Alex’s first translation project

Most students who come to imagine* on Sundays know me well – we’ve had many lessons together. But during the month of May, very few of you had lessons with me. When you came, perhaps you noticed me sitting alone at a desk with many papers around me, typing busily on a computer. Or perhaps you didn’t notice, but I would like to tell you what I was doing anyway. For over a month, I was working on a translation project.

imagine* was contracted to translate the web site of a garment stand maker into English. This was my first serious translation project. It was a very interesting challenge but I came to realize that translation is very difficult for several reasons.

First of all, there are many differences between Japanese and English sentence structure. I noticed that when I changed a sentence into English, I often had to add a subject, such as “we,” our “these products,” because in Japanese, subjects are not always present.

Vocabulary was also difficult, because the topic was something that I am not familiar with in my own language. I had to learn many new English words related to the fashion industry. Luckily, Brandon knows more about that and was able to help my English sound more natural.

Finally, I realized that some things cannot be translated directly. English and Japanese are so different that sometimes we need to stop trying to match them and find things that are equal – we just say it another way. I think this idea is especially important when we speak a foreign language.

When I speak Japanese, I am not translating in my head. Therefore, even though I have been using Japanese in my daily life for many years, this experience was very new for me. I have a Japanese place in my brain, and when I talk, I try to use only that place. It helps make speech faster and more natural, and I recommend this to all students of foreign language. And for anyone who has to translate documents at work, I say: Good Luck!

Kennett & Lindsell  GARMNET STAND TECHNOLOGY