Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - Get A Job
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reanimator
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I'm just wondering if you are making your statement from experience? I don't understand what you mean as real proficiency. If you meant it as oral communication, then I agree with you. Being a bilingual, I understand that mastering any foreign language takes a long time. Of course, JLPT has nothing to do with certifying someone as translator or fluency in speaking. It's a test about whether you can read, write, and understand the language at basic level. People can't avoid things like signs, bills, and simple legal documents while living over there. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Yeah, just because a test/certification isn't technically applicable doesn't mean employers aren't going to look for it. You look at the tech field and the A+ Certification, which is really generally quite basic and isn't going to prove anyone should be working in IT, but most companies in that field are still going to look for it. The JLPT itself may not be a great test that really proves you fit that role, but like the A+ I imagine it's still a minimum requirement these companies will look for.
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
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I wanted to contribute my answers to these as well. (Slow work day.) Since I've met Felipe Smith and I know some translators, pro and aspiring, I have some advice.
2)For the manga person:
This is so totally what I was going to suggest. Being a manga-ka is a sucky job. It pays more than a beginning animator in Japan, but it sucks in that work-20-hours-a-day way where you never get a day off. It's so crappy that most Japanese artists nowadays aspire to be illustrators instead, since it pays more and grinds you to the bone less. The Morning International Manga competition started, in part, because so few young Japanese people want to be manga artists. At least, that's my understanding of it. If you read Felipe Smith's earlier work, MBQ, it is a semi-autobiographical tale of how to become a comic artist. You start by working a day job and drawing every chance you get.
Exactly! I was so going to say that. Hone your skills with a webcomic, and do mini-comics domestically to sell at cons. Get involved in the comics community here. The more I think about it, the more making comics is like being in a band. Unsigned indy bands promote themselves and fund their own tours. Some indy bands aren't seeking record contracts at all, and prefer just to make their own CDs. Making indy comics is like that. Until you get signed, you'll need a day job. Once you make your own comic, you could try getting a table at Comiket. Foreigners do that sometimes - you just need a friend with a Japanese address. There's at least one blogger I follow who works as a manga artist assistant in Japan. I have no idea how she got that job, though. 3) As for the translator - Redcrest had some great advice.
I'd like to add to that - translating manga or anime is probably the lowest paying kind of translation out there. If you translate, say, legal documents, it pays something crazy like $60-$100 per page. In theory, you may be able to start by translating very dry material that nobody wants to translate. I've known people who were translating very boring product manuals. But then, that work was through some sort of translation agency. Try looking for translation companies, or agents that represent translators (I know they exist). Even working for a plain old Japanese company will up your skills and get you connections. Another option is to translate long works that no one else is translating, like academic essays written on famous otaku blogs that aren't translated into English. You're walking a fine line reposting the content of others, though. Ask for permission for that sort of thing. The idea would be to get more readers and have samples of your work to show to people. How about translating [interesting] news articles? It's my understanding from an NPR story that there's a guy translating Chinese news stories into English for free as a hobby and that journalists in the English world rely on this one dude's translations for news about China. The lesson to take from that is to step outside the world of anime and manga in your translation efforts! I'd also seriously consider moving to Japan if I were you, at least for a while. I think it's easier to get translation work there. Or you could just start your own business on the web. This seems like an outdated page, but it might have some use - or check out this translation association, they have events. |
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