Swet Columns
April 5, 2017
Word Wise: Baffling by Design
整備 Seibi
By Richard Medhurst
There’s a Japanese Wikipedia article on 整備文, a term devised by Canadian author Iain Arthy to refer to the obfuscatory language deployed by elites in his book Oeragata no Nihongojuku 『政・官・財（おえらがた）の日本語塾』(1996). It singles out words like 検討, 施設, and 等 for sapping readers’ will to understand. But the word he chose... more
February 3, 2017
Japan Writers Conference 2016 Remembered
We asked three people who attended the Japan Writers Conference, held October 27 and 28 at Tokushima University, on the island of Shikoku, to share their impressions and notes from the talks they attended. While by no means comprehensive—and we regret not including reporting on all the sessions—our three authors give us lively and diverse accounts of what they gained... more
January 31, 2017
Word Wise: Get a Grip
把握 Haaku
By Richard Medhurst
Some words look straightforward enough in the context of a Japanese sentence, but are not always easy to translate. Take 把握, consisting of two kanji meaning to “grip” or “grasp.” This latter word, “grasp,” is a common J-E dictionary entry for 把握 as it has the same connection with physically holding and mentally knowing, but it has... more
December 1, 2016
Word Wise: More You, But in a Good Way
らしい Rashii
By Richard Medhurst
When people advise “be yourself,” they certainly don’t want you to follow your worst instincts. The aim is to become more “you” in a good way, fulfilling the potential within you. There is a similar aspirational idea in 自分らしい in Japanese. You are “like yourself” in a positive manner. It is one of many らしい phrases where... more
November 8, 2016
Teaching Translation
SWET Presentation by Susan E. Jones Sept. 25, 2016 Report by Don Todt
If you’re a female college student in Japan who’s interested in becoming a translator, Susan E. Jones wants you prepared.
In fact, she’s so intent on accomplishing this goal that she’s spent the last ten years developing a course in teaching translation at Kobe College (神戸女学院大学).
Japan’s low birthrate has caused a... more
November 1, 2016
Writing Strategies and Inspiration
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2006, 295 pages. ISBN: 9780316014984
Reviewed by Richard Medhurst
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer is a series of short pieces on becoming a better wordsmith from pepping up sentences to forming habits that will pay off in the longer term. Although... more