Japanese

All presentations are in English unless otherwise noted.

J-1 (T, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
Japanese Language Division Annual Meeting
Izumi Suzuki (Novi, Michigan), administrator, ATA Japanese Language Division, and co-founder, Suzuki, Myers & Associates Ltd.

J-2 (T, 3:30pm-5:00pm) - All LevelsExperiences with the Japanese®English Court Interpreting Test
Izumi Suzuki (Novi, Michigan), administrator, ATA Japanese Language Division, and co-founder, Suzuki, Myers & Associates Ltd.
Presenting Languages: English and Japanese

This presentation is based on the speaker's experience with the Japanese®English court interpreting certification test and with the California State court test procedure. In February, she passed a written court interpreting test in California, the only state that gives English®Japanese court interpreting certification in the United States. She will share what she learned in a general court interpreting workshop given in Detroit by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office, how she prepared for the written test, as well her experiences with the oral test given in California, and what those tests comprised.

J-3 (F, 10:15am-11:45am) - All Levels
Understanding the Semiconductor Industry and Technical Terminology in English and Japanese - Part III
Ken Sakai (Salem, Oregon), president, Pacific Dreams, Inc.

Part III will provide an overview of the larger framework of the semiconductor industry by illustrating the position of each sector of the industry and how they are interconnected. Technical translation business opportunities will be examined through this overview of the industry. The translation opportunity with the greatest potential is the semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry, particularly manual translations. In order to provide accurate and high-quality translation services, technical terminology for user-friendly manual creation will be discussed. In addition to equipment manuals, translation know-how and tips for typical types of documents in the industry (standard operation procedures, regulation compliance reports, troubleshooting reports, safety and environment instructions, websites, and sales and marketing materials) will be discussed.

J-4 (F, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
J-4 (F, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
How to Market Yourself as a Japanese Translator (or, Translation Self-Marketing for Dummies)
Carl Sullivan (Ephraim, Utah), assistant professor (Japanese and teaching second/foreign languages), Snow College

Are you an experienced Japanese (or other language) interpreter/translator/editor who waits by the phone or watches the email inbox for jobs that too seldom come? Is your business suffering due to the recent economic downturn? Do you have the translation skills, but lack the personality or ability for making yourself more widely known? Are you a newcomer or veteran wanting either to initiate or expand your business? If so, this presentation is tailored for you. The speaker will share a specific, step-by-step, easy to follow approach for locating, contacting, and follow-up contacting translation agencies that are in need of utilizing your skills.

J-5 (F, 3:30pm-5:00pm) - All Levels
Japanese«English Accreditation Workshop
James L. Davis (Madison, Wisconsin), associate professor and director, Technical Japanese Program, Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Jackie Miyasaka (Pullman, Washington), freelance Japanese®English translator; Connie Prener (Ossining, New York), ATA-accredited (Japanese®English) freelance translator; Kyoko Saegusa (Boulder, Colorado), freelance Japanese«English translator/interpreter and senior instructor of Japanese, University of Colorado-Boulder; and Kendrick Wagner (Shoreline, Washington), freelance Japanese®English technical translator
Presenting Languages: English and Japanese

A brief overview of ATA's accreditation system, testing procedures, and standards will be presented. This will be followed by separate Japanese«English test workshops focusing on common accreditation pitfalls.

J-6 (S, 8:30am-9:15am) - All Levels
Teaching Translation: A Task Analysis Approach
Tanya Sobieski (Pacific Grove, California), Japanese Program Head, Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Monterey Institute of International Studies

Many of the day-to-day behaviors we engage in without even thinking about are really quite complex, comprising many smaller, discrete, singular, specific sub-behaviors that we perform in a certain order. These sub-behaviors can be broken down into appropriate levels of specificity to maximize learning efficiency. In this presentation, the task of technical translation is broken down, with the purpose of ensuring that each essential component is taught in the correct sequence to maximize teaching clarity and efficiency.

J-7 (S, 9:15am-10:00am) - All Levels
More than Meets the Eye: Solving Puzzles of Grammar and Context in Japanese®English Translation
James L. Davis (Madison, Wisconsin), associate professor and director, Technical Japanese Program, Department of Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The grammatical patterns and sentence structure in a Japanese document differ significantly from those in an English document. Thus, it is not surprising that native speakers of English tend to make certain kinds of errors when translating from Japanese into English. The speaker will present examples of incorrect English translations of Japanese text, and will analyze the errors according to categories related to grammatical patterns, sentence structure, and writing style. Characteristic patterns that emerge from an analysis of such errors will be described.

J-8 (S, 10:15am-11:45am) - All Levels
Opportunities in Medical Translation for Translators with Non-Science Backgrounds
Mizuho Iwamoto (Manhattan, Kansas), freelance English«Japanese biomedical translator/writer; and Yuka Tamura, (Manhattan, Kansas), independent English«Japanese translator
Presenting Language: Japanese

Even though the medical translation market is growing rapidly and becoming more diverse, the number of translators with a medical specialty is limited. Such a situation opens up an opportunity for translators with backgrounds in areas other than medical (linguistics, for example) to be involved in this area. This session will provide an overview of current medical translation (English®Japanese), including various documents, a guide on how to get medical information, and a description of the role of translation memory tools. The presenters will examine the advantages and disadvantages for translators both with and without medical backgrounds, and discuss how both sides work together to produce a large volume of high-quality work in a limited amount of time.

J-9 (S, 1:45pm-3:15pm) - All Levels
Japanese Dictionaries and Terminology in the Electronic/Internet Age
Akiko Sasaki-Summers (Longmont, Colorado), ATA-accredited (English®Japanese) translator
Presenting Language: Japanese

With the expansion of Internet use and the introduction of electronic dictionaries, a translator's routine, not to mention resources, has changed dramatically. Different options for facilitating terminology searches, as well as terminology management, will be covered in this presentation. This session will include a demonstration and examples. While not much emphasis will be placed on specific individual dictionaries, a list of dictionaries may be provided.

J-10 (S, 3:30pm-5:00pm) - All Levels
Japanese Language Division Forum
Carl T. Sullivan (Ephraim, Utah)

What did you like about this year conference? What didn you like? What type of presentation would be relevant to your line of work? What changes would you like to see in conference presentations? What can the JLD do for you that it not doing now? You can make your opinions about the ATA conference and JLD known in this loosely structured discussion on conference planning, JLD policies and activities, and anything else relevant to JLD members. In this moderated forum, every participant opinion will be heard.