Swet Columns
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
April 3, 2018
Word Wise: Appealing to Your Better Judgment
魅力 Miryoku
by Richard Medhurst
Among the versatile words that Japanese copy writers reach for most, 魅力 and the adjectival form 魅力的 are seen particularly in tourism texts. Depending on context, translators could talk about “the appeal of traditional ryokan inns” (旅館の魅力), “the charms of Hakodate” (函館の魅力) or “an attractive town” (魅力的な町). It is also possible to talk about a sight being... more
Most Popular
| A Writer’s Look at the iPad |
| Self-Publishing a Self-Initiated Translation |
| The New Self-Publishing in Japan: Seven Things You Need to Know |
| The Wordsmith’s Craft |
