Articles
March 28, 2016
Translation in the “Age of English”
Juliet Winters Carpenter
On December 6, 2014, in Osaka, Juliet Winters Carpenter, professor at Doshisha Women’s College and a prolific translator, spoke about translating the work of Minae Mizumura and gave a workshop on a passage from The Fall of Language in the Age of English (Columbia University Press, 2015). This article, with some of the workshop results included at the... more
March 9, 2016
SWET Toolbox: Three Apps for Improving Productivity
By Winifred A. Bird
This January 1, I sat down with my journal and resolutely promised myself to achieve work-life balance. This is becoming something of a New Year’s ritual for me. I work from home as a writer and translator, and I don’t have kids, so work tends to spread over my life like an out-of-control kudzu vine. Every year... more
October 27, 2015
Contemporary Japan in Crime Fiction
Interview by Suzanne Kamata
A SWET member writing under the pseudonym Lea O’Harra announces her first novel, Imperfect Strangers, published earlier this year in digital form by Endeavour Press (UK) and in print by Fine Line Press (New Zealand) and available on Amazon. Shikoku-based writer Suzanne Kamata asked the new author a few questions by... more
June 16, 2015
From Book Editor to Thriller Writer: Barry Lancet’s Advice to Aspiring Scribes
Jeremy Hill On May 10, 2015, award-winning author of the thrillers Japantown and Tokyo Kill Barry Lancet spoke about how he moved from a career in editing to writing fiction and offered some pointers for aspiring authors. The lively audience contributed to the experience and insights shared. Our thanks to Jeremy Hill, who wrote this report based... more
April 14, 2015
Inclusive Language and Translations
From the SWET Newsletter Archive/Editors’ Corner
Many journalists and writers are working hard these days to free their prose of sexist bias. When they don’t, editors often must help them out. A translator, who must take into account the characteristics of two languages at once in the routine course of her work, has special problems in this regard.
The... more
December 17, 2014
Pianyan, Little Keys, and Yumiko Sakuma
By Deborah Iwabuchi
When SWET member Deborah Iwabuchi translated a Japanese children’s book into English, she, a collaborator, and the author all read an article in the September–October 2011 issue of Nihon jidō bungaku (Japanese Children’s Literature).
In the article, “Honyaku-tte nan da” (What Exactly Is Translation?), English-to-Japanese translator Yumiko Sakuma describes her career and conveys the... more