The Course
Put simply, Japanese to English translation is about fully understanding
a text written in Japanese and then restating it in English. Being
native speakers of English, you should not have that much trouble
with the second part (although you might want to work on your English
writing skills). It is probably the first part, fully understanding
Japanese texts, that presents the major problems. Even if you can
read all the words and generally piece together the surface meaning
of a text, you may have trouble seeing the underlying message. Yet
understanding not only the surface meaning but the implied meaning
as well is essential to producing good translations.
This introductory course in J-to-E translation for native speakers
of English will focus on the essential skill of truly understanding
Japanese texts. Translation basics such as how to do research will
also be covered. It is intended for people who have a certain level
of Japanese comprehension (e.g., Level 2 on the Japanese Language
Proficiency Test or equivalent) and are thinking of giving J-to-E
translation a try. Because the focus is on understanding Japanese,
the course will be taught mostly by a Japanese instructor. But this
is not a Japanese conversation course; the classes will basically
be conducted in English.
Each week, you will be assigned a passage about 1500-2000 characters
long to translate. We will then discuss the text and go over problematic
sections the following week. The course will deal mostly with general
topics, but we may do some specialized texts as the course progresses.
There will be a screening process mainly to ensure that this class
is the appropriate level for you. |
