"Bryan Parker" <puntspeedchunk@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e9r7ovs8slk6i5p7eqdl2g7nlrmqoukdv5@4ax.com...
> If you had any professional advice to offer a
> charming 17 year old Japanese girl with dreams of
> becoming a translator, what would it be? She's
> graduating in March and definitely going to attend
> www.obirin.ac.jp
>


translating is about the most mind-numbing unfulfilling occupation anyone
could elect. It is a very mechanical activity where the only creativity lies
in trying to figure out clever ways to stay faithful to the original and yet
sound natural. I am quite sure competition in Japan is keen and that
translators are not paid proportionate to the amount of training they go
through to get qualified.

Probably this person is just interested in foreign languages, which is a
fine thing , but is only choosing the most obvious foreign language career.
I think you should tell her that a foreign language can be important it a
lot of other careers. My strong advice to anyone thinking of specializing in
a foreign language is combine it with another primary career. Don't know
what else this lady is interested in, but something like a business degree
with a language major, etc. is the kind of thing I think she should be
considering. Even combinations that you wouldn't think would be helped by a
foreign language often can be. I ended up a research biologist, but having a
background in Japanese has gotten me a lot of job opportunities either in
Japanese companies or US companies doing work in Japan, etc.

Using a foreign language skill just to become a translator is kind of a
waste, since the job will get boring quick and the pay will never compensate
for the amount of training it takes to be competitive in the field.

JMO

marc