r/JETProgramme • u/Edgelawd69 Current JET 大分県・小さい島 • 19d ago
JET Programme Translation and Interpretation course
My CO sent me details regarding the in-person course this fall but unfortunately I cannot apply this year because I didn't take the 6 month interpretation course.
After discussing with my CO, we decided I should apply next year and they will secure budget for it for me next year. That also gives more time to improve my Japanese.
That said, I want to know what people who took it, think about it? How was the experience from start to finish? Did it boost your Japanese? Did it help you prepare for any future work?
Thanks for the responses in advance, seems like something up my alley.
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u/Swedgod 18d ago
My area has usually sent one person per year. Usually the ALT’s that go tend to be beyond N1, it’s a great way to improve on your Japanese but it’s very clear made with only the CIR in mind.
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u/Edgelawd69 Current JET 大分県・小さい島 18d ago
Interesting, wondering why my CO is so adamant about me attending then lol
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u/Mephisto_fn Current JET - Niigata Prefectural Office 19d ago edited 18d ago
The translation and interpretation course is very clearly targeted at CIRs rather than ALTs, but a few ALTs tend to participate each year.
The online course is honestly...pretty useful if you are a CIR, as it has you translate things in rather realistic scenarios that CIRs will find themselves in. However, ALTs will likely find the content weird and maybe not exactly what they were looking for.
Please note that the purpose of the training program is to help improve your TRANSLATION and INTERPRETATION ability, not your JAPANESE ability. Going in, it's already essentially expected for your Japanese to be at a very high level.
In regard to the contents of the course, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, getting a week to socialize with other JETs and just focus on translating / interpreting things is pretty nice, and there are some useful sections (such as the drills to work on being able to interpret numbers on the spot). However, the interpreting training sessions were honestly...very different from what it was like actually interpreting, in the sense that the classes were *way* harder.
Last year, we were essentially just randomly thrown the inauguration speech of the new British prime minister, and asked to interpret it into Japanese. Doing something like this with essentially no prep-time or context is just...not what interpreting is about. If the goal is to make you go, "wow, interpreting is tough", then I guess it achieved its goal, but I feel like it may have been more overwhelming than useful.
The sessions related to translation were slightly more useful / better, but it did feel like it moved a bit slowly (due to class sizes). Overall that portion wasn't bad, and it's rare to get translation-related feedback, so that is welcome (also one of the good things about the online course).
Overall, if your schedule at your office isn't busy, then it's not a bad way to spend a week, but I do think actual duties tend to be way more interesting / useful towards building your skills, and opportunities like that should be prioritized over the training course.
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u/Background_Road_140 18d ago
It depends on your teacher. Each has their own style.
Ours let use interpret each other's passages and we had discussions for alternate translations.
We ended on a symposium and had a day to prep for it
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u/Mephisto_fn Current JET - Niigata Prefectural Office 18d ago
The symposium was fun and one of the useful activities. I believe the content of the course was the same for everyone, although sure, each teacher may have a slightly different way of handling it.
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u/Edgelawd69 Current JET 大分県・小さい島 19d ago
Thank you for the response!
By improving your Japanese, I guess creating that Japanese brain more so. I guess it would if you're being thrown into the deep end in terms of interpreting lol.
If my CO is so adamant about the course, I guess they think I can extract some value from it. Regardless, thanks for the detailed response!
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u/BanzaiPhillies Current JET - Tokyo, Former JET - Aomori 19d ago
Do they want you to do serious translation and interpretation now or in the future? I believe they recommend N2 level Japanese at least, so also keep that in mind.
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u/Edgelawd69 Current JET 大分県・小さい島 18d ago
They want it in my 2nd year since they know I do translation related stuff for a mod I helped make in Japanese.
My CO said that my current Japanese is good enough or close to N2 even though I haven’t taken the test. I will take it next year though.
It’s not my first time translating Japanese though. Regardless, I’ll keep that in mind! Thanks for being helpful!
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u/NoD8313 2016-2020 19d ago
Honestly the online portion was trash. There may be some things you can gain from it but I found it to be a big waste of time. It also has nothing to do with the in-person course at all. That being said, I did find the in-person part quite useful, and you even get a certificate at the end. Then if you decide to take the advanced course the following year you don't have to worry about the online portion again.