Swet Columns
December 29, 2018
Word Wise: Population Phrases
By Richard Medhurst
Japan’s declining birth rate and aging population affect its society in countless ways. The country is considering such issues as how to maintain enough workers to support its industries and social security expenses, while many of its smaller communities face potential extinction. Typically the changes Japan is going through are summed up in the phrase 少子高齢化, which may... more
December 7, 2018
The History of SWET
The late 1970s were years of growth and ferment in English-language book and periodical publishing in Japan. Book publishers Charles E. Tuttle, Inc., John Weatherhill, Kodansha International, and the University of Tokyo Press released dozens of new volumes in English annually. Japan Echo, the Japan Interpreter, and Japan Quarterly published high-quality Japanese journalism and writing in English translation. Four daily... more
December 2, 2018
SWET Kansai Event Report: Juliet Winters Carpenter—Reflections on the Translation of Ryōma!
By Susan E. Jones
In October, 17 SWET members and interested others eagerly gathered at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto to hear illustrious translator Juliet Winters Carpenter talk about her latest work, a joint translation project with two other translators of Ryōma! The Life of Sakamoto Ryōma: Japanese Swordsman and Visionary by historical novelist Shiba Ryōtarō. The Japanese... more
August 31, 2018
2017 SWET Financial Report
The SWET treasurer has submitted a (PDF) financial report of Tokyo and Kansai activities for 2017.
... more
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
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