Swet Columns
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
October 12, 2016
Word Wise: Etc.?
など、など、等 Nado
By Richard Medhurst
Apprentice translators from Japanese to English soon encounter the など issue. Lists are typically followed by a など, and they may pop up with alarming frequency. Excessive use of “etc.” in English would be considered bad style, but Japanese follows different rules and we must deal with it.
It often goes without saying in English that there are... more
September 14, 2016
Essential Weapon for Your Editing Armory
Reviewed by Clare Midgley
Effective Onscreen Editing: New Tools for an Old Profession. 3rd edition. By Geoff Hart. Pointe-Claire, Quebec: Diaskeuasis Publishing, 2016. Printed version: 518 pages, US$33 + shipping from Lulu, ISBN 978-1-927972-04-5; PDF version: 827 pages, US$28 outside Canada, ISBN 978-1-927972-05-2; EPUB version: unpaginated and included with PDF, ISBN 978-1-927972-06-9.
Are you struggling to apply techniques from... more
July 4, 2016
Word Wise: Covering All the Bases
徹底 Tettei
By Richard Medhurst
When Japanese companies, politicians, or other authority voices seek to reassure, one word they frequently reach for is 徹底. Sometimes it forms an adjective, as in 徹底的な調査, “a thorough investigation.” Depending what it is modifying, “complete,” “comprehensive,” “meticulous,” or “painstaking” are also potential translations for 徹底的 or 徹底 as an adjective.
The word appears as a verb too.... more
June 16, 2016
Word Wise: This Month’s Word Challenge
チャレンジ Charenji
By Richard Medhurst
It’s pretty common for loanwords to change their meaning as they enter Japanese from English and these can present translation difficulties. Take チャレンジ, which is used quite differently in its verb form in Japanese, inspiring such errors by Japanese learners of English (and out-of-their depth translators) as “I want to challenge skiing.” In the case ofスキーをチャレンジしたいです, it... more