Annual Japanese Language Workshop

The Japanese Language Interest Group of the STIBC, with the Japanese Language Committee of Greater Vancouver JCCA as a sponsor, held the 3rd Annual Translation/Interpretation Workshop on May 15, 2010 at the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall on Alexander Street. The event enjoyed a great response from the community and we saw more than 30 people registering, including S.T.I.B.C. members, students and other language professionals. We also received a request from a Japanese community paper, Vancouver Shinpo, to cover the event.
The three-and-a-half-hour event had three components: a health care interpretation workshop, E-J and J-E translation workshops, and a time set aside for networking and exchange. In the interpretation workshop, representatives from the Vancouver Community College and Provincial Language Services spoke on their interpreting programs and employment opportunities. The presentations were followed by examples on health care interpreting led by Yoshie Hancock, C.Cl. Humorous role-plays based on the real-life experience of a health care interpreter drew laughter and demonstrated the importance of accurate and caring interpreting.

For the translation workshops, participants prepared translations of both J-E and E-J texts given prior to the event and shared their thoughts and experiences as well as their translation in small groups. A good mixture of experienced and new translators in each group provided an opportunity for the participants, who often work in solitude, to share knowledge and solutions in translation. Some of the practical wisdoms shared by the experienced translators included reading articles on the similar topics to mentally prepare to dive into the subject matter prior to translating: using search engines to confirm how a particular word is used in the related fields: and examining the background and capacity of the speaker to determine the tone of the quotes in the article. The constant seeking spirit to deepen the knowledge of the language and having the latitude to contemplate on the more refined expressions seemed to be the common traits of the experienced translators.

Networking and friendly exchanges were carried out cheerfully and enthusiastically over refreshments in the warm spring sun. The bright faces and cheerful noises proved the value of and the need for opportunities such as this to connect with each other. Among the feedbacks we received were several requests to expand the workshop to a full-day event next year.

The workshop was organised by the following certified members of ST.I.B.C.: Yasuko Garlick, Kumi Hardin, Tatsuo Kage, Yuko Ikegami Lee, Agnes Li, and Masako Sharpe. Other certified members joining as facilitators were Stanley Fukawa, Yoshie Hancock, and Masaru Nagashima.

by Kumi Hardin