Swet Columns
August 30, 2018
Word Wise: Attention Please
注目 Chūmoku
By Richard Medhurst
I often see the phrase 注目を集める or its close counterpart 注目を浴びる translated to say that something is “attracting attention” or “drawing attention.” As 注目 means “attention” this popular rendering naturally follows. While it is not incorrect, and I use it myself at times, the English phrase is nowhere near as common in texts by native writers as... more
August 25, 2018
Punctuation Encounters and the J-E Translator
Reviewed by Lynne E. Riggs
Punctuation..? By User Design. 35 pages. ISBN: 978-0-9570712-2-3. £10.
Forty years trying to master the skills of clarity, consistency, and coherence have not made me a model copyeditor, yet. Reviewing the rules of correct usage set down in this slim volume tests my progress. Always distracted by the larger issues of accuracy and comprehensibility I face... more
July 28, 2018
EVENT REPORT – SWET Travel Writing Meet-up
By Rob Goss
The new travel writing group within SWET is up and running. Seventeen people came together on July 19 for the first meeting on a hot and humid night in Tokyo, some traveling from as far as Niigata and Kobe to the Book House Cafe, Jinbocho, Tokyo. We had a mix of writers, photographers, translators, interpreter-guides, and two tourism ambassadors... more
July 4, 2018
SWET Kansai Event Report: Photography and Flash Fiction Workshop
By Rebecca Otowa
I had been dreaming of putting together John Einarsen’s evocative photography and a writing workshop for some months, and on June 9, it came true. It was held in central Kyoto and seven people attended.
In addition to being the founding editor of the respected Kyoto Journal, John has published several books of his photographs, including Kyoto:... more
May 30, 2018
EVENT REPORT – Travel-Related Events and Updating the Japan Style Sheet
May 16, 2018 (Wednesday), Book House Cafe, Jinbocho, Tokyo
Ten people gathered for a SWET Talk Shop to discuss two topics: (1) the idea of setting up special-interest group (SIG) in SWET for travel writers and (2), the proposed plan for SWET to publish a new edition of the Japan Style Sheet.
Rob Goss introduced his ideas for a... more
May 30, 2018
Word Wise: Animals and Plants
By Richard Medhurst
Moving away from this column’s usual focus on individual words, this time I’d like to consider translation of animal and plant names. One reason this is a tricky area is that the way Japanese and English group words together may be different. A flower known in English by one name might have several different names in Japanese or... more