged to write this post as your new Administrator and on behalf of Yoshihiro Mochizuki, who will be the new Assistant Administrator for the next two years.

We are grateful to Jim Patrick for his work on the Leadership Council of the JLD since 2011. 

JLD Annual Networking Dinner

RSVP by October 19

Please join us for the 2015 JLD Annual Networking Dinner in Miami during ATA56! Enjoy conversation with colleagues over a light dinner of tacos and margaritas at lovely Rosa Mexicano in Mary Brickell Village, just a half-mile walk or a quick Metromover ride from the conference venue! Bring your spouse and other guests.

How Time Flies! Getting Ready for ATA 56 in Miami

Where did the time go?

Get ready for the 56th Annual American Translators conference in Miami! We hope to see you there.

ATA 56TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Miami, Florida
November 4-7, 2015

Japanese and Japanese Related Sessions
http://www.atanet.org/conf/2015/bylanguage.php#J

We plan to have the JLD Newcomers Lunch (details TBD), and we of course hope you can join us at the JLD Annual Networking Dinner on November 6th. There is also an opportunity to tour the Golf Channel Studio in Orlando (organized by their Japan Operations). See the details after the jump.

ATA 2014: Minutes of JLD Annual Meeting

The minutes of our Annual Meeting at the ATA conference are now available.

(More after the break....)

ATA 2014: Automotive Translation and Interpreting

Presented by: Miyako Okamoto

Summarized by: Yoko Usui

My job responsibility includes being an in-house interpreter for a Tier 1 Toyota supplier, so needless to say, Ms. Okamoto’s session on “Automotive Translation & Interpreting – How cars are made” was on my list of absolutely-must-attend sessions.  The presentation was a great introduction to those who may be unfamiliar with the automotive manufacturing industry, yet still educational to those like myself already involved in this industry.  Using Honda Motor Japan website’s “Virtual Plant Tour” as the base, Ms. Okamoto highlighted the major processes involved in the manufacturing of an automobile (outlined below).

ATA 2014: Chicago wrap up and planning for Miami

Dear JLD,

You may not have noticed it, but the month of November just blew past. One minute many of us were at the ATA Annual Conference, and the next it was Thanksgiving. At least it felt that way. Happy December! I hope the weather is good wherever you are.

I wanted to post this for two reasons: to call for feedback on the Chicago conference and to call for volunteers/ideas for next year's conference in Miami (especially from those who weren't in Chicago.)

I thought Chicago was a big success. The Annual Meeting powerpoint presentation and meeting minutes should be going up on the JLDTimes Blog shortly. Volunteers wrote summaries for most of the JLD sessions and even for a few others. Please check them out when you get a chance. If you have any feedback on last month's conference, please contact Nadine or me. If you had a session proposal or an idea to make things better but didn't get a chance to share it, please do!

Which leads to the second reason for my email. Although not even a month has passed since the conference, the planning process for next year is already beginning. The deadline for Distinguished Speaker proposals is in February, and the deadline for regular session proposals is in March. The first Planning Committee meeting will be held soon.

For those who couldn't attend the 2014 conference, this is your chance to let us know what sort of sessions and presentations you would be interesting in attending. Who would you like to hear speak? What subjects would you like to learn about? Would you be interested in giving a presentation? Do you know someone who would be a good speaker? Please let us know. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

If you would be willing to volunteer, please contact us. We are always looking for JLD members to make a presentation or post an article to the blog. You could also get involved in the Planning, Editorial or Entertainment committees. Feel free to contact Nadine or myself with any questions.

Best,

-Jim Patrick

JLD Administrator

ATA 2014: English>Japanese Translation of Figures of Speech

講演者: 望月良浩

報告者: ミトリック理香(Rika Mitrik)

ミシガン大学で日本語と翻訳実習コースを教えていらっしゃる望月良浩先生の「比喩の翻訳」についてのセッションに参加させていただいた。これは、前回のATAカンファレンスで日英翻訳のテクニックを講義してくださり、このブログにも寄稿してくださったウィスコンシン大学のジム・ディビス教授のセッションに触発されたものだという。ディビス教授のセッションでは、学生の珍訳迷訳(?)をなるほどと納得できる名訳に変身させ、含みの多い日本語表現を「字面を直訳するのではなく、言わんとする意図を訳すべし」と締めくくられていたのを覚えている。今回は英日の例文なので和訳翻訳者にはとっつきやすかったと思う。

ATA 2014: Grammatical Digging to Improve Japanese>English Patent Translation

発表者: James Judge

報告者: 前田 紘明

　JLD最初のセッションの議題は、日英の特許翻訳において日本人翻訳者が陥りやすい文法上の落とし穴について。大阪から招いた発表者のJames Judgeさんは、日本での日常生活でよく見かける日本語の曖昧さや不思議な英文を紹介しながら、複雑な特許明細書を読み解き英訳する際の文法上の問題点についてユーモアを交えながら話してくれました。特許翻訳に携わっている翻訳者だけではなく他の分野の翻訳者も多数参加し、特許翻訳独特の英文表現ついて盛んな議論が持ち上がり、予定の時間があっという間に過ぎてしまう充実したセッションでした。

ATA 2014: Pictures and Sound: Translating Television and Other Audiovisual Media

講演者：Sarah Lindholm

報告者：大平和美

今月始めにシカゴで開催されたATAの55th Annual Conferenceで、Sarah Lindholmさんのプレゼンテーション「Pictures and Sound: Translating Television and Other Audiovisual Media」を視聴する機会に恵まれました。画像と音声を普段から扱ってお仕事をされているLindholmさんらしく、ビデオクリップの例も含む大変わかりやすいスライドショーを使ってのプレゼンテーションでした。