Spring 2019 Meeting Report
The spring meeting of the Ohio Honyaku Group was held on Saturday, April 27, 2019, at JASCO (Japan America Society of Central Ohio) headquarters in Dublin, Ohio. A total of 11 members attended.
The meeting started with a brief introduction of upcoming JASCO events. On May 5th, JASCO will host a Japanese Children’s Day Event at the Dublin Community Recreation Center including mochi, origami, and koinobori making. On July 7th, JASCO will host a Tanabata Fesitval at Coffman Park in Dublin. Details and volunteering information for this and other events are available from the JASCO website.
Instead of the usual format with 5-minute presentations by members, this meeting once again used a format with a single presentation. However, as many senior members of Ohio Honyaku recall, this was actually the original format of Ohio Honyaku meetings at its inception, and in this sense, Ohio Honyaku simply reverted back to its original meeting format.
This seminar-style meeting was the second presentation by one of our members covering patent translation. Led by a professional who currently translates patents, this seminar was a roundtable format where the group discussed translation of Japanese patent abstract texts centered around automotive and autonomous vehicle patents.
The workgroup session covered two abstracts of actual Japanese patents – 1 provided prior to the meeting. Members discussed proposed translations and the presenter gave his feedback and reasons for choosing certain terminology and writing styles. The group reviewed previous meeting information regarding important distinctions in patent terminology, such as the difference between “comprising of” (open list) and “consisting of” (closed list), techniques used for handling long sentences and relative clauses (look for particles and parallelisms), etc. The presenter also cited the WIPO Patentscope site as a valuable resource for confirming terminology. Additional discussions included the differences between USPTO style of filings and WIPO requirements for translation terminology selection, tricks for using reference numbers in structuring the translation, and the sometimes precarious position a translator is placed balancing literal accuracy with reader understanding and clarity when selecting words and structuring sentences.
Additional members have also offered to present similar focused seminars, however, it was agreed by the membership to postpone these until later meetings. The Summer Meeting format will again be brief 5-minute presentations by members on topics of their choosing.
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 tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 20, 2019 at JASCO headquarters.
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.ohiohonyaku.com/.
Contact us at inquiries@ohiohonyaku.com.
Report prepared by A. L.
