Winter 2017 Meeting Report
The Ohio Hon’yaku Get-together met on January 21, 2017 at JASCO headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. Eleven members attended. In our open discussion during lunch we talked about invasive plants (especially nira) from Japan that spread prolifically in Ohio beyond their original garden homes, how translators/interpreters can deal with changes in Japanese management in their companies, how translators can handle documents written by Japanese authors who use “scare quotes” in almost every sentence for emphasis, and how in-house translators can deal with corporate slogans that sometimes sound silly in English. We also looked at the origin and meaning of the advertising and marketing term transcreation as localization that involves both translation and creative adaptations suitable for readers in the target language.
We then had a short business meeting on how we can increase recognition of our group and expand our membership. Some members formed an ad hoc committee to investigate creating a presence on social media and perhaps a website. We also received a brief explanation about the upcoming IJET conference in April from one of the IJET committee members.
Because of a shorter time for presentations, only five members gave presentations, and others were postponed to our spring meeting. The content was as follows.
(1) How AI (artificial intelligence) and IOT (the internet of things) is likely to affect manufacturing in the future. One salient example is the increasing adoption of manufacturing execution systems (MES), in which computers monitor many facets of the manufacturing process to predict on a statistical basis when machine parts are wearing and need to be replaced, and so on. Data from MES helps in making manufacturing decisions and provides necessary information in case of post-shipment quality control issues. The new neural network model adopted by Google Translate was briefly mentioned, but some members noted that it offers only slight improvement that is limited to very short and simple sentences.
(2) Some amusing English to Japanese translation examples of the phrase “Love Trumps Hate” that became well known during last year’s presidential campaign. These included切り札憎しみを愛してください, but many members felt the Japanese TV screenshot with the captionトランプは嫌いmay have been the most apropos.
(3) Some comments on a discussion from our winter meeting on “How can interpreters educate the people who use their services?” and the further issue of “What qualities do interpreters need?” Based on her lengthy experience, the presenter gave a short list of qualities needed by interpreters to maintain sanity and actually thrive in a corporate atmosphere. These included: high emotional IQ, a thick skin, respectful attitude toward confidentiality, thorough understanding of the cultures of both languages, quick thinking and creativity, professionalism, and a good voice tone free from personal emotion.
(4) The development of a translation quality management (TQM) model for an organization that used multiple translators. TQM is based on the PCDA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) principle of quality control and can be used not only to enhance translator corps performance but also aid individual translators by providing feedback in the form of metrics that gauge performance.
(5) The rapid growth of robots in manufacturing and other areas (Uber driverless cars, Amazon drone deliveries) that enable companies to replace human workers through cost savings after the initial investment. Right now, South Korea, Japan, and Germany lead the world in number of robots/10,000 manufacturing workers. China is last among large manufacturing economies with only 36 robots/10,000 manufacturing workers, but in 2014 China also ordered the largest number of robots every recorded for a single year, 57,100, so things are likely to change rapidly in this area. Robots not only replace humans in manufacturing jobs, but require trained operators to manage and repair them, and right now there is a large labor gap with too many openings for skilled workers and too many unskilled workers available but unwilling, for a variety of reasons, to undergo the necessary education and training.
The next meeting of our group is tentatively scheduled for May 13 (after IJET) in Columbus, Ohio. We welcome all J<>E language professionals and other interested persons who enjoy a rather relaxed atmosphere and stimulating discussions about our two beloved countries. For more information, please contact us here.
Report prepared by J. S.
