Archive for January, 2009

This week, for a major Japanese automaker I translated some goodbye speeches to a manager who is leaving India to return to Japan. A somewhat unusual job, but quite interesting.

I have had a tremendous amount of medical interpretation work the past month.

My coauthor and I are picking up the pace on the book we’re writing. Actually, he is the star of the show; I am just helping him edit a bit.

Things are not too complex or harried right now, but suitably busy.

You may have read the press release I posted on this site for “Center,” my short story about high school football player going off to college in the year 1948. The story was recently serialized in Touchdown Illustrated magazine, and I now have it available on my personal blog. I think you’ll enjoy it as a story, and it’s another sample of my writing available for your inspection.

December, as noted in my last post, was most busy. I was actually incorrect about how much extra work that one internal manual would require; it was a slam dunk! And the reason it was a slam dunk was that I was able to see what dangers lurked from the beginning of the project and prepare accordingly with thorough research and documentation. Forgive me, readers, a tiny pat on the back for this; I am somewhat proud of and relieved at how things turned out there.

Since my last post, for a major Japanese automaker, I have done the following:

• Did further editing of the press kit of a major new model so that the kit could be reprinted.
• Translated the year-end speech of a major executive of the company.
• Translated a press release for a major automotive event held in Japan.
• Translated an internal video concerning a major new safety technology. I translated the original press release as well, in effect branding the technology in English.

Of course, all of these documents except the press kit required skill in Japanese-to-English translation, which is something I have to offer. But getting a good and accurate translation isn’t enough: good English with the right feel and cadence to it is also necessary. And I have that to offer as well, whether you require Japanese-to-English translation or just well-written English from scratch!

One other thing that made December a very busy month was that for the last two weeks of it I was spending a lot of time in the hospital interpreting for families with sick kids. This post on my personal blog talks about the situation in greater detail, should you be curious.

I will be back in the hospital tomorrow morning, too, interpreting for a family whose child is having open heart surgery. Please pray with me that things turn out well for this child and this family.