Fall 2017 Meeting Report

Ohio Honyaku held its fall meeting from noon to 3:00 PM on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at the facilities of the Japan America Society of Central Ohio. Over lunch we enjoyed free discussion and welcomed several new members and guests, including one from South Carolina who stopped by on her way to visit relatives in northern Ohio. Much of the free discussion was based on self-introductions and our experiences in translation and interpretation. It was noted, for example, that Ohio is second only to California in the number of Japanese companies in the U.S. This makes Ohio an excellent prospect for persons seeking J<>E bilingual in-house job opportunities in the U.S.

We also held a short discussion on establishing formal ties with JAT, and in particular, the Midwest Activities Committee. No decision was reached since both liaisons were unable to attend this meeting, but we hope to reach a consensus at our Winter meeting in February.

Six members gave short presentations on the following topics:

1. The interesting use of the rather archaic word “dotard” by the North Korean government to refer to President Trump, and how dictionary-based translations can be puzzling or amusing to native speakers of the target language. This kind of situation is not necessarily limited to old, paper-bound dictionaries, and can occur even with current online dictionaries, so bilingual professionals need to be aware of current usage in the target language.
2. An introduction to the service called通訳翻訳WEB (http://tsuhon.jp), which presents itself as “通訳・翻訳WEBはプロになりたい人と仕事が欲しい人のナビゲーションマガジンです.” Two particular features of interest to bilingual professionals areコラムand通訳LifeHack. This online service also offers online検定試験in several fields, although the value and validity of such certification is unclear.
3. Practical steps for maximizing income as a freelance translator. Although the goal of most freelancers is to have a 100% operating rate (i.e., a job is waiting on every work day), simply accepting every job that is offered can be disadvantageous because of the low profit margin of some kinds of work. There is a true art in turning down jobs without losing client goodwill, and it is important to respond to clients immediately if you must decline an offer. Freelancers must hone their skills in estimating how long a job will take because an offer at a high rate that requires a lot of research or formatting time may be much less profitable on an hourly basis than an offer at a lower rate that can be turned around quickly. We also discussed how to handle a case in which an agency has asked the translator to begin a job, and then the job is suddenly cancelled by the end client for a reason such as “海外輸出は禁じられている。”
4. An introduction to several English language historical novels for young adults about important Japanese figures—Samurai Rising by Pamela S. Turner (about Minamoto Yoshitsune), and Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus, The Bamboo Sword by Margi Preus, and Born in the year of Courage by Emily Crofford (all about Nakahama Manjiro). These books are easily available through public library systems and make great winter reading even for not-so-young adults.
5. What is AI? Artificial intelligence is a term that is often used in news reports, but various terms related to AI are seldom clearly defined. This presentation provided an overview of AI (人工知能), strong and weak AI (強い/弱いAI), machine learning (機械学習), deep learning (深層学習), data mining(データマイニング), expert system (エキスパートシステム), inference engine (推論エンジン), and knowledge base (知能ベース). The presentation also provided examples of AI successes and discussed its limitations.
6. Perspective on rapid technical change and morality. This presentation addressed the opinion attributed to Robert Ballard (discoverer of the Titanic) that technology is amoral by examining Mark Zuckerman’s updated mission for Facebook called “Building a Global Community,” which implies that technical advances are a force for positive change. In contrast, the presentation noted some unintended consequences of inexpensive and instant communication through social media such as internet trolls, bullying, fake news, and foreign interference in democratic elections. The question of whether to adopt the latest technology and bring it into our lives should be tempered by the understanding that every decision comes with a price, and it is important to consciously analyze, as much as possible, potential positives and negatives before blindly seeking the latest hot gadget.

The Ohio Honyaku Group meets quarterly to discuss issues of importance to translators and interpreters of Japanese, and we welcome all current and future Japanese language professionals. The meetings are lightly structured and new topics for discussion tend to arise spontaneously as we chat. If you live in Ohio or a nearby state, or if you happen to be visiting the area when we are meeting, please join us.

The next meeting is scheduled for January 20, 2018. Although this is a two-month interval from the last meeting, this puts our quarterly meetings back on our usual monthly rotation, which was shifted to accommodate the IJET-28 Translator Conference held in Columbus.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.ohiohonyaku.com/ or contact us at inquiries@ohiohonyaku.com.

Report prepared by J. S.