Becoming a Pro Translator (Part 1)

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 | Japan Stuff, Translation

The Road to Becoming a Professional Japanese->English Translator

I’ve been a pro J->E translator for a good while now, and as time goes on I get asked more and more about how to become a professional Japanese to English translator, and more specifically, how to get into professionally translating stuff like anime, manga, games, and all that good stuff. So I thought I’d toss together a page about it so that I can answer people more easily.

I’m probably going to break this up into a few different parts, so skip any parts that don’t really matter to/relate to/interest you.

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1. Learn Japanese!

Obviously, you need to know Japanese first I’m just gonna assume that people reading this know no Japanese by default. If you already know your stuff then go ahead and skip this part!

There are lots of different routes to take to become proficient in Japanese. You CAN probably try to learn it on your own with books and stuff, but the best method by far is to take Japanese classes.

The sooner you start studying, the better. If you’re in high school and your HS offers Japanese classes, take them! And take them seriously, even if no one else in your class/school does.

If your high school doesn’t offer Japanese classes, but you’re in high school, you might want to check nearby community colleges or universities. They’ll often let high school students take classes during summer session. That’s what I did, and I actually managed to get 2 academic years’ worth of Japanese classes under my belt before REALLY entering college. And since I did those over the summer, I learned about 2 years worth of stuff in 3 or 4 months. Intense, but effective if you’re genuinely wanting to learn.

When choosing a college or university after high school, be sure to look around and do your research. Some schools only offer 2 years of Japanese courses. Some offer courses that go up past the grad student level.

Obviously, take as many Japanese classes as you can when you’re in college. Any related courses, like Japanese history, art, cinema, calligraphy, culture, etc. are all very good to take too. They might be kind of boring (okay, maybe VERY boring) but I often thank the stars I took these classes, as sometimes you unexpectedly need to have historical knowledge or other knowledge when translating, or even when just interacting with people.

When studying Japanese in college, there are a couple things to realize, and I only learned them and realized them after my many years.

• First-year Japanese courses are often filled with Japanophiles (can’t think of a better term, but I think you know what I mean :/) and people taking the classes just to satisfy language credit requirements. Don’t let their distaste for hard work get to you — just keep working really hard and study lots.
• Classes will get smaller and smaller as you go along. But, college students, being what they are, will naturally always do the bare minimum. Again, don’t let this affect you — just keep on studying hard. At some point, you’ll really need to do lots and lots of studying outside of classwork. This is because:
• When most people graduate college with degrees in Japanese, they REALLY only know maybe a few hundred kanji, and they’re still only confident with grammar and vocab they learned in their first year. To put that into perspective, Japanese first or second graders know more kanji.
• This is because the classes only give you so much — you really WILL need to study lots and lots on your own. The only way to learn all the main 2000 kanji is to teach them to yourself.

Now, since you’re hoping to master Japanese AND be able to translate Japanese entertainment, you’ll need more than just grammar and vocab and kanji. You need the culture (and everything that comes with it) too.

I recommend studying abroad in Japan around your third year of Japanese. Meaning you probably took about 4-6 semesters of Japanese language classes previously. The reason for not going earlier is because you can learn the basics of the language anywhere at all. But the more intricate stuff can’t really be taught, it needs to be experienced directly. So around the third year is a good time for this. Of course, if you happen to be really rich or something, then sure, go as often and whenever you like!

Now I know many people reading this will be like, “But I can’t afford that! That’s too expensive!” That’s what I thought way back when too. But man am I glad I didn’t listen to myself. Here are just a few things about this I can think up real quick:

• Unless you hide in a cave away from civilization and have hermit training powers, you’re not going to REALLY learn or experience Japan, Japanese culture, and the Japanese language without going to Japan. You could probably read tons and tons of books and play tons and tons of games, but you’ll still be missing so much.
• You only have so much time on this planet. You’ll probably only ever get to see 60 or 70 springs or summers or winters, and most likely you’ve already lost 20 or more of those. Don’t let your life pass you by. Studying abroad is one of those things that can really add to your total life experience, as dumb as that sounds. Plus, this is really the last good time to study abroad. Once you’re in the real world, you’d be “working abroad”, and that’s a whole different ballgame.
• If you want a bright future, the absolute best thing to invest in is yourself. I dunno about you, but being stuck in a crappy job that I have to go to every single day for the rest of my life almost sounds like a prison sentence. Invest in yourself now.

In my case, I wasn’t able to get any scholarships or school loans, since people sucked and because of all sorts of lame red tape and bureaucracy. So I went and took out a bank loan (had a relative cosign). It was a big loan and paying it back cost a lot, but I made back that money + tons more because of what I learned while in Japan. Had I not gone, I might be stuck in some lame IT job doing data processing or something, going nowhere.

So if the idea of studying abroad seems crazy to you, give it some more thought. Incidentally, I recommend the Tokyo International University Japan Studies Program — I spent a full year there many years ago and came away with a pretty awesome experience overall. (Just look out for the people I mentioned often show up in first-year Japanese courses) The teachers there are excellent, and staying with host families taught me so much that I wouldn’t have learned about had I stayed in a smelly dorm. I also seem to have left a legacy, so be sure to mention me to teachers and other people if you ever go I’m somehow famous (infamous?) there now. Mentioning “pink buses” might jog memories too! Don’t forget!

After you’ve had tons of awesome experiences in Japan, it’ll be time to come back and finish up your degree eventually. You can probably have some credits transferred from your school in Japan, so that should probably take care of most of your Japanese courses and you’ll probably mainly have crappy unrelated stuff to do. But do them and graduate.

And of course, alllllll the while during all of this, always always be studying hard on your own!

By the time you’ve done all this, you’ll probably be very proficient at Japanese!

But if you’re aiming to be a pro translator, you also gotta learn how to translate!

(to be continued, been too busy lately to finish this)

Tags: japanese, Translation, work

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