These are casual virtual meet-ups to talk about translation, mainly between Japanese and English. We share experiences, questions, reading, strategies, tools, travails, and trivia, with different conversations every time. The hour-long sessions, moderated by Daniel Morales, start at 8:00 p.m. JST on the first Tuesday of the month. Participation is up and down. The December 3 session was a cozy 6, giving us a chance to discuss our daily routines and work rhythms and learn about our various niches in the industry. For brief reports of previous meetings, see here. 

May 6: Translation rates are often difficult to discuss, but they are critical for translators. We’re not planning to talk about specific rates, but we would like to try to talk about the considerations surrounding rates. When is it okay to ask for a higher rate from a regular client? Are your rates calculated by source character or target word? Do you have a minimum charge for small projects? Is it by rate or volume? If you are willing to take a higher volume of work for a lower rate, where do you draw the line, and are such volume discounts viable for a translator in the long term?