Translation Skills

This is an introductory course for students who wish to develop basic business translation skills which can be used in a professional business setting. Using real-world assignments, students will study basic professional translation skills necessary to prepare business documents, business reports, and business presentation materials in both English and Japanese. As it provides students with practical and useful techniques to complete their translation assignments, this course is particularly effective for those who need to develop high-quality business documents in both English and Japanese at work.

1. Understand the basic translation process and the skills needed to translate.
2. Gain practical experience and confidence in translating a variety of documents.
3. Learn strategies to deal with issues that often arise when translating.

Individuals who want to gain practical translation skills that they can apply in the workplace and/or are interested in the field of translation.

No required textbook. Recommended (『翻訳スキルハンドブック (アルクはたらく×英語)』 駒宮 俊友 （著）アルク 2017)

Ming Tam

Ming Tam is a translator and editor from Canada who works mainly in technical, medical, scientific, and academic fields. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Translation Studies from Portsmouth University, U.K., and a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University, Canada. She has work experience in biotech and pharma research as well as teaching. She has a passion for figuring out creative strategies to deal with hard-to-translate terms and culture-specific items, especially food terms, to bridge the gap between languages and cultures and facilitate communication.
Her goal is to help students learn not only practical translation skills, but also to translate with awareness of the purpose of translations and the role translators play in an increasingly globalized world.